Sustaining Fire Safety: A Comprehensive Framework for the Continuous Monitoring and Control of Building Fire Safety Measures

Abstract

Building fires remain a critical challenge in the built environment, resulting in substantial loss of life, injury, and property damage worldwide despite decades of advancements in fire safety engineering, regulation, and technology. This persistent problem is not due to the absence of technical solutions, but rather the failure to sustain, adapt, and integrate fire safety measures throughout the operational life of buildings. The degradation of compliance, fragmented responsibilities, policy inconsistencies, and limited digital adoption contribute to a situation where buildings may appear compliant at design but become unsafe in practice. This thesis develops, validates, and refines a comprehensive Fire Safety Sustainability Framework (FSSF) for the continuous monitoring, control, and assessment of fire safety measures across the building life. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach, beginning with a systematic and integrative literature review to identify current practices, limitations, and knowledge gaps. Qualitative expert interviews further explore operational challenges and digital opportunities in the field of building fire safety. The resulting findings inform the design of the FSSF, which is aligned with international codes, standards, and contemporary digital infrastructure. The framework is subjected to rigorous validation through a two-round Delphi consultation with industry experts, followed by applied testing in operational buildings to examine the practicality, clarity, and usability of the validated framework dimensions and criteria. This combined validation approach ensures that the framework is both conceptually robust and operationally applicable across diverse building types and contexts. Key innovations include the explicit integration of digital tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), IoT sensors, and digital twins into the framework, supporting structured documentation, continuous monitoring, and informed decision-making throughout building operation. The validated FSSF offers a practical, scalable solution for sustaining fire safety performance, providing measurable indicators and structured guidance for regulators, facility managers, and policymakers. The findings contribute to theory, professional practice, and policy, advancing the shift from static compliance toward sustained fire safety management in the built environment.