On September 19th, 2025, AECORD hosted an insightful online session titled “Understanding Building and Fire Safety in India.” The discussion brought together leading voices in architecture, fire safety, and façade design to address one of the most pressing challenges in India’s urban landscape.
The session featured:
Prashanth Gururaj – Associate Director, Fire & Safety at DesignTree Service Consultants Pvt. Ltd. He is a mechanical engineer with 26 years of industry experience and shared critical insights on evolving fire safety standards, along with practical approaches to their implementation.
Meghna Srivastava – Managing Partner at MAP Architects, with over 25 years of experience. She emphasized the role of design foresight and compliance in creating safer and more resilient built environments.
Nandakumar B. S. – Project Director, Façade at Evermark Project Solutions. A civil engineer with over 20 years of experience in the façade industry, he highlighted the importance of material choices, façade engineering, and the integration of fire-safe architectural solutions.
Here’s a detailed look at the major insights discussed during the session:
Introduction
India’s rapid urban growth has placed unprecedented demands on building safety, particularly in the realm of fire protection. Despite advances in design, materials, and regulatory codes, fire incidents remain a critical threat both to life and property. For architects, developers, and policymakers, fire safety is no longer just a compliance requirement; it is a cornerstone of sustainable, resilient, and responsible building design.
Fire Incidents & Causes
India continues to witness frequent fire-related tragedies across residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. According to recent data, thousands of lives are lost annually due to preventable causes such as:
Electrical Faults → Poor wiring, overloading, and non-compliant installations.
Combustible Materials → Use of low-grade cladding, untreated wood, and flammable finishes.
Design Gaps → Inadequate escape routes, poor ventilation, and non-compartmentalized spaces.
These incidents underscore the urgency of embedding fire safety considerations from the earliest stages of architectural planning.
Regulatory Framework
India’s fire safety governance is guided by the National Building Code (NBC) 2016, Part 4 (Fire and Life Safety), along with state-specific fire services acts and municipal by-laws. Key provisions include:
Occupancy-based Safety Norms – Differentiated requirements for residential, commercial, healthcare, and industrial buildings.
Mandatory Approvals – Fire NOCs (No Objection Certificates) prior to occupancy.
Standards for Active & Passive Systems – Installation of alarms, sprinklers, and fire-rated materials.
However, the fragmented enforcement across states and uneven awareness among stakeholders has led to inconsistent compliance.
Implementation Challenges
Despite strong codes on paper, India faces critical hurdles in execution:
Compliance Gaps – Builders often prioritize cost efficiency over safety standards.
Inspection Limitations – Understaffed fire departments struggle with enforcement and periodic audits.
Inspection Limitations – Understaffed fire departments struggle with enforcement and periodic audits.
Informal Construction Sector – A large percentage of urban housing remains outside formal regulatory oversight.
For professionals, this highlights the need for integrating independent fire consultants, third-party certification, and digital compliance tracking.
Fire Safety in Design
Architects and engineers hold a pivotal role in embedding fire safety into spatial planning. Key strategies include:
Compartmentalization – Using fire-rated walls and doors to contain fire spread.
Egress Planning – Designing clear, illuminated, and unobstructed escape routes.
Material Selection – Prioritizing fire-rated glass, cladding, coatings, and sealants.
Beyond compliance, a safety-first design philosophy ensures resilience, reduces liability, and builds public trust in built environments.
Technology & Innovation
Advances in proptech and building materials are transforming fire safety:
Smart Sensors & IoT Integration – Real-time detection of smoke, gas leaks, and heat anomalies.
Automated Suppression Systems – Water mist, gas flooding, and kitchen suppression systems tailored to occupancies.
Fire-Resistant Materials – Intumescent paints, FR cladding, and high-performance glazing.
Emerging solutions such as AI-driven risk modelling and digital twin simulations allow professionals to test building safety under dynamic scenarios before construction begins.
Institutional & Operational Aspects
Beyond design and technology, institutional capacity defines outcomes. Critical aspects include:
Capacity Building – Training fire services in modern equipment and techniques.
Inter-Agency Coordination – Streamlining approvals between urban local bodies, fire departments, and development authorities.
Public Awareness – Regular fire drills, safety signage, and occupant preparedness.
These operational aspects often determine whether safety protocols succeed in real-world emergencies.
Way Forward
Policy Reform – Stronger alignment of state laws with NBC standards.
Professional Accountability – Mandating fire safety audits as part of the architectural workflow.
The path to robust fire safety in India demands a multi-stakeholder approach:
Cultural Shift – Moving from a compliance mindset to a culture of proactive safety in design and operations.
Technology Adoption – Mainstreaming IoT, AI, and resilient materials in mainstream construction.
“Fire Safety by Design: Expert Insights from Prashanth Gururaj, Nandakumar B S & Meghna Srivastava”
1. How do architects, MEP engineers and facade consultants need to collaborate from day one to ensure fire safety compliance?
Answer (Meghna): In any project, if fire safety is discussed only at sanction or execution stage, it is already too late. As architects, we set the building massing, we decide the entry, exit points, refuge spaces and a lot of other such areas. If we coordinate early with MEP consultants and facade experts, primarily after the concept closure, we can derive at most robust solution for the fire safety.
2. Does fire safety limit architectural aesthetics?
Answer (Meghna): Fire safety does not really limit aesthetics. We as architects know how to balance the mandatory requirements. There’s no compromise to any of these. For example, a refuge area which is mandatory in high rise buildings where people can await emergency exits and safe evacuation. These areas have to be provisioned with proper calculations for every floor, and they have to be accommodated in projects while creating optimized designs.
3. Does robust fire safety significantly increase project cost?
Answer (Prashanth): Cost doesn’t significantly increase. It is around 2.5 to 4% of the overall project cost spent on fire safety. People spend on luxury items but hesitate when spending on fire safety because firefighting systems don’t work every day – sprinklers only glare at you and detectors only see you. But nowadays, developers market their buildings as fire compliant and fire safe.
Answer (Nandakumar): I don’t think there is any significant increase in cost – hardly 2 to 3%. It is really worth investing that kind of money for projects. The cost of fire accidents is priceless – you can’t measure that.
4. What is the single most urgent change India needs in fire safety?
Answer (Nandakumar): We need more education on this subject. There should be more webinars, seminars, and discussions. The suppliers of fire systems should conduct more meetings with clients, end users, architects, and consultants.
5. Can you cite incidents where designer systems fail?
Answer (Meghna): The movie “Trial by Fire” about the Uphaar cinema tragedy where fire exit doors were locked. Also, in high-rise apartments where refuge areas are treated as storage balconies. The primary reason for refuge areas is for people to wait for rescue, but when made inaccessible, problems start. It’s about design, execution, and making sure spaces are kept intact for use when required.
6. In what ways do fire safety requirements vary depending on building usage (residential, commercial, industrial, public assembly)?
Answer (Prashanth): Each entity has different requirements. Residential: 8 months to 80 years can stay. Commercial: Less than 18 years cannot enter, mainly 18-65 years. Industrial has age limits. Public assembly places like malls and multiplexes are vulnerable as everybody can be there. The staircase width, number of staircases, and type of active systems differ drastically between these categories.
7. Do evacuation strategies differ for hospitals, schools and office towers?
Answer (Meghna): Absolutely yes. Offices focus on fast evacuations. Hospitals need more fire compartments because patients don’t move easily. Schools need wider staircases and regular drills. Every building type has a different strategy. In hospitals, passive fire protection is more stressed, whereas for others it could be more active protection.
Professional Onboarding
For a more detailed explanation and full insights, the complete video of this session will be available on our YouTube channel — [AECORD]. We invite you to visit, watch, and subscribe for more expert-led content.
