In 2011, BRANZ published a New Zealand fire research roadmap that was developed in consultation with key New Zealand fire industry stakeholders. The roadmap was revisited and updated in 2017.
The vision of the updated roadmap is to:
- be representative of the research needs of all New Zealand stakeholders in fire safety in buildings
- be valuable and useful for all stakeholders
- foster effective collaboration among the fire research community
- be central to research planning/implementation by all New Zealand fire research stakeholders
- be a living document that is reviewed on a regular cycle.
Examples of societal impacts both before and after fire events in the short and long term include:
- individual life safety
- life safety of groups/large populations
- public health
- post-traumatic stress
- economic (direct and indirect property loss in fire, intervention costs and prevention costs)
- business and personal life interruption/disruption
- environmental.
| Building users | Sustainability | Risk and uncertainty | Building resilience |
| How 'building-user' interactions affect the societal impact of fire. | The influence of building sustainability objectives on the societal impact of fire. | How the development and application of risk concepts can reduce the societal impact of fire. | How 'structural system-building material-fire' interactions affect the societal impact of fire. |
| Building typologies | Component and system performance | Technology | Sector performance |
| Unique aspects of specific building types and interfaces that influence the societal impact of fire. | How individual building components and combinations of components as systems affect the societal impact of fire. | How ‘big data' and associated technology can be used to reduce the societal impact of fire. | How building industry performance influences the societal impact of fire. |
Summary of fire research roadmap themes and objectives.
