Fire safety design

Why you need a fire safety design

A fire safety design is required for every building for which a technical design is prepared and a construction permit is obtained. It is commissioned by architects and lead designers who do not have a certified fire safety section manager on their team, developers whose designs have been returned with comments during examination, and managers of existing buildings that are changing their use or undergoing reconstruction. In practice, the most common situations are:

• You are designing a new industrial, warehouse, public-use or multi-apartment building and need a complete fire safety project.
• You’re changing a building’s use—for example, converting a warehouse into retail or sports facilities—and the evacuation and fire suppression requirements are changing.
• You are building a timber structure and need to demonstrate the fire resistance of its structural elements.
• The project examiner or PAGD has issued comments on a section prepared by another company, and it needs to be revised.
• If you’re building a detached or semi-detached house, a fire safety description is prepared instead of a full design section.

Fire safety section: what it includes

The Fire Safety Design Section (GSD) is a mandatory part of a building design, prepared by a certified project section manager. It describes the design solutions and shows them in drawings, enabling the project examiner and PAGD to assess whether the building meets fire safety requirements. A standard section includes:

• explanatory note: building category, functional group (P.1–P.5), fire resistance rating, fire load;
• fire compartmentation and fire spread protection solutions – fire walls, partitions, doors and fire-stopping of openings;
• evacuation solutions: number and width of exits, route lengths, and evacuation time calculations where required;
• fire resistance requirements for structures and protective measures;
• design briefs for fire water supply, fixed fire suppression, fire detection and voice alarm systems;
• smoke control and fire service access solutions;
• drawings: fire compartment plans, evacuation plans, fire service access plan.

We can prepare designs for fire suppression, alarm and voice alarm systems as separate sections. We also carry out fire resistance and evacuation calculations, as well as expert reviews and engineering surveys.

Fire safety design: process, stages and timelines

Fire safety design involves six stages, from receiving the initial information to delivering the approved fire safety design. The overall duration depends on the building category and whether the architectural and structural sections are already prepared. We can work on this section in parallel with them, so the earlier we get involved, the fewer changes will be needed later.

1. Initial information. We receive the design proposals or architectural design section, site plan, building use and proposed technologies. We provide a proposal with a fixed price and timeline.
2. Determining requirements. We establish the building category, functional group and fire resistance rating, and select the applicable legislation. We agree on the key design principles with the architect: fire compartments, evacuation plan and required systems.
3. Design development. We prepare the explanatory memorandum, drawings and briefs for other disciplines. Where needed, we calculate evacuation times and structural fire resistance, and select compensatory measures.
4. Internal review. A fire safety expert reviews the section to check that its solutions are coordinated with the structural, ventilation and electrical sections, so the project is not returned for inconsistencies during examination.
5. Expert review and approval. We submit the project section for expert review, respond to comments and take part in coordination with PAGD. Revisions in response to comments are included in the price.
6. Handover. We deliver the approved section in PDF and DWG formats with signatures, and advise the contractor on implementing the design solutions during construction.

Want to know how long the stages will take for your project? Send your design proposals to idprojektas@idprojektas.lt or call +370 686 78507 —we’ll assess the scope and schedule.

Fire safety design cost

The price of a fire safety design is set after reviewing the initial information and quoted as a fixed fee. It will not change unless the scope of the project changes. The fee includes the explanatory note, drawings, design briefs for other sections, responses to examination comments and coordination with PAGD.

The price depends on:

• building category: simple, non-special or special structure;
• total floor area, number of storeys and number of fire compartments;
• functional group – manufacturing and storage buildings require more calculations than offices;
• project stage: technical design, detailed design or both;
• additional sections: fixed fire suppression, fire alarms, voice alarm systems, smoke control;
• whether calculations are needed—for evacuation time, fire resistance or smoke extraction modelling.

Fire safety design regulations and legislation we follow

Fire safety design regulations in Lithuania comprise a set of construction technical regulations and rules approved by orders of the PAGD Director; they are not a single document. For each project, we select the applicable legislation based on the building’s purpose and category, and state in the explanatory note which provision supports each design solution. The main regulations are:

• The Construction Law and STR 1.04.04:2017 “Building Design and Project Examination” – project composition and procedures for preparing its sections;
• STR 2.01.01(2):1999 “Essential Requirements for Buildings. Fire Safety”;
• “Basic Fire Safety Requirements” (Order No. 1-338 of the Director of PAGD, dated 7 December 2010) – building classifications, fire resistance ratings, evacuation and limiting fire spread;
• Use-specific regulations: fire safety regulations for residential, public, manufacturing, industrial and storage buildings;
• Systems regulations: rules for the design and installation of fixed fire suppression systems, fire detection and alarm systems, and external fire water supply systems;
• European standards for calculating the fire resistance of structures (Eurocodes) and classifying products by reaction to fire.

For projects designed for foreign investors or insured with a foreign company, we also take the insurer’s requirements and international standards into account. This is common for industrial projects.

Fire safety requirements in design: what the expert review checks

Fire safety design covers six areas that are checked by the expert review and the Fire and Rescue Department (PAGD) in every fire safety project. Most comments arise from inconsistencies between disciplines—for example, when the evacuation route width shown in the architectural drawings differs from the width specified in the fire safety section. That is why an internal review before expert assessment is a required step for us.

1. Limiting fire spread. Fire compartment areas, fire resistance of fire walls and partitions, distances to neighbouring buildings.
2. Evacuation. Number of exits, width, travel distances, stairwell type, evacuation time.
3. Structural fire resistance. Fire resistance limits for load-bearing structures based on the building’s fire resistance rating.
4. Fire suppression. Internal and external fire water supply, fixed systems and fire engine access.
5. Detection and warning. Fire alarms, voice alarm systems, control scenarios.
6. Smoke control. Natural or mechanical smoke extraction, air supply and stairwell pressurisation.

When is a description enough, and when do you need a complete fire safety project?

A full fire safety design section is required for non-special and special-category buildings. A fire safety description is sufficient for detached and semi-detached houses and buildings with a simple layout. The description is several times shorter and less expensive, so we don’t recommend commissioning a full section when it isn’t required.

There are also cases where the opposite applies. If you want to deviate from regulatory requirements—such as having a longer evacuation route, a larger fire compartment or lower fire resistance for structures—you need a risk assessment with compensatory measures, not a standard design section. In these cases, we recommend a risk assessment and calculations rather than revising the section repeatedly until it “gets through” the examination. If another company has already prepared the design and you only need an independent opinion, a partial expert review is a better fit. Designing shelters and refuges falls under civil protection and is prepared as a separate section.

Why choose ID projektas for fire safety design solutions?

The fire safety solutions in our designs are based on calculations, not just minimum code requirements, allowing us to justify even non-standard architectural solutions. The fire safety project is prepared and signed by certified specialists, whose certifications are listed on the team page.

• Edita Dulko – Head of Fire Safety Design, with over 15 years’ experience in design and safety assessment.
• Irina Demidova-Buizinienė – fire safety expert, PhD in construction materials science, certified cultural heritage specialist, member of LGSA and PDPA, and Associate Partner Professor at VilniusTech since 2025.
• Specialising in timber buildings and cultural heritage sites, where standard solutions do not apply.

After project handover: comments, changes and approval

We stay involved after handing over the fire safety design. Addressing comments from the project examiner and PAGD is included in the agreed fee at no extra charge, as long as the scope of the project does not change. If the architectural or technological solutions change during construction, we update the section accordingly. At the end of construction, we take part in commissioning the building and coordinate fire safety matters with the commission.

Frequently asked questions

Order a fire safety design

Email your design proposals or architectural design section to idprojektas@idprojektas.lt or call +370 686 78507, +370 630 08858. We’ll provide a proposal with a fixed price and timeline, and arrange a meeting in Vilnius or on site via the contact page.

Commissioning a fire safety design at the design proposal stage delivers the greatest savings. Changing the evacuation plan or fire compartments later costs more than preparing the entire section.