This text provides technical data and guidance on defining a robust and appropriate design fire for use in the fire safety engineering design of a building. It explains:

• what a design fire is
• how it can be determined
• the limitations of current methodologies
• experimental data and calculation methods.

Current approaches to defining an appropriate design fire, ranging from the quantification of fuel load based on surveys of real buildings to experimental measurements, are described in detail. Aimed at professionals involved in the fire safety engineering design process, either as designers fulfilling a brief or as regulators/approvers of the design, this guidance provides data that originate from a range of sources including fire tests undertaken by BRE Global. It can be used to source quantifiable parameters such as heat release rates and fire growth rates that are proportionate to the fire hazard foreseen.