Partial expert review of a building project (fire safety section)
A project expert review is an independent check that a building project meets legal requirements, carried out before a building permit is issued. UAB “ID projektas” provides partial expert reviews of the fire safety section and related systems sections—fire alarm, fire suppression, smoke control and evacuation voice alarm—throughout Lithuania.
The assessment is carried out by a fire safety expert with a PhD in Building Materials Science and over 15 years of experience. Our comments reference specific provisions of the applicable legislation.
Get a proposal with pricing and timeline
Email your project materials to idprojektas@idprojektas.lt – you’ll receive an initial response with a preliminary scope within a few business days.
Phone consultation
Call +370 686 78507 or +370 630 08858. Office: Marijampolės g. 5, Vilnius – we prepare projects throughout Lithuania.
Who needs an expert review of the fire safety section
Project expert review is needed by three groups of clients: developers who are required to obtain an expert review based on the building category; clients who want an independent review of a section prepared by another company before submitting it for a comprehensive expert review; and expert review firms that need a certified fire safety expert for a specific project. Common scenarios:
- You are preparing a design for a special structure that requires a general review, and the review firm needs a fire safety expert.
- You commissioned another company to prepare the fire safety section and want an independent opinion before submitting the project to PAGD.
- The comprehensive expert review has returned the project with fire safety comments, and you need to determine which are justified and which can be challenged.
- Are you buying or financing a property and want to know whether its approved design includes solutions that could prove costly during construction?
- You are designing a timber structure or heritage building, where standard expert review firms lack specialist expertise.
Partial building design review: what we check in the fire safety section
A partial expert review of a building project covers one project section—in our case, the fire safety section and related systems—using the same criteria as a comprehensive expert review and the Fire and Rescue Department (PAGD). We check not only whether the solutions comply with regulations, but also whether they are consistent across sections. Most real-world fire safety issues stem not from calculation errors, but from architecture, structural design and building systems being developed on different assumptions. During a partial expert review, we assess:
- whether the building’s category, functional group and fire resistance rating have been correctly determined;
- fire compartment areas; fire resistance of fire walls and partitions; and fire-stopping solutions for openings;
- evacuation solutions—the number and width of exits, travel distances, stairwell type and evacuation time calculations;
- fire resistance requirements for load-bearing structures and their justification, especially for timber and steel structures;
- the design briefs for fire suppression, alarm, smoke control and voice alarm systems, and their consistency with the systems sections;
- fire appliance access and external fire water supply solutions;
- whether compensatory measures are justified when the project deviates from prescriptive requirements.
The expert review results in a report with comments. Each comment cites the relevant provision of the legislation and recommends a solution, rather than simply stating that something “does not comply”.
Building project expert review: comprehensive or partial, mandatory or optional
A building project expert review can be comprehensive, covering the entire project, or partial, covering one or more sections. A comprehensive expert review is mandatory for special-category buildings and in certain other cases set out in STR 1.04.04:2017. It is carried out by a certified expert review firm, which engages an expert in the relevant field for each section. A partial project expert review can be commissioned voluntarily or as part of a comprehensive review.
- What is reviewed
Comprehensive: the entire project, all sections.
Partial: the fire safety section and related systems. - When it is mandatory
Comprehensive: for special structures and in other cases set out in the STR.
Partial: voluntary, or as part of a comprehensive review. - Who commissions it
Comprehensive: the client.
Partial: the client, designer, expert review firm or financier. - Deliverable
Comprehensive: comprehensive expert review report.
Partial: partial expert review report for the fire safety section. - When it is worth it
Comprehensive: always, when mandatory.
Partial: before the comprehensive review, when challenging comments, when buying a property.
A technical design review is the most common type, as the technical design is submitted to obtain a building permit. We commission reviews of working design sections less often, when the working design changes solutions in the technical design. For reconstruction or renovation projects, a building design review also assesses existing structures, so we often combine it with a fire safety audit.
Building fire safety audit: when an existing building is being assessed
A building audit differs from a project expert review in what it assesses: an expert review checks the documentation, while an audit examines the actual building, its structures, systems and operational records. A fire safety audit (also known as a fire protection audit or fire safety assessment) is commissioned when a building changes use or ownership, when an insurer requires an assessment, or when you want to know which solutions are outdated under current requirements.
During the audit, we assess the current situation against Lithuanian and international standards and insurance company requirements, then provide a report with a list of priorities—what to address first.
Fire safety of timber structures: expert reviews and consulting
Fire safety for timber structures is our specialty. Our team’s expert holds a PhD in Building Materials Science and is a member of LGSA and PDPA. Timber buildings—from glulam production halls to cultural heritage sites—make up a large share of our projects and expert reviews. We assess whether the fire resistance of timber structures is supported by Eurocode calculations, whether the right protective measures have been selected, and whether the charring rate has been calculated based on the timber species and adhesive type.
We advise designers and developers before project design begins: what height and floor area a timber building can have under Lithuanian regulations, when compensatory measures are needed, and how to justify them.
How a partial design review works
A partial project expert review has five stages, from receiving the documents to delivering the report, and takes less time than design because we review a completed document. The earlier you commission the review, the less it costs to address comments: changing an evacuation plan at the design proposal stage takes hours; at the technical design stage, it takes weeks.
- Document intake. We receive the fire safety, architectural and structural sections, the building systems sections, and any comments from previous expert reviews or PAGD. We provide a fixed-price quote and turnaround time.
- Initial review. We check the building category, functional group and fire resistance rating, as all other requirements depend on them. An error here can lead to errors throughout the entire section.
- Detailed review. We check the solutions against legislation, their consistency across project sections, the calculation methods used and whether compensatory measures are justified. Where necessary, we carry out verification calculations for evacuation time or fire resistance.
- Review comments Before issuing the report, we discuss the comments with the designer. Some issues are resolved straight away, leaving only the key comments and proposed solutions in the report.
- Report delivery. We deliver the partial expert review report and, once the designer has addressed the comments, confirm that they have been resolved.
Want to know whether your project’s fire safety section will pass a comprehensive expert review? Email the section to idprojektas@idprojektas.lt or call +370 686 78507 —we’ll provide a fixed-price quote and turnaround time.
Project expert review fees
The project expert review is quoted as a fixed fee, based on the building category, project scope and number of sections to be reviewed. The fee includes a report with comments, a discussion of them with the designer, and a follow-up review once they have been addressed.
The price depends on:
- building category and total floor area;
- the number of sections to be reviewed—fire safety only, or also the alarm, fire suppression, smoke control and voice alarm sections;
- whether verification calculations are needed—for evacuation time, structural fire resistance or smoke control;
- design stage – technical design, detailed design, or both;
- whether the design includes compensatory measures that need to be assessed separately.
How long it takes and what you get
We specify the review timeframe in our quote. It depends on the building category and the number of sections to be reviewed, and starts once we have received all the documents. The timeframe also depends on you: if sections are submitted one at a time or changed during the review, we have to repeat the checks.
The result is a partial expert review report that you can submit to the comprehensive expert review firm, PAGD, your financier or insurer, along with a list of comments referencing the relevant legislation and recommended solutions.
Legislation we use for expert reviews
Building project expert reviews are carried out under the Construction Law and STR 1.04.04:2017, “Building Design and Project Expert Review”, which sets out when an expert review is mandatory, who may carry it out, and the required report format. We check fire safety solutions against the same regulations they were designed to meet:
- STR 2.01.01(2):1999 “Essential Requirements for Buildings. Fire Safety”.
- Core fire safety requirements – together with fire safety regulations for the building’s use and systems.
- Eurocodes —to demonstrate the fire resistance of structures.
- Insurer requirements and international standards – when a design is prepared for a foreign investor or insured with an international company: their requirements are often stricter than Lithuania’s minimum standards, and non-compliance may only come to light when insuring the completed building.
When an expert review is right for you—and when we recommend another service
An expert review is the right choice when the design is complete and you need an independent assessment. If part of the design is still being prepared, it is cheaper to get advice during the design process than to commission a review at the end: issues can be fixed earlier, without the formalities of a report. If we prepared the design ourselves, we cannot carry out a partial review of it—the independence requirement means we cannot review our own work, so we refer you to another certified expert.
If an expert review finds that the solutions do not comply with requirements and changing the architectural design is not possible, the next step is not another expert review but a risk assessment with compensatory measures. If you need an assessment of a building that has already been constructed, a fire safety audit—not a project expert review—is the right service.
Why commission an expert review from ID projektas
As a design firm, we carry out expert reviews with proposed solutions, not just a list of non-compliances, so the designer doesn’t have to guess how to fix them. The review report is signed by a certified fire safety expert; her certificate is published on the team page.
- Irina Demidova-Buizinienė Fire safety expert, PhD in Building Materials Science, certified cultural heritage specialist, member of LGSA and PDPA, and associate professor at VilniusTech since 2025; experience in expert reviews and design projects in Lithuania and abroad.
- Edita Dulko Fire safety design lead, with over 15 years’ experience in design and safety assessment.
- Experience with building handovers We take part in building handovers and commission inspections, so we know which design issues come to light at the end of construction.
After the expert review
After delivering the report, we discuss the comments with the designer and, once the solutions have been revised, carry out a follow-up review at no extra charge. If the general review or the Fire and Rescue Department (PAGD) raises comments that contradict our findings, we take part in discussions and support our position with references to the relevant legislation.
Frequently asked questions
When is a project expert review mandatory?
An expert review is mandatory for special-category buildings and in other cases set out in STR 1.04.04:2017—for example, when a project is state-funded or when required by the building’s safety and intended-use requirements. For non-special-category buildings, an expert review is optional. However, the fire safety section is checked in every case during PAGD approval, so a partial expert review helps you get approval on the first try.
How does a building assessment differ from a design review?
A building assessment evaluates a structure that is already built or under construction—its structural elements, systems and compliance with the design. A design review, by contrast, checks the documents before construction. In fire safety, the equivalent of a building assessment is a fire safety audit, which we carry out for existing buildings when their use, ownership or insurance terms change. Both services conclude with a report setting out comments and proposed solutions.
Can you review a design prepared by another firm?
Yes—this accounts for most of the partial expert reviews we carry out. We assess the fire safety section and related systems sections prepared by another company, discuss our comments with the designer, and provide a report with recommended solutions. To ensure our independence, we do not review sections that we have prepared ourselves.
What should you do if a general review returns your design with fire safety comments?
First, we assess which comments are justified and which can be challenged by citing the relevant legislation—some comments in practice stem from differing interpretations of the regulations. We help the designer address justified comments or revise the relevant section ourselves, and provide the review firm with written grounds for challenging disputed comments. This assessment often saves a round of back-and-forth between the designer and the review firm.
How long does a fire safety section expert review take?
The timeframe depends on the building category and number of sections to be reviewed. We’ll specify it in our quote, and it starts once we have received all the documents. Gathering documents from different designers takes longer than the review itself, so before commissioning a review, collect the architectural, structural, fire safety and systems sections in one place.
Commission a fire safety section expert review
Email the fire safety section and related project sections to idprojektas@idprojektas.lt, or call +370 686 78507 or +370 630 08858. We’ll provide a fixed-price quote and turnaround time. To arrange a meeting in Vilnius or at the site, get in touch via our contact page.
A project expert review carried out before the comprehensive expert review and PAGD approval costs less than one resubmission—and increases the chances of obtaining a building permit on the first try.
