Maisam is a Melbourne based associate director in our global fire engineering team. His extensive experience covers projects across the healthcare, residential, retail, educational, entertainment, office, industrial, correctional and aviation sectors.
Maisam is a chartered professional engineer in the areas of fire safety engineering and project management.
He has conducted numerous evacuation and smoke modelling, detailed risk assessments, fire safety audits and preparation of fire engineering performance-based briefs and reports for a variety of complex projects. He also brings vast and practical experience in fire, hydraulic and mechanical pump and tank system designs and installations for building services.
Here, Maisam shares that it was time spent at Queensland’s Dreamworld as a child that led him to engineering. He talks about innovation, legacy and one of his favourite projects, the unique Collins Arch in Melbourne.
What inspired you to become an engineer?
Growing up, I aspired to be an airline pilot as I found it fascinating how these giant machines could fly. But as I grew older and after a few visits to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast (after riding on The Giant Drop), I realised I have a mild acrophobia and so decided to pursue engineering instead.
It was an easy decision to do a double degree at The University of Melbourne in Mechatronics Engineering, as at the time I was very keen to learn how to design smart robots.
Why fire engineering?
After I finished university, my first engineering job was with a manufacturing company who specialised in fire pumps and tanks. This led me to interact with several building services engineers and learn that fire protection/services engineering was a different discipline to fire safety engineering. I had never heard of a fire safety engineer at university, so my curiosity led me to pursue further post-graduate studies in fire engineering at Victoria University (VU).
I soon fell in love with all things fire and was awarded for being the highest achieving graduate in the Postgraduate Diploma in Building Fire Safety and Risk Engineering. Soon after, I was invited to be part of the sessional academic staff at VU and at the same time began working full time as a fire safety engineer.
It didn’t take long before I knew that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my career, and I haven’t looked back since.
What’s your career highlight project?
There are a few contenders, but the project that was the most rewarding for me personally has to be Collins Arch, located at 447 Collins Street in Melbourne.
The objective was to create Australia’s largest integrated mixed-use development by constructing distinctive co-joined towers, and attract top-tier tenants from various sectors to make their home in this unique building.
Developed by Cbus Property, it’s a landmark project that encompasses an entire city block site, the last CBD ‘island development site’ bounded by wide streets and heritage buildings.
Tell us about the fire engineering on this project.
This was a highly unique and complex building which included two 40 storey towers connected by an 8-level skybridge, spanning some 14 metres.
In the early stages of the project, I worked closely with the architect to resolve the exit strategies from both towers, including transfer of stairs due to the unique step feature of the tower, with the footprint reducing as the tower height increases.
I also collaborated closely with the structural engineer to provide a suitable solution for the skybridge’s fire rating of structural steel members. In addition, there were unprotected steel members across two roof levels supporting plant loads for which I developed performance solutions (with careful consideration of fire brigade intervention due to the height of the building).
One of the challenges on this project was the egress and smoke hazard management strategy for the hotel ballroom and pre-function areas.
The population numbers proposed required a fire engineering assessment to determine the suitability of the aggregate egress width available, which was 1.5 metres less than the prescribed minimum by the building code.
In addition, the smoke exhaust rate and make up air arrangement had to be engineered to limit the quantities due to limited space for mechanical services. Using bespoke fire engineering smoke and egress modelling, I developed a solution where the proposed perforated suspended ceiling panels and the ceiling plenum itself could be used as part of the smoke hazard management strategy.
This took an enormous amount of coordination with the architect and thinking outside the box in terms of the most efficient smoke exhaust strategy, while minimising the effects of plug-holing (which is a phenomenon where air below the smoke layer is pulled into the smoke exhaust system).
By the end of the project, I had developed some 50+ fire engineering related performance solutions to overcome all the unique challenges associated with a high rise mixed-used development.
What innovative new approaches are you seeing when it comes to fire engineering?
Most of the innovative new approaches that I have encountered in fire engineering have been due to the increased focus on building efficiency and sustainability.
There is an increased demand when designing buildings (including high rise towers) with natural materials such as cross laminated timber (CLT), building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) which are integrated into building facades and electric car (EV) charging stations.
All these new technologies and sustainable initiatives are the catalysts to drive more innovative solutions within the fire engineering discipline.
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 mechanical engineering and your projects?
From my personal experience working across various regions in Australia over the last almost two decades, I have observed the significant increase of uptake in fire engineering across Australia.
Building designers, developers and other stakeholders have now seen the benefits of fire engineering contributions on their projects and so we, as fire engineers, are highly sought after on almost every key project.
I would say there are many similarities across Australia in terms of the fire engineering processes following guidelines such as the international and/or Australian Fire Engineering Guide. However, when it comes to project outcomes and level of skill, in some instances, I have encountered significant differences.
I fully agree with the conclusions made by The Warren Centre report, namely the Fire Safety Engineering – Education Report, which identifies one of the key outstanding actions with respect to the future of fire engineering education in Australia:
“A clear and comprehensive set of properly constituted competencies for fire safety engineering that covers knowledge, skills and other professional attributes needs to be written and agreed as the basis for a move to full professionalisation of the discipline in Australia.”
Where do you see the future of fire engineering heading?
I see a very bright future for fire engineering which embraces new technologies to develop even more innovative solutions. I believe we will get to a point where we will rely less on understanding human or even fire behaviour and focus more on the possibility of relying on artificial intelligence to minimise fires developing past the smouldering phase. Perhaps even the possibility of having full time robotic first responders residing within buildings that can assist with both early fire suppression and occupant evacuation.
It is a well-known fact that there is a growing focus on energy efficiency and sustainability within building designs and I believe as we further advance in the future, we will be able to design complex buildings more effectively and robustly than ever before.
What is the difference between fire protection engineering and fire safety engineering, and how do they work together?
The main difference between fire protection engineering and fire safety engineering is that fire protection engineers are trained to design fire safety systems which strictly comply with local building regulations and standards, whereas fire safety engineers are equipped with the skills and knowledge to be able to develop unique performance solutions which do not necessarily follow the prescribed set of rules within the building code.
This allows us as fire safety engineers to tailor our solutions for each project, to not only achieve compliance with building code performance requirements but also allow significant flexibility in the architectural design and provide both a practical and cost effective solution.
What legacy do you want to leave, when it comes to your career?
Over the years, I have had the privilege to mentor several new engineers in the field of fire engineering. I have always sought to challenge the next generation of fire engineers to think beyond just focusing on occupant life safety considerations when designing buildings. I believe that as fire engineers, we need to put on other hats such as system installers, maintenance personnel, users of the building and consider the long-term environmental and social impacts of our solutions.
As such, I want to leave a legacy in fire engineering where we are not just known as technical engineers who can solve complex problems and develop performance solutions in order to obtain a building permit. Rather, to be known as highly versatile engineers who are able to see the bigger picture and lead the entire design team (including the client) to the best possible solution which will stand the test of time.
What advice do you have for young engineers in fire engineering?
Fire engineering is a highly specialised and relatively young discipline (initiated in the 1990s) which requires young engineers to do further post-graduate studies to develop the foundational skills required to be successful in the profession.
I must admit that it can be a little overwhelming at the start because there are several important skills to develop before you are able to provide a holistic fire engineering solution. However, once you appreciate the importance of what we do as fire engineers (in terms of developing solutions in relation to life safety), you develop an irresistible desire to be part of this discipline, which for me personally has only intensified over the years.
