Sr. Fire Protection Design Engineer

Yashkumar
Shah

Fire protection design for the buildings that shouldn’t burn.

Mullingar, IrelandCritical Skills Work Permit · Stamp 19+ years
Portrait of Yashkumar Shah
About

Mechanical engineer by training. Fire protection engineer by choice.

I design the systems that
buildings quietly depend on.

My path into fire protection engineering started with a mechanical engineering degree at MIT Pune and early years at Thermax and Tata, learning how large industrial systems actually behave. When I moved into building services, it was a natural step: fire protection sits at the intersection of hydraulics, mechanical design, code compliance, and coordination with every other discipline on a project.

Over the last nine years I’ve worked on more than a hundred buildings across the US and Europe. Hyperscale data centres in Ireland and mainland Europe. A large healthcare campus in Harlem. LaGuardia’s airport redevelopment. Power generation facilities, ESFR warehouses, mixed-use towers, hospitality, residential. Each of them has a fire protection strategy behind the walls that I helped design.

I moved to Ireland at the end of 2025 to lead fire protection design at Writech Industrial Services, working primarily on mission-critical facilities and complex infrastructure across Europe. I’m building the next stretch of my practice around the projects I care about most: the buildings that people trust to keep working, and to keep them safe.

At present

Leading fire protection design at Writech Industrial Services in Ireland — focused on hyperscale data centres, power generation, and mission-critical infrastructure across Europe.

Sector
Data centres
Region
Europe
Standards
NFPA / FM Global / LPC
BIM
LOD 400 / 500
Sectors

The buildings I design fire protection for.

Nine years of work across sectors that share the same brief: stay standing, stay serviceable, keep people safe.

Hyperscale data centres

Sprinkler and pre-action design for mission-critical white-space, pump rooms, and support facilities across multiple European sites.

Healthcare

Life-safety design for large hospital campuses, coordinated tightly with medical gas, HVAC, and complex compartmentation strategies.

Aviation

Airport terminal fire protection at scale — high-ceiling suppression, foam systems, and coordination across an active landside programme.

Warehouses (ESFR)

In-rack and ceiling-only ESFR sprinkler design for high-piled storage, sized to actual commodity classification and storage configuration.

Power generation

Deluge, water-mist, and foam suppression for turbine halls, transformer bays, and fuel handling. Written to FM Global data sheets.

Commercial & office

Sprinkler design and standpipe systems for high-rise and mid-rise offices in the US and Europe, coordinated in Revit and Navisworks.

Mixed-use & retail

Integrated sprinkler design for towers with retail podiums, restaurants, and hospitality — tenant fit-out coordination baked in from concept.

Residential

Domestic and residential sprinkler systems for townhouses, apartment blocks, and mixed developments across Ireland and the UK.

Practice

What I bring to a project.

The systems I design, the codes I write to, the tools I work in, and how I coordinate with the rest of the design team.

Systems

  • Wet & dry sprinkler
  • Pre-action (single & double interlock)
  • Deluge
  • Water mist
  • Foam suppression (AFFF / high-expansion)
  • Standpipe & hose systems
  • Fire hydrant networks
  • Fire pump rooms

Codes & Standards

  • NFPA — full family (13, 14, 15, 20, 24, 750)
  • FM Global Data Sheets
  • LPC Rules
  • EN 12845 (fixed sprinkler)
  • EN 9251 (domestic & residential)
  • VdS
  • Irish & UK Building Regs
  • NYC Building Code / IBC

Tools

  • Revit MEP
  • AutoCAD
  • Navisworks Manage
  • Autosprink RVT
  • Fire Elite / SprinkCAD
  • Autodesk Construction Cloud
  • Bluebeam Revu
  • BIM 360

BIM & Coordination

  • LOD 400 / 500 modelling
  • Clash detection & resolution
  • Fabrication & shop drawings
  • Construction drawing packages
  • Coordination with structural / MEP / architecture
  • Bill of quantities (BOQ)
  • Hydraulic calculations & pump sizing
  • Technical submittals & QA/QC
Approach

Three things I hold to on every project.

Life safety first, always.

Every decision on a fire protection drawing has to work backwards from the same question — will this system perform the moment it matters. Coverage, density, response time, water supply, redundancy. If a design choice makes any of those weaker, it isn't a good choice, no matter how elegant it looks on the model.

The best drawing is the one the fabricator can build from.

LOD 500 isn't a badge; it's a promise to the installer. My models are meant to be built from, not admired. Sizing, hangers, offsets, and coordination clashes get resolved in the model — so the pipes go up in the field with fewer changes, less rework, and cleaner finishes.

Coordination is a design deliverable.

Fire protection lives above ceilings, alongside HVAC, cable trays, medical gas, and structure. The value I bring isn't just the sprinkler design — it's the negotiation with every other discipline to make sure the design still works when they've all had their turn.

Career

From graduate trainee in Pune to fire protection design lead in Ireland.

  1. Nov 2025 — Present

    Writech Industrial Services Ltd. · Ireland

    Sr. Fire Protection Design Engineer

    Leading fire protection design for hyperscale data centres, power generation, and mission-critical infrastructure across Europe.

  2. Mar 2019 — Aug 2025

    JB Everest Technical Services · Pune

    Sr. Public Health & Fire Protection Engineer

    Sprinkler, hydrant, and suppression design for large commercial, healthcare, and infrastructure projects across European clients. Coordinated construction packages and led delivery for a 20+ person team.

  3. Dec 2016 — Feb 2020

    New York Engineers · Pune

    Plumbing & Fire Protection Design Engineer

    Plumbing and fire protection systems to NYC codes and NFPA — commercial and residential developments. Site utility drawings, calcs, submittals, and RFIs.

  4. Post-graduate

    Thermax Ltd. · Pune

    Post Graduate Project Trainee

    Early mechanical engineering experience on large industrial systems — the foundation for a career designing systems that need to actually work.

  5. Undergraduate

    Tata Motors PCBU & TAL · Pune

    Graduate Project Trainee

    Automation and manufacturing exposure — where engineering discipline first became second nature.

Credentials

Formation & standing.

Education

  • Master of Engineering
    Mechanical Design
    MIT, Pune · 2013 — 2015 · 8.41 CGPA
  • Bachelor of Engineering
    Mechanical
    AISSMS, Pune · 2008 — 2012 · 63.82%

Professional

  • Chartered membership
    MIEI — Engineers Ireland
    Application in progress
  • Right to work
    Critical Skills Work Permit · Stamp 1
    Irish Residence Permit holder
Contact

If you’re working on a building that shouldn’t burn — say hello.

Fire protection design, hydraulic calculations, BIM coordination, standards review. Reach me on any of the below and I’ll answer within a day or two.

© 2026 Yashkumar Shah