Alternative solutions are performance-based design approaches used to demonstrate that a building achieves the level of fire and life safety performance intended by the code's objectives, where prescriptive requirements cannot be fully met.
They are supported by engineering analysis and typically reviewed by the AHJ, often alongside a third-party peer review.
Why It’s Needed
This service applies where a project’s design, such as unique architectural features, adaptive reuse, mass timber construction, or atria, cannot fully comply with prescriptive code requirements but can achieve equivalent life safety performance through engineering analysis.
Our Approach
We identify the applicable code objectives and functional statements related to the non-compliance, develop supporting technical analyses such as fire modelling, egress modelling, or structural fire engineering, and prepare documentation for submission to the AHJ.
Scope of Work
- Identification of prescriptive non-compliances
- Mapping to relevant code objectives and functional statements
- Development of supporting technical analyses
- Preparation of alternative solution reports
- AHJ liaison and submission support
Applicable Codes, Standards, and References
- OBC, MBC. NBC
Benefit
Enables innovative or non-standard designs to proceed while maintaining code-equivalent life safety, avoiding costly redesign to meet strict prescriptive requirements.
