Enhancing Fire Safety in Timber Construction: The Role of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and HI-FOG® Systems in Sustainable Fire Suppression Design

Abstract

This thesis investigated how Building Information Modelling (BIM) can be paired with advanced fire-suppression technology—specifically, Marioff’s HI-FOG® water-mist system—to address the unique fire-safety challenges of modern timber construction while safeguarding the material’s sustainability and aesthetic value. A structured literature review demonstrated that BIM supports regulatory compliance, spatial coordination and life-cycle optimisation of fire-safety systems. To ground these findings, a rapid retrofit of a multi-storey engineered-timber office project in Espoo was analysed. Converting the original wet-pipe sprinkler layout to a BIM-integrated HI-FOG® solution cut main-pipe diameters from DN 38 mm to DN 30 mm, all without rebuilding geometry in Revit. The hybrid workflow (IFC → Solibri → Excel mapping) also reduced bill-of-materials processing-time. These results confirmed that BIM-supported HI-FOG® strategies can deliver safer, leaner and more resource-efficient fire protection for timber buildings, advancing both industry practice and sustainability goals. The lessons learnt underscore the importance of early specialist involvement and component provisioning, and they align with Marioff’s commitment to environmentally responsible fire-safety solutions.