Certified Structural & Fire Consultants: When Required

In the early sketches and budgets, it is tempting to assume that the design work can be handled by the building’s usual engineer and architect. For the simpler builds, that holds true. But as soon as the structure or the fire conditions become complex enough, the rules change: the developer can no longer get by with an ordinary consultant. The documentation must be prepared or checked by a certified structural consultant or a certified fire consultant — natural persons holding a formal accreditation, not just a title on a business card.

This is precisely the requirement that most often gets overlooked in the initial budgeting. The fee for certified consultancy and the third-party review that comes with it in the high classes is not a minor line item, and it only surfaces once you have established the project’s construction and fire class. For an owner’s consultant or a developer, it is therefore one of the first things that should be clarified — long before the building application is submitted.

What drives the requirement: construction class and fire class

The requirement for certified consultancy under BR18 is tied directly to how the build is placed within two parallel systems: a construction class (KK1–KK4) for the load-bearing structure and a fire class (BK1–BK4) for the fire conditions. It is the class — not the square metres or the budget in themselves — that determines whether an ordinary designer can take responsibility for the documentation, or whether the task requires a certified person.

The logic is the same in both systems: the greater the consequence an error would have for personal safety, the higher the class, and the more independent review is required. A small, simple build in the lowest class can in principle be handled without certified consultancy. A complex multi-storey building, an assembly venue holding many people, or a structure with large spans ends up in the higher classes, where certification becomes a legal requirement.

Placing a build within the two systems is a discipline in itself. We have covered the load-bearing side in Structural classes 1 to 4: how your build is classified and the fire side in Fire classes in BR18: BK1 to BK4 and when a fire consultant is required. Here we look at what the class itself triggers in terms of requirements on the consultant.

The certified structural consultant

A certified structural consultant is a structural engineer who has documented specific competences within load-bearing structures and is certified by an accredited body. The certification applies to the person and is tied to particular construction classes — one is not “certified” in general, but certified to work up to a given level.

The role can be split into two types of task, which are worth keeping separate in budget terms:

• Preparation: The certified structural consultant takes responsibility for — or leads — the design of the load-bearing structure and prepares the structural documentation.
• Review: The certified structural consultant acts as an independent third party and checks a design carried out by someone else.

In the lowest construction classes there is, as a starting point, no requirement for a certified structural consultant. The further up the classes you go, the more the certified role enters the picture — first as the party who stands behind the documentation, and at the top supplemented by independent third-party review. The key thing to understand is that an ordinary structural engineer can perfectly well design the build itself, but in the high classes the structural documentation must carry a certified person’s signature before the municipality can issue a building permit.

The certified fire consultant

The fire side follows the same principle. A certified fire consultant is a person with documented fire-engineering competences, certified to work in particular fire classes. The fire class determines which documentation method may be used — from the simple, pre-accepted solutions in the low classes to the comparative and fully performance-based analyses at the top — and thereby also how heavy a certification requirement comes with it.

Rule of thumb: if the fire conditions can be solved with standard distances, escape routes and pre-accepted solutions, you are probably low. If the project requires a genuine fire-engineering analysis or deviations from the standard solutions, a certified fire consultant must come in — and often with third-party review on top.

It is worth remembering that the fire class can pull a build upwards even when the structure is simple. A single-storey building with modest spans may well be uncomplicated structurally, but if it is to hold many people — a hall, a daycare facility, a retail outlet — the fire conditions alone can trigger a higher fire class and thereby the requirement for certified fire consultancy.

Third-party review: when the requirement is tightened

In the highest classes, the rules are not content with a certified person preparing the documentation. Here the requirement is tightened to third-party review: an independent certified structural or fire consultant who has not been involved in the design must check the work. The principle is that the greater the consequence an error would have, the less one can let the party who did the work check it themselves.

For the economics, this means that the heaviest projects must in practice set aside fees for both the performing and the reviewing role — and that the two may not be the same person or the same firm in a way that undermines the independence. It is a line item that costs both money and calendar time, because the review sits on top of the ordinary design work.

The precise limits for when third-party review is required, and which combinations of roles are permitted, lie in the Building Regulations and its guidance documents. Since the rules in this area have been adjusted several times since BR18 came into force, the current version should always be verified in the Building Regulations or with the municipal building-case department before fees and the schedule are locked in.

Why it belongs in the early budgeting

The requirement for a certified consultant under BR18 is not a detail that can wait until the design phase. It hits both the economics and the schedule:

• Fee: A certified structural and fire consultant — and, in the high classes, third-party review — is a standalone line item that is typically not included in a standard consultancy fee.
• Time: The review and the certified documentation must be in place before the municipality processes the building application. Underestimate it, and the schedule slips during the authority phase itself.
• Risk: A build that turns out to fall in a higher class than assumed can trigger a certification requirement you had not budgeted for — and thereby an unforeseen cost in the middle of the process.

That is why the construction and fire class should be estimated early, alongside the other BR18 requirements. We have gathered the broader picture in BR18 in practice: the key requirements for new construction — and when they are triggered, which is a good starting point before you begin to price the consultancy.

From class assessment to building case — automated

The manual exercise here is to assemble a property and project basis, assess the likely construction and fire class, and from there determine whether certified consultancy and third-party review need to go into the budget. That requires having building data, planning conditions and the expected project scope gathered in one place before you can take a position.

That is exactly the basis Arcili’s Kommunal byggesag (municipal building case) module sets up: the property’s conditions from BBR (the Buildings & Dwellings Register), matriklen (the cadastre), Plandata.dk and the other public registers are gathered, so that the assessment of classes — and thereby the need for certified consultancy — can be taken early, on an informed basis rather than a loose guess. It does not replace the structural or fire consultant’s assessment, but it ensures the requirement is not overlooked before the budget is set.

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