Founded in 2009, Maurice Johnson & Partners (MJP) has come through the recession to establish itself as a leading fire safety engineering and access consultancy company.
With offices in Dublin, Cork and Letterkenny, it is well placed to provide a nationwide service and has also expanded its services into Northern Ireland and the UK.
The practice provides consultancy services embracing all areas of fire safety engineering, fire safety management and training, access and use, due diligence, expert witness and computer modelling. Maurice Johnson, who has been a fire safety engineer since 1985, is one of four directors in the company – the others being Des Fortune, Stefan Hyde and Luke Fegan. Employing 21 staff, MJP has experienced significant growth since relocating its Dublin office from Merrion Square to Charlotte Quay (Ringsend Road) two years ago.
“It’s a great location from the point of view that there is a lot of large-scale building projects taking place in that area,” Maurice explains.
“Our Dublin office is complimented by sub-offices in Cork and Letterkenny, which give us nationwide coverage. We have a growing customer-base in both the private and public sectors, and are delighted to be associated with some of the largest and most prestigious building contracts taking place in the country at present.”
MJP is at the forefront of fire engineering in Ireland in the application of prescriptive and performance-based fire engineering design to public and private clients. It has achieved this through knowledge of both national and international prescriptive-based guidance and regulations; the embracement of advanced fire engineering modelling – modelling of fire growth, smoke movement, structural response and occupant behaviour – to deliver innovation and cost-efficient solutions; an ongoing commitment to the provision of a cost-effective and prompt service to its clients; adopting a proactive approach to service delivery from project inception through to building occupation.
The company’s range of fire engineering services include: pre-planning Building Regulations Fire Safety Compliance assessment and technical submissions to accompany planning applications; preparation of technical submissions (fire strategy reports and supporting drawings) to Local Authority Fire Departments under the various fire, health and safety and planning legislation, including Building Control and Fire Services Acts; provision of expert advice in relation to the application and interpretation of the Building Control & Fire Safety legislation; development of fire engineering design solutions using state-of-the-art software and design from first principles for a range of complex design scenarios, including people movement and evacuation modelling, fire growth and development, design calculations and modelling, smoke and heat exhaust ventilation systems design, structural fire engineering design, fire safety audits and fire safety risk assessments.
The practice’s range of training and management services include Fire Safety Marshal & Warden training, evacuation training, fire safety management planning, evacuation for non-ambulant persons and during performance audits.
The fire safety training services span many industries, with all training programmes tailored and delivered to reflect the needs of clients. MJP delivers training to a diverse range of customers, including healthcare, commercial office and retail properties and public entertainment venues. MJP’s Fire Marshal courses ensure that senior healthcare personnel on the scene of a fire have the necessary skills and knowledge-base to allow them make important decisions in the care and protection of patients, staff and visitors.
MJP’s access consultancy services include the preparation, submission and negotiation of Disability Access Certificate (DAC) applications and carrying out access audits, which assist clients in complying with the latest requirements of Part III B of the Building Control Regulations 1997-2014 and Section 25 of the Disability Act 2005.
The company is recognised as the leading accessibility consultancy in the country and has provided accessibility design services on many prestigious projects, including the Google EMEA HQ, PayPal European HQ, Abercrombie & Fitch and ESB HQ. MJP’s industry standing is underpinned by its vast knowledge of local and international design guidance and practical experience.
Due diligence is another area in which MJP specialises. There are many property portfolios in the Irish market which are either incomplete or for which there are gaps in the certification and compliance documentation. The MJP team have considerable experience in relation to assisting the owners and asset managers in the achievement of fire safety compliance for these developments. In addition, MJP has extensive experience in relation to advising private and public clients on fire safety in property acquisitions as part of a due diligence course. The services provided typically include inspection and reporting on existing buildings, evaluation of plans and specifications, review of statutory approvals, preparation of snag lists, monitoring of the progress of construction and commissioning.
MJP also provides expert witness / advice services in relation to various legal as quasi legal proceedings, including contractual disputes which have gone to arbitration, mediation or conciliation; liability proceedings in relation to defective buildings; statutory enforcement proceedings under the Fire Services Act 1981-2003 and under the Building Control Act; disputes in relation to neighbouring properties and boundary conditions; oral hearings of An Bord Pleanala in relation to fire safety considerations which may impact on planning consent.
MJP bring to these appointments a vast range of experience – both technical expertise and practical experience in the delivery of fire safe buildings. The company also has an impeccable reputation in industry and therefore is ideally placed to provide this type of service.
Large and complex projects often benefit from more detailed fire modelling to support value engineered design solutions or justify certain aspects of the design such as smoke modelling to demonstrate the acceptability of extended travel distances or as part of a timeline analysis for evacuation. MJP’s fire engineers are fully acquainted with and proficient in the use of a range of fire and evacuation models, including NIST FDS Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), PyroSIM, CFAST, FPETool, ASKFRS, ASKHPM, ASMET and CCFM. The firm has also developed a range of fully validated in-house fire and smoke modelling software for use in projects where higher order fire engineering design solutions are required to demonstrate compliance with fire and life safety objectives.
The Midlands Prison Cell Block extension, Mount Joy Prison, Kelly’s Resort Hotel and Spa, HSE North East Nursing Home, Google EMEA HQ and Carlow IT Innovation and Research Building are just some of the large and complex projects MJP has used NIST FDS Computational Fluid Dynamics on.
MJP has undertaken a wide range of projects for private and public clients. Private sector customers include Hibernia Reit, Kennedy Wilson, Hines, Zara, Dunnes Stores, Abercrombie & Fitch, Eason, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, Walls, New Gen Homes, Hines, ABM Construction, Bam, Glenbeigh Construction, Deloitte, Analog Devices, Jones Lang Lasalle, Bon Secours Health System, Google, Facebook, PayPal, Dundrum Town Centre, Bank of Ireland, Castlelands Construction Company, Hegarty Builders, Pfizer, P Elliott, Sisk and Irish Life.
Public clients include DCU, the National College of Ireland, Grangegorman Development Agency, DAA, HSE, Revenue, ESB, RTE, OPW and Shannon Airport.
“Two of the largest projects we are currently involved with are right here on our doorstep in Dublin – Boland’s Quay and Capital Dock. Capital Dock, which is being developed by Kennedy Wilson, is a landmark office, residential and retail development comprising 190 residential apartments. It will include the tallest residential building in the country when completed. Boland’s Quay is also a standout project comprising a mix of high rise office and apartments, as well as the redevelopment of a number of historic buildings fronting onto Grand Canal Dock,” says Maurice.
“We are also involved with the Cherrywood Town Centre development by Hines beside the M50 at the Cherrywood Interchange. This development will consist of 1,500 apartments among other things and will lead to the creation of a new town with a population of about 20,000.”
Maurice Johnson & Partners
Head / Dublin Office:
The Anchorage, Charlotte Quay, Dublin 4
Telephone: 01 661 8086
Cork Office: Watergold, Douglas, Cork
Telephone: 021 242 7107
Letterkenny Office
Unit 01, Colab, Port Road, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
Telephone: 074 919 4012
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.mjp.ie
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, October 2016, Vol 2 No 6
