If you enjoy planning and resourceful thinking, consider fire engineering. Study fire safety design, fire assessment, regulations, and fire risk technology at degree level and progress to a career as a fire engineer.

Fire Risk Engineering is a relatively new discipline within the construction industry, driven by developments in fire safety legislation.

The GCU programme - one of the few offered in the UK - was developed in close partnership with the Fire and Rescue Service. It is unique in its focus on fire safety design and regulations. It was the first in the UK to achieve academic exemption by the Institution of Fire Engineers at MIFireE level.

This degree has been accredited by the Institution of Fire Engineers under licence from the UK regulator, the Engineering Council, as meeting the academic requirement for IEng registration and partially meeting the requirement for CEng registration. Accreditation is a mark of assurance that the degree meets the standards set by the Engineering Council in the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC). An accredited degree will provide you with some or all of the underpinning knowledge, understanding and skills for eventual registration as an Incorporated (IEng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng). Some employers recruit preferentially from accredited degrees, and an accredited degree is likely to be recognised by other countries that are signatories to international accords.

Risk management, forecasting, problem solving and communication are all part of the programme, which has strong links with consultants and regulators who share their knowledge through guest lectures, case study materials and site visits. A number of Fire and Rescue Service Officers are associate lecturers.

You will have the opportunity to study abroad or undertake an accredited work placement, as well as an optional work placement.

This programme can be studied part time at our London campus and full time or part time in Glasgow.

This degree has been accredited by the Institution of Fire Engineers under licence from the UK regulator, the Engineering Council, as meeting the academic requirement for IEng registration and partially meeting the requirement for CEng registration. Accreditation is a mark of assurance that the degree meets the standards set by the Engineering Council in the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC). An accredited degree will provide you with some or all of the underpinning knowledge, understanding and skills for eventual registration as an Incorporated (IEng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng). Some employers recruit preferentially from accredited degrees, and an accredited degree is likely to be recognised by other countries that are signatories to international accords.

Course structure-

Year 1
Foundation level - Building Design, Technology and Performance.

Year 2
Principles of Fire Safety Analysis & The Practice of Fire Safety Design & Regulation, Computer-Aided Modelling Techniques, Risk Management, Introduction to Maths and Structure.

Year 3
Work placement or studies with one of our partner universities; Fire Dynamics, Structural Fire Protection, Suppression Systems Design, CAD and Computational Fluid Dynamics.

aYear 4
Honours Dissertation, further study of topics such as Smoke Control Systems Design, Evacuation Systems Design, Fire Risk Assessment, Fire Engineering Design.

Career prospects are excellent with the fire services, construction companies, consultancy, offshore oil industry, and local authorities in the UK and overseas.

Some of our graduates are now working in consultancy in the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and the USA as well as throughout the UK.