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    Harley Haddow–Pillar Fire deal: integrated fire design lessons for project teams

    September 2, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Harley Haddow–Pillar Fire deal: integrated fire design lessons for project teams

    First reported on The Construction Index

    30 Second Briefing

    Harley Haddow has acquired specialist consultancy Pillar Fire to create a national fire engineering and fire risk management division led by director of fire consultancy Kevin McKeown. Fire engineers will now work in-house alongside Harley Haddow’s structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, geotechnical, building performance and sustainability teams from concept stage, targeting early integration of fire strategies rather than late-stage “bolt-on” solutions. The move responds to post-Grenfell regulatory reforms and the Building Safety Act, amid a shortage of qualified fire engineers and rising demand for demonstrable competency and accountability.

    Technical Brief

    • New division combines fire engineering and fire risk management under a single accountable consultancy structure.
    • Fire input is intended to influence early structural grid, compartmentation and egress layouts, not retrofit.
    • Integration with geotechnical and structural teams enables coordinated treatment of fire-induced thermal and spalling demands.
    • Close collaboration with M&E engineers supports coherent smoke control, pressurisation and fire detection/alarm strategies.
    • Building performance and sustainability teams can align façade, insulation and materials choices with fire performance constraints.

    Our Take

    Harley Haddow has featured several times in our recent Infrastructure coverage, with the Bristol office opening and the appointment of a national civil engineering director signalling a deliberate build-out of in‑house specialisms across the UK rather than a purely regional consultancy model.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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