What to expect from Fire Engineering Reform: lessons from Building Control

Noel Pells MCABE C.Build E, Director at PRP, discusses what we can expect from the proposed fire engineering profession reform based on what happened with building control.

On 17 December 2025, the UK government published Next Steps on Fire Engineering Profession Reform. It was a significant marker of the intention to make fire engineering a protected professional title, with regulated functions and registration based on demonstrated competence, as set out in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2.

At the heart of the reforms is a simple proposition: preparing the fire safety strategy for a building becomes a protected function of a regulated fire engineer. Pathways into the profession would be structured – combining accredited education with supervised professional experience – and ongoing professional accountability would be baked in. This aligns fire engineering with other safety-critical disciplines and addresses longstanding concerns about inconsistent routes to practice and variable competence.

The Advisory Panel’s statement spelt out principles rather than a full competency framework: a significant knowledge of fire science, human behaviour, engineering and architectural fundamentals and regulatory systems. It also called for better literacy about fire engineering among allied professions so multidisciplinary teams can consistently deliver safe buildings.

Next steps

The government will consult on the details this year, including where the regulator should sit – options include expanding an existing body vs creating a new one, as well as the specifics of registration and enforcement. Following consultation, legislation will create a protected title and define statutory functions. Transitional arrangements will likely be for current practitioners to evidence competence and register.

As we have experienced with building control, in the short term regulated titles and protected functions typically tighten the market as non-registered practitioners obtain registration while others step back from restricted activities or the industry as a whole.

Over the medium term, demand for competent fire engineers is likely to rise across planning, building control, Building Safety Regulator Gateways and asset management – especially as Regulation 38 deliverables and the Fire & Emergency File expectations become more rigorous for higher-risk buildings.

The key to navigating this transition lies in anticipating regulatory direction. Following Grenfell, the emphasis has shifted decisively towards evidencing competence, both at individual and organisational levels. This means robust continuing professional development, quality assurance aligned with gateway submissions and digital systems that support the Golden Thread from design through to handover.

PRP has found value in supporting staff through external qualifications at multiple levels, from FDIS Fire Door Training and Level 4 Fire Risk Assessment through to Level 5 Fire Safety Design, BSc (Hons) in Fire Safety Engineering and MSc Fire Engineering, followed by professional registration with bodies such as the IFE, IFSM and Engineering Council. This layered approach builds both individual capability and organisational depth.

The organisations that will adapt most successfully are those already treating competence frameworks as living systems. The reforms present an opportunity to raise standards sector wide, but only if the broader industry commits to the same discipline that will soon be mandatory for fire engineers themselves.

PRP has been a technical advisor to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on fire safety policy and regulatory reform. Its PRP Academy has fire and life safety as a core competency foundation, with training extended to all staff regardless of discipline.

For more information, visit prp-co.uk

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