Fire engineering that gets buildings consented and built.
Specialist fire engineering consultancy trusted by New Zealand's leading developers, architects, and project teams on some of the country's most complex buildings and infrastructure.
The fire engineering partner your project actually needs.
Most fire engineering firms produce reports. Fireconnect produces outcomes. We are a team of senior fire engineers — each with over a decade of experience on some of New Zealand's most complex projects — who bring the same quality of thinking to a childcare centre as we do to a rail tunnel.
Whether it's a straightforward residential consent or a performance-based design for a major hospital, every project gets a senior engineer, a practical solution, and documentation built to get through council without delays.
Services
What we do.
Fire engineering across every compliance pathway and project stage.
You won't brief a director and receive a graduate's output. Simon, Jessie, Phung, and Brian are hands-on across every project.
No job too big or too small.
Residential developments, office fitouts, childcare centres, schools, retail — that's our bread and butter, and every one gets senior-level attention. But we've also led fire engineering on the City Rail Link, Christchurch Hospital, and Westfield Newmarket. Whatever the scale, same team, same standards.
We design for buildability.
Our solutions account for real site constraints, contractor capabilities, and cost. Fire engineering that works on paper but not on site is worthless.
Consents move faster.
We structure submissions to pre-empt council queries. Fewer RFIs, fewer review rounds, faster building consent.
We speak your language.
Reports are clear. Meetings are productive. We explain fire engineering in terms architects and developers actually use.
We think commercially.
Every recommendation considers programme and budget — not just code compliance. We find the solution that satisfies safety requirements without blowing your costs.
Selected Work
Trusted on New Zealand's most significant projects.
Infrastructure / Transport
City Rail Link — Auckland
Lead fire engineer for New Zealand's largest transport infrastructure project. Performance-based fire design for underground rail stations and tunnels, including CFD modelling and quantitative risk assessment.
Healthcare
Christchurch Hospital — ASB Building
Fire engineering design for the new-build hospital facility as part of Christchurch's post-earthquake rebuild. Complex healthcare occupancy requiring integrated fire safety strategy.
Retail / Commercial
Westfield Newmarket — 277 Broadway
Fire engineering for the redevelopment of one of New Zealand's largest retail destinations. Multi-level retail, dining, and entertainment complex with complex egress requirements.
A straightforward process built around your programme.
01
Brief & Scope
We listen, ask the right questions, and define a clear scope of work with fees confirmed upfront. No ambiguity.
02
Design & Analysis
Our senior engineers develop the fire strategy and detailed design, working alongside your design team to avoid clashes and rework.
03
Documentation & Consent
We prepare clear, council-ready documentation. Our submissions are structured to minimise queries and accelerate your consent timeline.
04
Construction & Completion
We stay involved through construction — monitoring installations, reviewing changes, and ensuring what's built matches what was designed.
Our Team
A team of senior specialists.
Four senior fire engineers — each with over a decade of experience. Every project is led and delivered by experienced professionals, not delegated to junior staff.
Fire engineering that integrates with your project — not against it.
Every engagement is led by a senior engineer and tailored to your project's specific requirements, compliance pathway, and programme.
Fire Engineering Design
The foundation of our practice. We provide fire engineering design across all three compliance pathways under the New Zealand Building Code:
Acceptable Solutions — For standard buildings where prescriptive compliance is the most efficient route. We prepare fire reports and coordinate with your design team to ensure all C/AS requirements are met cleanly.
Verification Method (C/VM2) — For buildings that benefit from the flexibility of the verification method. We undertake the full C/VM2 process including fire modelling, egress analysis, and detailed reporting.
Alternative Solutions — For buildings with unique characteristics that sit outside standard compliance pathways. We develop bespoke fire safety solutions supported by first-principles analysis and international best practice.
Performance-Based Design
For complex buildings and infrastructure, prescriptive compliance isn't always practical or cost-effective. Our performance-based design capability includes:
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) — Detailed fire and smoke modelling using industry-standard software to demonstrate that your building achieves required performance criteria.
Egress Modelling — Simulation of occupant evacuation to verify that escape routes are adequate under design fire scenarios.
Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) — Probabilistic analysis of fire risk for high-consequence facilities such as tunnels, hospitals, and major public buildings.
We have applied these tools on some of New Zealand's most technically demanding projects, including the City Rail Link and Waterview Connection Tunnel.
Fire Safety Strategy
Early engagement saves money. We develop fire safety strategies at concept and preliminary design stages, giving your team the clarity to make informed decisions before detailed design begins. A good fire strategy prevents costly rework, identifies consent risks early, and aligns fire engineering with architectural intent.
Peer Review
Independent fire engineering peer review for BCAs, building owners, and project teams. Our reviews are thorough, fair, and technically rigorous. We identify genuine issues — not theoretical objections — and provide practical recommendations for resolution. Several BCAs engage Fireconnect as their preferred independent peer reviewer.
Construction Monitoring
Fire safety design is only as good as its installation. We provide construction monitoring services to verify that fire protection systems, passive fire separations, and means of escape are built as designed. Early identification of non-compliance on site prevents expensive remediation after completion.
Expert Witness
When fire engineering matters reach legal proceedings, we provide clear, authoritative expert evidence. Our experience spans insurance claims, building disputes, and regulatory proceedings. We present complex fire engineering concepts in terms that legal professionals and decision-makers can follow.
Partner Services
Through our trusted sub-consultant partnerships, we can extend our scope to include full fire protection system design and emergency lighting design. This provides a single point of coordination for all fire-related engineering on your project.
Have a project in mind?
Get in touch to discuss your fire engineering requirements.
We started Fireconnect because we believed fire engineering could be done better.
Too often, fire engineering is treated as a compliance checkbox — a report that arrives late, creates coordination problems, and costs more than it should. We built Fireconnect to be different.
Our Approach
Three principles that guide everything we do.
Practicality first.
Every solution we design must work on site, not just in a report. We account for real construction methods, real contractor capabilities, and real budgets.
Clarity always.
Our reports are written for the people who need to use them — architects, project managers, contractors, and council officers. Technical rigour and clear communication are not mutually exclusive.
Senior delivery.
The people you meet at the start of a project are the same people who deliver the work. We don't delegate to junior staff or offshore.
The Team
Senior specialists across every discipline.
Simon Weaver
Founder & Principal Fire Engineer — IntPE, CPEng, ME (Fire), BE (Hons)
Simon founded Fireconnect nearly a decade ago, drawing on over 25 years of practice across New Zealand and internationally. He has led the fire engineering on many of New Zealand's most high-profile projects, including major infrastructure, healthcare, and commercial developments. Simon is recognised for his ability to develop innovative, practical solutions, and for his reputation as a fire engineer who is genuinely easy to work with. He is an Internationally Registered Professional Engineer and a Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineering New Zealand.
Jessie Hou
Senior Fire Engineer — MEFE (Fire), BE (Civil, 1st Class Honours)
Jessie brings over 10 years of fire engineering practice across residential, healthcare, education, commercial, airports, and transport. Before joining Fireconnect, Jessie was the senior fire engineer at Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), where she undertook technical fire engineering reviews and contributed to national fire regulation policy. Prior to FENZ, she held a senior role at Aurecon, one of Australasia's largest multi-discipline engineering consultancies. Her regulatory experience gives Fireconnect unique insight into how fire engineering submissions are assessed.
Phung Le
Senior Fire Engineer — CPEng, CMEngNZ, ME (Fire), BE, BBSc
Phung has over 15 years of experience and is a Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineering New Zealand. She has worked on some of New Zealand's most complex projects including the Christchurch Hospital ASB rebuild, City Rail Link, and Westfield Newmarket. Before Fireconnect, Phung was a senior fire engineer at Aurecon from 2012. Her experience on large-scale, multi-stakeholder projects gives her exceptional capability in coordination, documentation, and technical delivery under pressure.
Brian Lucas
Fire Engineering Designer — M.I.Fire.E, National Diploma Fire & Rescue Service Operations
Brian brings over 40 years of professional experience across fire services and fire safety. For the past eight years, he has specialised in fire design reports, construction monitoring, and the assessment and inspection of building fire safety systems. Brian's operational fire service background provides a perspective that most fire engineers simply don't have — he understands fire behaviour not just from engineering models, but from real-world experience.
Credentials
Professional standing.
Registrations
IntPE (International Professional Engineer), CPEng (Chartered Professional Engineer), CMEngNZ
Qualifications
ME (Fire), BE (Hons), MEFE (Fire), BE (Civil, 1st Class Hons), BBSc, M.I.Fire.E
Memberships
Engineering New Zealand, Society of Fire Protection Engineers, Institution of Fire Engineers
Key Projects
City Rail Link, Christchurch Hospital, Waterview Tunnel, Westfield Newmarket, Britomart, Mt Victoria Tunnel
Ready to work together?
Get in touch with Simon directly to discuss your project.
