Integrating Fire Risk Assessment in BIM: Fire Safety Engineering Process and Data Exchange Needs

As construction projects grow in complexity, driven by innovative materials and sustainability goals, this study aims to embed fire safety considerations into digital design workflows, ensuring alignment between advanced design practices. The primary objectives are to critically review the integration of fire risk assessment (FRA) and fire safety engineering (FSE) within building information modeling (BIM)–based building design, identifying urgent needs in process and data exchange to improve construction management and quality control. Specifically, this research introduces the S4 (scope, strategy, solution, specification) framework and maps it to FRA tools and categorizes the data requirements for these tools. The contributions of this study are laying the groundwork to develop domain-specific industry foundation classes (IFC) and information delivery specification (IDS) extensions for FRA and FSE, while aligning with the BIM common data environment. By analyzing standardized, machine-readable data exchange requirements, the study supports seamless interdisciplinary collaboration and reliable information management throughout the project life cycle—from design to operation—thereby advancing construction productivity, life safety, and sustainability.