Latest publication - Developing a global standard for fire reporting (RICS Insights).
Meacham Associates
risk-informed performance-based solutions for fire safety, resiliency and building regulatory challenges
Latest publication - Developing a global standard for fire reporting (RICS Insights).
risk-informed performance-based solutions for fire safety, resiliency and building regulatory challenges
We bring more than thirty years of professional experience to a wide range of fire safety engineering, risk and resiliency, 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.
We are problem solvers. We help organizations identify and characterize issues and problems of concern, develop and assess relevant means to address them, and formulate and implement performance-oriented and value-driven solutions. We do this by working with organizations as a trusted partner. We listen to all parties involved, explore issues from multiple angles, and develop balanced strategies and solutions.
Building and fire regulatory system research and consulting
Fire / life safety threat, vulnerability and risk assessment and mitigation
Fire safety and building technology research and assessment
Organization and community risk, vulnerability and resilience consulting
Risk-informed and performance-based fire analysis, design, peer-review
Sustainable and resilient design research and strategy development
Boverket (Karlskrona, Sweden). Providing expert input on restructuring of building regulations and communicating changes with stakeholder groups (as subcontractor to Briab).
World Bank (Washington, DC). Lead developer of 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 and Uganda. Participated in development of Building Regulatory Capacity Assessment (BRCA) diagnostic.
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 to life' as a basis for performance criteria in the National Construction Code.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (New Zealand). Review of the Fire Regulation Development Programme and review and input on various aspects of the building regulatory structure, including the alignment of structure and content within the New Zealand Building Code, its supporting documents, and the building regulatory environment.
Development of research report on Fire Safety Impacts of ‘Green’ Buildings and Attributes. Fire Protection Research Foundation. (With support from Lund University.)
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.
Provided expert services related to building regulatory requirements for fire safety and associated standardized fire test methods in Europe and select other countries. Knauf Insulation (Vise, Belgium).
Oxygen Reduction Systems for Warehouse Storage Applications, Fire Protection Research Foundation. (Sub-contractor to Lund University.)
An HOLIstic approach for fire safety requirements and design of FAçade Systems (HOLIFAS) , Brandforsk, Sweden. (Jointly with Lund University and Briab.)
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).
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.
Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. (New York / Atlanta). Contracted to review the CFD modeling methodology report; prepare a review report summarizing findings arising from the review; provide technical support to PB with FHRR profile.
Studio di Architettura (Milan, Italy) and Novartis (East Hannover, NJ). Code consulting and fire engineering alternatives analysis for parking garage.
Brian is Managing Principal at Meacham Associates. For 35 years Brian has provided risk-informed performance-based solutions to complex building and infrastructure challenges, conducted building and fire regulatory system capacity assessments, and undertaken research in these and related areas. He has worked with and for governments, NGOs and the private sector in these areas in numerous countries. His prior positions include Associate Professor in Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Principal at Arup, where he led the Risk Consulting practice in the USA and globally, Technical Director and Research Director at SFPE, fire safety engineer in the USA and Europe, and engineering manager at Gamewell Corporation. Brian is a Past-President of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), Honorary Secretary of the IAFSS Management Committee, Chair of the NFPA Technical Committee on Fire Risk Assessment Methods, and formerly a member of the US TAG to ISO TC92 SC4 – Fire Safety Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Connecticut and Massachusetts, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers, a EUR ING (European Engineer), a Fellow of the SFPE, and a Fulbright Global Scholar.
Throughout his career, Brian Meacham has authored more than 300 publications, ranging from peer-reviewed articles in technical journals, to textbooks, handbook chapter, conference papers and magazine articles, and has given more than 300 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.
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, 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.
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.
Published in 1997, this is a seminal work on the basic elements of performance-based design for fire.
With authors from a diversity of engineering professions, this 2004 book provides an overview of performance-based design concepts.
Contributor to many handbooks, including the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering (2nd - 6th editions) and the NFPA Fire Protection Handbook.
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.
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 Honorary Secretary of IAFSS Management Committee (2017-2020).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Located near Boston, Massachusetts, USA, we provide services worldwide.
Recent projects have included efforts in/for Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, and the USA.
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