Ivan joined NDY in 2021 as a fire protection engineer, having started his career as an electrician and gradually moved to fire alarm installations and later, to the design of various fire protection systems.
Over 15 years in the industry, his work has progressed to managing design teams and installations in a range of both small and large-scale developments in commercial office and retail, residential and industrial projects.
With a background in contracting, Ivan has a very good understanding of requirements that facilitate workable design solutions and meet specific project needs. His interest in fire engineering is a natural progression to expand knowledge in the fire safety field, allowing him to contribute to project concept decisions and development from early stages through to completion.
Read on for Ivan’s reflections on his inspirations and career to date, including his favourite project, the nationally significant Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga.
What inspired you to become an engineer?
During my high school years, I attended facultative after-hours lessons with the initial goal to improve my math skills. Over the few years going there, I gradually became exposed to the elements of TRIZ (theory of inventive problem solving) as an innovative way of creating an organised and systematic approach to problem-solving.
This time of exploring maths and science, reading the best science fiction books, and analysing them with the main principles of the theory, framed me as an individual and determined the path I chose to follow. Finding a simple and elegant solution to a problem, an unusual approach to mundane tasks, challenging common practice – those things bring a lot of joy into my life.
Why fire protection engineering?
When I graduated as an electrical engineer, I had very little knowledge about fire protection and took the opportunity to work in the industry as my first job. It was a great place to start and get experience. And after only a few years, I realised that what I’m doing is not only to earn my living, to work alongside interesting people and because I enjoy problem-solving.
I started to understand that my job has another aspect to it – a contribution to the people and environment around me by making the spaces and processes safer. The greater responsibility came with this thought though – every decision I made at work has a big impact on the future.
Understanding this keeps me more engaged and motivated to stay in this field and learn it in depth.
What’s your career highlight project?
The new Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga building is definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime projects I’m privileged to be involved in.
Otherwise known as Archives Wellington, the building is currently under construction in Wellington and will serve to preserve and protect important historical records for future generations. As the site is in a high seismic activity zone, great effort has been made to design the earthquake-resilient base isolated building from a structural perspective.
NDY is helping make this building functional through provision of building services engineering. Designing the building services and making them work with seismic resilience as one of the key objectives, was a huge challenge to embrace and overcome.
Tell us about the fire protection engineering on this project.
Striking the right balance between a high level of content protection, low probability of inadvertent damage, and resistance during and post-earthquake was a crucial point informing the fire protection design concept and implementation in the fire protection systems.
The design solutions include a multi-sectional sprinkler pre-action system with no water in pipes over the depository and areas where archives are processed, with standby mode maintained to minimise the risk of water damage. Aspirating smoke detectors provide early smoke detection and occupant warning.
A flexible pipe joint specially engineered for this project will be installed in the basement, allowing the sprinkler system to supply water to the building, which is standing on the array of seismic isolators at its designed range of motions – 1.3 m from the neutral position.
A collaboration between building services, structural engineers and architects has achieved the required robustness and at the same time flexibility in the inner systems, accommodating building superstructure design movements to achieve the desired performance.
What innovative new approaches are you seeing when it comes to fire protection engineering?
By nature, the fire protection industry is quite conservative as all solutions must be inherently reliable and thoroughly tested before their implementation. As a result, technical innovations in response to new challenges are usually slow to be adopted.
The fire protection industry has recently embraced an integration of building information modelling (BIM) and design collaboration. This is largely driven by ever-increasing building design complexity, an abundance of other services, a desire to maximise off-site prefabrication, and more strict requirements in every iteration of the codes.
If you’ve worked across regions, countries, and/or Tetra Tech operating units, can you tell us about the key similarities and differences you’ve encountered when it comes to fire protection engineering and your projects?
While the essence of fire protection and its core principles are universal, local codes and regulations can vary significantly between different countries due to the specific requirements of regions, legislation, and historical background. The way the fire service operates in a country or region also influences fire protection system requirements. As an example, New Zealand places a big emphasis on the resilience of fire protection systems during and after earthquakes.
Where do you see the future of fire protection engineering heading?
With the advancement of BIM in the design process we have access to more parameters and performance indicators of buildings, even before construction has started. This allows fire protection engineers to calculate the risks associated with the project and perhaps to develop a tailored solution – a performance-based design – especially if the project is unique or particular risks are high. This involves analysing the specific fire scenarios and developing fire protection systems and features based on the anticipated fire behaviour and the desired level of protection.
What is the difference between fire protection engineering and fire engineering, and how do they work together?
Fire protection engineering primarily focuses on the design and implementation of fire protection systems to minimise the risk of fire and to protect life, property, and the environment.
Fire engineering, on the other hand, takes a broader approach, considering fire behaviour, fire dynamics, and fire safety in the design, construction, and operation of buildings and structures.
Fire protection engineers design and evaluate fire protection systems such as sprinkler systems, fire alarms, smoke control systems and egress systems.
Fire engineering involves a more holistic approach to fire safety, taking into account fire behaviour, and the impact of fire on people, property and environment. Fire engineers use advanced modelling techniques to simulate fire scenarios and evaluate the effectiveness of fire protection systems in controlling the spread of fire, smoke, and toxic gases. They also consider the impact of fire on building occupants, including evacuation procedures and the design of egress systems.
The fire protection engineer and fire engineer work together to ensure the safety of occupants, buildings, and structures from the damaging effects of fire.
What legacy do you want to leave, when it comes to your career?
A contribution to the engineering community by accumulating and sharing knowledge about systems and how they work with colleagues, helping to develop and push the boundaries of what is possible within the field.
I’d like to contribute to a safe and resilient environment for people and a shared, sustainable future.
Concept image of the new Archives New Zealand Building in Wellington supplied courtesy of Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Archives New Zealand. Read more about the project on the Archives New Zealand website.
