Meacham Associates
risk-informed performance-based solutions for a sustainable and fire resilient built environment
About Us
Our Experience
We bring nearly forty years of professional experience to a wide range of fire safety engineering, risk and resilience, and building regulatory policy problems. Our clients have included Fortune 500 companies, local and national governments, multi-national NGOs, industry associations, architects, developers and more. We deliver solutions that are technically sound, politically aware, economically practicable, and grounded in reality.
Our Approach
Most challenges require a multitude of perspectives, experience and data to be brought together with the aim to collectively develop meaningful, workable, cost-effective solutions. Our approach is to bring our expertise to the problem and to be a facilitator for developing the data, input, and analysis needed to inform decisions. Whether engineering, regulatory policy analysis, or research, we aim to help you to better understand the problem and facilitate better solutions.
Our Services
Strategies for Sustainable And Fire Resilient Built Environments (SAFR-BE)
Research on Sustainable And Fire Resilient Built Environments (SAFR-BE)
Peer review of performance-based fire analyses & designs
Building and fire regulatory system research and consulting
Fire / life safety threat, vulnerability and risk assessment and mitigation
Organization and community risk, vulnerability and resilience consulting
Representative Projects
Building Regulatory System Research and Consulting
Risk / Fire Safety Engineering / Resilience Consulting
Building Regulatory System Research and Consulting
World Bank (Washington, DC). Lead developer of the Building Code Checklist for Fire Safety and the Urban Fire Regulatory Assessment and Mitigation Evaluation (Urban FRAME) diagnostic for use in low- and middle-income countries. Reviewed building regulations for countries of Kenya, Malawi, Seychelles and Uganda. Co-developer of Building Regulatory Capacity Assessment (BRCA) diagnostic.
Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility (PRIF). Fire safety expert on team to review / draft national building codes for the Pacific Island Countries (PIC) of Kiribati and Nauru, and provide input on building code for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
BSI Standards Ltd (London, England). Technical expert on project to map the building permitting and approval journey for a MENA country.
Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP), Cardiff University (Cardiff, Wales, UK). Contracted to provide expert support to the WCPP research project ‘International review of regulatory models for building safety’.
International Code Council (Washington, DC). Engaged to lead an effort to reimagine the ICC Performance Code for Buildings and Facilities (ICCPC). Aim is to understand current thinking and perspectives across multiple disciplines about how performance-based building code and design approaches are viewed.
Boverket (Karlskrona, Sweden). Engaged as international expert in performance-based regulation and design approaches to provide input on restructuring of building regulations and communicating changes with stakeholder groups (as subcontractor to Briab).
Scottish Government, Building Standards Division (Scotland). Research to Support the Improvement of the Design Verification of Fire Engineered Solutions as Part of the Scottish Building Regulatory System, Competency Criteria for Local Authority Verifiers when checking Fire Engineered Solutions for Compliance with Building Standards, Fire Tests - Section 2 Fire: Spread of Fire. Feasibility of a Centralised Hub for Verification of Complex Fire Engineered Solutions in Scotland.
Australian Building Codes Board (Australia). Consulted on use of risk as a basis for performance criteria in the (performance-based) National Construction Code.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (New Zealand). Reviewed Fire Regulation Development Programme and various aspects of the building regulatory structure, including alignment of structure and content within the New Zealand Building Code.
Fire / Building Technology Research
Risk / Fire Safety Engineering / Resilience Consulting
Building Regulatory System Research and Consulting
Research to lay the groundwork for future development of risk-informed performance-based tools for the assessment of sustainable and fire resilient buildings, SFPE Foundation (with Lund University).
Research into earthquake and post-earthquake fire performance of tall lightweight CFS buildings. Research in 2016 was on a 6-story specimen. Testing planned for 2024 will be in a 10-story structure (subcontractor to UCSD).
Literature review and research roadmap development for data and voice signal pathway survivability, Fire Protection Research Foundation (subcontractor to Lund University).
Research into Oxygen Reduction Systems for Fire in Warehouse Occupancies. Phase I involved literature review. Phase II involves testing in reduced oxygen environment, and feasibility assessment of mid-scale test apparatus (with Lund University, FM Global, with support from the Fire Protection Research Foundation).
Literature / informational review and development of report on Fire Safety Challenges of ‘Green’ Buildings and Attributes. Fire Protection Research Foundation. (With Lund University.)
Conducted research into what types of fire and burn data are reported globally, where significant gaps exist, where significant differences exist, and what might be done to create more uniform global fire incident reporting. (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, London, England)
Informational review and development of Research Roadmap for Environmental Impacts of Fire. Fire Protection Research Foundation (subcontractor to Lund University.)
Contracted to provide research and expert consulting services on human behavior and evacuation during fire and extreme events. TNO, Delft, the Netherlands.
A HOLIstic approach for fire safety requirements and design of FAçade Systems (HOLIFAS), Brandforsk, Sweden. (Jointly with Lund University and Briab.) Conducted research on building regulatory attributes and developed a socio-technical systems approach to building regulatory assessment, including a review of the regulatory systems in England and Sweden.
Risk / Fire Safety Engineering / Resilience Consulting
Risk / Fire Safety Engineering / Resilience Consulting
Risk / Fire Safety Engineering / Resilience Consulting
Pixeling (A Coruna, Spain). Fire risk and building and fire code needs assessment for a paint storage and manufacturing facility being planned in a US state. Involved review of applicable planning, zoning and building codes and standards, and consideration of environmental and hazardous materials issues.
Kestral Group (Wellington, New Zealand). Engaged to provide expert input and peer review for project to support the development of a standardized approach to fire design relating to means of escape and evacuation procedures to enable efficient building consenting and evacuation scheme approvals with a view to Health New Zealand.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (New York). Contracted to lead peer-review of performance-based fire engineering analysis and design of a unique theater complex with reconfigurable spaces (sub-contractor to Mott MacDonald).
National fire Protection Association (MA, USA). Research on human and shelter vulnerability to fire, with a focus on unsheltered and vulnerability sheltered persons in the USA - an invisible fire problem (With Kindling and John Jay College, with funding from NFPA).
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (New York). Contracted to lead peer-review of performance-based fire engineering analysis and design of a complex facility (sub-contractor to Mott MacDonald).
Cladding Safety Victoria (Melbourne, Australia). Contracted to provide independent expert review of the draft Protocols for Managing Cladding Risk (PMCR), which detail CSV’s proposed rules for assessing the risks of flammable cladding.
Qatar Civil Defence (Doha, Qatar). Contracted with JVVA (Madrid, Spain) to deliver courses on review of performance-based designs
International Code Council (Washington, DC). Contracted to develop publication on the benefits of building regulation in increasing community resilience.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (New York). Contracted to conduct peer-review of performance-based fire engineering analysis of historic building.
SP Fire Research (Trondheim, Norway). Contracted to review draft Nordic risk-based fire safety engineering standard.
Risk / Fire Safety Engineering / Resilience Consulting
Key Personnel
Brian J. Meacham, PhD, PE, CEng, EUR ING, FIFireE, FSFPE
Brian is Managing Principal at Meacham Associates. For nearly 40 years he has developed risk-informed performance-based solutions to complex building and infrastructure challenges, consulted on building and fire regulatory systems and components, and undertaken research and taught courses in these and related areas. He has worked with and for governments, NGOs and the private sector in numerous countries. His prior positions include Associate Professor in Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (2008-2017), Principal at Arup, where he led the Risk Consulting practice in the USA and globally (2000-2007), Technical Director and Research Director at the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (1995-2000), and fire safety engineer in the USA and Europe. Brian has served in numerous leadership positions in professional associations and codes- and standards-development activities, including as Chair of the ICC Performance Code Committee (current), Immediate Past Chair of the International Association for Fire Safety Science (current), Chair of the NFPA Technical Committee on Fire Risk Assessment Methods (current), Past President of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), Past Chair of the US TAG to ISO TC92 SC4 – Fire Safety Engineering, and Past Chair of the Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee (IRCC). He is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in Connecticut and Massachusetts, a Chartered Engineer (CEng) in the UK, a registered European Engineer (EUR ING), a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers, a Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, and a Fulbright Global Scholar.
Publications and Presentations
Overview
Throughout his career, Brian Meacham has authored more than 320 publications, ranging from peer-reviewed articles in technical journals, to textbooks, handbook chapter, conference papers and magazine articles, and has given more than 330 presentations, ranging from invited keynote presentations and accepted submissions at international conferences and symposia, to invited workshops, to lectures at universities, governments and industry groups.
Recent Project Reports (see ResearchGate for more reports)
- Risk and Performance Assessment Framework for a Sustainable and Fire Resilient Building Environment (SAFR-BE), SFPE Foundation, Meacham, B.J., McNamee, M., Frantzich, H. and Kimblad, E., June 2023 (Risk and Performance Assessment Framework for a Sustainable and Fire Resilient Building Environment (SAFR-BE) (higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com))
- The Invisible US Fire Problem, Kindling, Inc. and the National Fire Protection Association (with D. Antonellis, S. Vaiciulyte and C.R. Jennings), September 2022 (https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/US-Fire-Problem/osInvisibleUSFireProblem.pdf).
- Environmental Impact of Fires in the Built Environment: Emission Factors, Fire Protection Research Foundation, Quincy, MA (with M. McNamee and J. Astrom, Lund University; B. Truchot and G. Marlair, Ineris), April 2022 (https://www.nfpa.org//-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/US-Fire-Problem/RFEmission-Factors.pdf)
Recent Journal Papers (see ResearchGate for more papers)
- McNamee, M. and Meacham, B.J., "Conceptual Basis for a Sustainable and Fire Resilient Built Environment," Fire Technology, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10694-023-01490-9, 2023.
- Meacham, B.J., “Fire Safety of Existing Residential Buildings: Building Regulatory System Gaps and Needs,” Fire Safety Journal, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2023.103902, 2023.
- Elhami-Khorasani, N., Ebrahimian, H., Buja, L., Cutter, S., Kosovic, B., Lareau, N., Meacham, B.J., Rowell, E., Taciroglu, E., Thompson, M.P. and Watts, A.C., Conceptualizing a Probabilistic Risk and Loss Assessment Framework for Wildfires, Natural Hazards, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05472-y, July 2022.
- Meacham, B.J., “Fire performance and regulatory considerations with modern methods of construction,” Buildings and Cities, https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.201, 2022.
- Meacham, B.J., “A Sociotechnical Systems Framing for Performance-Based Design for Fire Safety,” Fire Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-022-01219-0, 2022.
- Wang, H-G., Dembsey, N.A., Meacham, B.J., Liu, S. and Simeoni, A. A sensitivity matrix method to understand the building fire egress performance gap, Fire Safety Journal, ISSN 0379-7112, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2021.103516, 2021.
- Leiras, A.B., Rodrigues, J.P.C. and Meacham, B.J., “A performance‑based fire risk analysis for buildings,” Architecture, Structures and Construction, https://doi.org/10.1007/s44150-021-00016-7, 2021.
- Hutchinson, T.C., Wang, X., Hegemier, G., Kamath, P and Meacham, B. “Earthquake and Post-earthquake Fire Testing of a Mid-rise Cold-formed Steel Framed Building. I: Building Response and Physical Damage,” Journal of Structural Engineering, Volume 147 Issue 9 - September 2021, https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29ST.1943-541X.0003097, 2021
- Meacham, B.J., van Straalen, IJ.J. and Ashe, B.., “Roadmap for incorporating risk as a basis of performance objectives in building regulation,” Safety Science, 141 (2021) 105337, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105337, 2021.
- Meacham, B.J., Stromgren, M. and van Hees, P. (2020). “A Holistic Framework for Development and Assessment of Risk-Informed Performance-Based Building Regulation,” Fire and Materials, DOI:10.1002/fam.2930, 2020.
- McNamee, M., Meacham, B.J., van Hees, P. et al., “IAFSS agenda 2030 for a fire safe world,” Fire Safety Journal, 110, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2019.102889, 2019
- Meacham, B.J. and van Straalen, I., “A Socio-Technical System Framework for Risk-Informed Performance-Based Building Regulation,” Building Research & Information, DOI 10.1080/09613218.2017.1299525, 2017.
- Meacham, B.J., “Sustainability and Resiliency Issues and Objectives in Performance Building Regulations,” Building Research and Information, Volume 44, Issue 5-6, DOI:10.1080/09613218.2016.1142330, 2016
Recent and Upcoming Presentations
- “Contextualizing shelter and occupant vulnerability intersections to better characterize fire risk,” SFPE Fire Safety Conference & Expo on Performance-Based Design, Copenhagen, Denmark, 17-19 April 2024 (with S. Vaiciulyte).
- "Development of Risk Rankings for Sustainability and Resilience, and Application to Apartment Building,” SFPE Fire Safety Conference & Expo on Performance-Based Design, Copenhagen, Denmark, 17-19 April 2024 (with H. Frantzich, M. McNamee, E. Kimblad).
- “Reimagining the ICC Performance Code,” SFPE Fire Safety Conference & Expo on Performance-Based Design, Copenhagen, Denmark, 17-19 April 2024 (with B. Tubbs).
- "Fire Safety of Existing Buildings: Building Regulatory System Gaps and Needs," 14th International Symposium on Fire Safety Science, Tsukuba, Japan, 22-27 October 2023.
- "Risk and Performance Assessment Framework for a Sustainable and Fire Resilient Building Environment (SAFR-BE)," SFPE Annual Conference, Rockville, MD, USA, 9 October 2023.
- "Risk and Performance Assessment Framework for a Sustainable and Fire Resilient Building Environment (SAFR-BE)," NFPA Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV, USA, 20 June 2023.
- “A Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety,” SFPE Europe 2023 Conference, Society of Fire Protection Engineers, Berlin, Germany, 26-29 March 2023.
Books and Handbooks
Fire Performance Analysis for Buildings
Fire Performance Analysis for Buildings
Fire Performance Analysis for Buildings
Fire Performance Analysis for Buildings, 2nd Edition organizes the complex interactions into an analytical framework to evaluate any building - at any location - built under any regulatory jurisdiction or era. Systematic, logical procedures evaluate individual component behavior and integrate results to understand holistic performance.
Egress Design Solutions
Fire Performance Analysis for Buildings
Fire Performance Analysis for Buildings
Egress Design Solutions, Emergency Evacuation and Crowd Management Planning introduces and discusses prescriptive- and performance-based approaches to egress design. This 2007 book starts with a brief review of historic life-loss fire events. It overviews important human behavior and response to fire issues and how these influence design options. Coordination with other building systems is also discussed.
Extreme Event Mitigation in Buildings
Fire Performance Analysis for Buildings
Introduction to Performance-Based Fire Safety
Written following the tragic events of 9/11/01, this 2006 book addresses a wide range of issues, from hazard, threat and risk assessment, to robust and resilient design of building structural, mechanical and fire protection systems.
Introduction to Performance-Based Fire Safety
Introduction to Performance-Based Fire Safety
Introduction to Performance-Based Fire Safety
Published in 1997, this is a seminal work on the basic elements of performance-based design for fire.
Performance-Based Building Design Concepts
Introduction to Performance-Based Fire Safety
Performance-Based Building Design Concepts
With authors from a diversity of engineering professions, this 2004 book provides an overview of performance-based design concepts.
Handbook Contributions
Introduction to Performance-Based Fire Safety
Performance-Based Building Design Concepts
Co-editor of new Handbook of Fire and the Environment and contributor to many handbooks, including the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering (2nd - 6th editions) and the NFPA Fire Protection Handbook.
Links to Related Organizations
Fire Protection Research Foundation
International Association for Fire Safety Science
International Association for Fire Safety Science
As the research affiliate of NFPA, the Fire Protection Research Foundation is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to plan, manage and communicate research in support of the association http://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Resources/Fire-Protection-Research-Foundation Brian Meacham served as Chair of the FPRF Research Advisory Committee from 2016-2018.
International Association for Fire Safety Science
International Association for Fire Safety Science
International Association for Fire Safety Science
IAFSS was founded with the primary objective of encouraging research into the science of preventing and mitigating the adverse effects of fires and of providing a forum for presenting the results of such research https://iafss.org/ Brian Meacham is Chair of the IAFSS Managing Committee (2021-2023).
International Code Council
International Association for Fire Safety Science
Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee
The International Code Council (ICC) is a leading global source of model codes and standards and building safety solutions that include product evaluation, accreditation, technology, training, and certification. The Code Council's codes, standards, and solutions are used to ensure safe, affordable, and sustainable communities and buildings worldwide ICC - International Code Council - ICC (iccsafe.org). Brian Meacham served on the development committee for the ICC Performance Code for Buildings and Facilities (1997-2001).
Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee
Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee
Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee
The purpose of the Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee (IRCC) is to promote effective international collaboration concerning ‘best current practice’ building regulatory system, in particular those that are objective performance-based www.ircc.info Brian Meacham is a Past Chair of the IRCC.
National Fire Protection Association
Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee
National Fire Protection Association
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a global nonprofit organization, established in 1896, devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards http://www.nfpa.org/ Brian Meacham is Chair of the Technical Committee on Fire Risk Assessment.
Society of Fire Protection Engineers
Inter-jurisdictional Regulatory Collaboration Committee
National Fire Protection Association
The purpose of SFPE is to advance the science and practice of fire protection engineering and its allied fields, to maintain a high ethical standard among its members and to foster fire protection engineering education www.sfpe.org Brian Meacham is a Past President of SFPE, having served as President in 2019.
World Bank
World Bank
World Bank
The Building Regulation for Resilience Program seeks to develop and promote a new stream of activities to increase regulatory capacity and in turn promote a healthier and safer built environment. By leveraging good practice in building regulation as part of a strategy to reduce both chronic risk and disaster risk, it will set developing countries on the path to effective reform and long-term resilience https://www.gfdrr.org/en/building-regulation-for-resilience Brian Meacham is a Senior Consultant to the BRR team.
Kindling
World Bank
World Bank
Kindling's mission is to connect fire safety knowledge to local and global humanitarian and development efforts to reduce the unequal impact of fire on people, property and livelihoods in vulnerable communities around the world.