Letter from the Editor: Welcome to the January 2010 issue of Fire Protection Engineering Emerging Trends, Fire Protection Engineering magazine's 8-time-per-year e-newsletter that deploys on the off-months of the magazine. Each issue will highlight a new trend and/or innovation in the fire protection engineering industry. This issue will focus on Fire Protection Engineering in the Middle East.

Please enjoy the January issue and thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Morgan J. Hurley, P.E., FSFPE

By Susan Lamont, Ph. D.

The Middle East has seen a boom in construction in the last 5-10 years, which has meant exciting travel and work opportunities for those in the construction industry, including fire protection engineers. In particular, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar are host to a number of fire protection engineers from the US, Australia, UK and Europe. To put this in perspective, the fire protection engineers in the UAE are beginning to establish a UAE based SFPE Chapter, which now has over 90 members on the mailing list. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia already has a well established SFPE Chapter as a result of Civil Defence's (Fire Department's) enthusiasm for the work of the SFPE.

There a number of urban myths about working and living in the Middle East, which are usually related to the weather and lifestyle. The summers are hot and humid, but the worst of the weather is between June and September. During the rest of the year, people enjoy outdoor eating at great restaurants, visiting beach resorts, exploring the mountains or dune bashing in the desert. During June-September, the air conditioned cars and buildings plus the numerous entertainment choices make life here very bearable.

A frequent concern is what it is like working in the Middle East as a woman. Working in the UAE or Qatar is no different to working anywhere else in the western world. Indeed, the local culture is very respectful, and many local women have senior positions in government and the private sector. Local dress is not required for female expatriates, although more conservative countries like Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may require this.

Typical projects are mixed-use high rise buildings – usually containing residential, commercial, hotel and retail, although funding from the government has meant an increase in hospital, school and transport projects. A significant share of the fire protection engineering workload is in developing masterplans and writing design guidelines for the future plot developers, which is a great experience, as most western cities are so well established that new masterplans are rare.

The UAE in particular has been leading the world in building the tallest, largest, longest and most exciting projects. In Dubai, the Dubai Mall has over 350,000 square meters of leasable floor area and houses cinemas, an ice skating rink, an aquarium and an indoor theme park, in addition to the many retail stores. Burj Dubai just opened, and it is the tallest building in the world at >800 m tall. On September 9th 2009, Dubai opened their driverless metro, making the city much more accessible and reducing congestion on the roads.

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Historically, Qatar has grown more slowly than the UAE, but Qatar is also now booming and has an impressive skyline of high rises and plans for tram and rail networks. There are also significant or growing opportunities in Syria, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Each country in the Middle East has its own local code requirements for fire protection of buildings, although most follow NFPA codes or the International Building Code to address the challenges of large new developments. It is imperative that the design team establish the local rules at an early stage to avoid additional costs on the project. For example, most local authorities place significant value on smoke control systems, which may not be required on a similar project in the UK or US.

Local requirements for travel distances can be shorter than permitted by NFPA codes or the IBC, which impacts stair core locations. As most local codes are written in Arabic, local architects and engineers are often employed to advise on local rules and help negotiate building approvals. However, most expatriates are able to navigate the local requirements after a few years of experience as they will have built their own working relationships with the authorities.

It should be noted that fire protection engineers will usually have to be registered with the Civil Defence authority in order to work in the emirate or country. This registration is specific to Civil Defence approvals and is in addition to the normal licences required to work in the country. For some projects, a registered local architect will make all local authority submissions on behalf of the design team, especially if the design is being carried out offshore. This means the local architect is responsible for the approvals process and consequently the fire protection engineer may not have to be registered, but this is not always acceptable to Civil Defence.

Projects are extremely fast track, which means fire strategies have to be developed very quickly and approvals sought as soon as possible. For example, during 2008 the design for a 15,000 seat sports arena in Dubai was developed; the stadium will be complete by early 2010.

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Like the rest of the world, the UAE has also been affected by the global recession. A number of the more iconic projects have been simplified or put on hold in favour of more cost effective designs. Consulting fees are more competitive because there is less work, but overall, it appears that the market has simply adjusted to a more steady and sustainable growth.

As a consequence of the fast track construction that has occurred over the last 10 years, there are now a number of existing assets that will need to be maintained for the future. Civil Defence and the fire protection community are working together to learn from these projects, and where necessary establishing solutions for better design, quality control, site inspection, maintenance and testing moving forward. Many of the Civil Defence departments are now developing new local codes in Arabic and English based on lessons learned to date.

The future of the Middle East is likely to see steady growth with greater focus on maintaining existing assets and developing the transport infrastructure for growing populations and cities. Building projects will continue but at a slower rate than the last 5 years, with sustainability high on the agenda. Fire protection engineers will continue to be in demand to support this development.

The opportunities in the Middle East are numerous and definitely worth considering for those planning to work abroad as a fire protection engineer.

Susan Lamont is with Arup.

Fall 2009 – The National Academy's Vision of the Engineer of 2010: Applications to Fire Protection Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) developed a report in 2004 following a workshop to provide a vision of the engineer of 2020, with particular emphasis on the future for U.S. engineers. The workshop was held in 2002 and the report was developed based on the papers presented at the workshop. In providing the vision of the future engineer, the report outlines the roles that engineers will play in the future and also how engineering education needs to adapt in order to provide the preparation necessary for the engineer of the future. The effect of globalization is predicted to be significant. Globalization is important for the engineering workforce in the U.S., with an increasing number of jobs being outsourced. Such outsourcing can cause the engineering teams to be spread among different continents, thereby necessitating strong communication capabilities. Given that multinational design teams are likely to have members from diverse backgrounds, engineers will need to be appreciative of the appropriate business protocols in those cultures.
READ MORE

Summer 2003 – Fire Protection Engineering Opportunities in Developing Countries
Developing countries are wide open markets that offer huge opportunities to qualified fire protection engineers. These markets do, however, present a number of challenges, including a weak regulatory framework, underdeveloped physical and human infrastructures, and a limited access to skilled labor. Examining how fire protection engineering is practiced in developing countries offers useful insight into a number of issues that are relevant to practitioners in the developed world. These include a better understanding of our own codes and standards, a better understanding of financial constraints in this engineering field, an opportunity to get back to basics, an opportunity to promote performance-based methodologies, and, last but not least, an opportunity to advance the science and practice of fire protection engineering worldwide.
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Summer 2003 - A Roundtable Discussion Regarding the International Practice of Fire Protection Engineering
The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) is an international organization representing those practicing fire protection engineering or fire safety engineering. Today, over 20 percent of the Society's membership consists of individuals outside the United States, and the Society now has eleven chapters out-side the United States with several new international chapters in various stages of formation. The current Strategic Plan for the Society contains the following goal within a program area referred to as Global Development. Advance the practice and promote the recognition of fire protection engineering worldwide. Recognizing that the Society is truly an international organization, the current draft of a revised strategic plan eliminates the program area of Global Development and incorporates the aspects contained in the above goal statement throughout all program areas. To better understand the practice and needs of fire protection engineers worldwide, the Society convened a roundtable of fire protection engineers. The participants were asked to represent the viewpoints and considerations of fire protection engineers within their respective region of the world.
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