Application of Group Analytic Technique in the design decision-making process for a steel building in fire

This paper presents how group analytic technique (GAT) may be used to approach complex design decision-making using an exemplar steel portal-framed building exposed to a potentially destructive fire. Chartered stakeholder views on the building’s structural fire design attributes were extracted to determine qualitative priorities for selecting a suitable applied fire protection solution. Fire pro- tection costs and structural fire resistance have been numerically and probabilistically assessed re- garding the design of one of the building’s columns. The assessment outcomes have been inte- grated/synthesised through GAT. The results show the logical analyses of varying design objectives in approaching an optimal solution to resilient steel buildings and establish the viability of the tech- nique. The result also shows that unprotecting structural elements of the building was ranked as the best solution.