Last month we completed a Fire Safety Plan Burnaby project for HighGate Village — the mixed-use retail, office, and residential complex at 7155 Kingsway. If you’ve been to Save On Foods, BC Liquor, Shoppers Drug Mart, or any of the shops and restaurants at HighGate, you’ve walked through a building that now has a current, compliant fire safety plan on file with the Burnaby Fire Department.
HighGate Village is one of the busier mixed-use sites in South Burnaby, and it’s also one of the more complex fire safety plan jobs we do. Here’s what goes into a plan for a building like this — and why getting the details right matters when the fire department walks in for an inspection.
In this article
- About HighGate Village
- Fire Protection Systems at HighGate Village
- Why a Commercial Fire Safety Plan in Burnaby Is Different
- Burnaby Fire Department Inspections Are Happening Now
- How We Handle Fire Safety Plans in Burnaby
About HighGate Village
HighGate Village was built in 2004 and sits on a slope between Kingsway and Arcola Way — which means the “ground floor” depends on which side of the building you’re on. Level 2 is actually street level off Arcola Way on the north side, while the Kingsway side comes in at a different grade. That geometry matters for a fire safety plan because firefighter access routes, exit locations, and fire department connection points all have to be clearly drawn and labelled.
The building is concrete construction with painted concrete and stone exterior, 3 storeys above grade plus an underground parkade on two levels (P1 and P2). Uses include:
- Parkade P1 — commercial units, parking, electrical, mechanical, security office, and the fibre optic room
- Parkade P2 — parking, storage, elevator machine room
- Main Level — town square and commercial/retail units
- Level 2 — mezzanine office space on the west side, commercial units on the east side
Every one of those areas has its own fire protection considerations, and all of it has to be mapped on the site and floor plans.
Fire Protection Systems at HighGate Village
A building this size needs more than just pull stations and smoke detectors. For HighGate Village, we documented:
- Simplex 4100 fire alarm system — a two-stage supervised system monitored 24/7 by a commercial monitoring company. The main panel is in the transformer room on the northwest side of Parkade P1, with the annunciator panel in the south lobby by Elevator #4.
- Sprinkler system — full building coverage with flow switches tied into the fire alarm
- Standpipe system — dedicated standpipes for firefighter use, with fire department connection points on the building exterior
- Pre-Action / Deluge system — a separate pre-action system protects the fibre optic room, with its own dedicated fire panel tied into the main alarm. Pre-action systems are used in sensitive equipment spaces because they prevent accidental water discharge that would damage the gear.
- Kitchen suppression systems — for the restaurant tenants, each with their own inspection and maintenance schedules
- Emergency lighting, exit signs, and fire extinguishers — mapped to every floor plan
- Multiple elevators — serviced by Schindler, with recall procedures documented for alarm response
Why a Commercial Fire Safety Plan in Burnaby Is Different
A residential strata fire safety plan is mostly about one type of occupant doing one kind of thing — living in the building. A commercial mixed-use plan has to handle a lot more variability:
- Multiple tenants, each with their own staff, procedures, and fire safety responsibilities
- Public occupants — shoppers, customers, visitors who don’t know the building
- Specialized equipment spaces like the fibre optic room with pre-action protection
- Commercial kitchens that have their own suppression systems and inspection regimes
- Loading areas, parkade ramps, and multiple access points that all need to be identified for Burnaby Fire Department
Every section of the plan — Fire Safety Director duties, fire drill procedures, instructions to occupants, tenant fire prevention guidelines — has to reflect that complexity. Generic templates don’t pass.
Burnaby Fire Department Inspections Are Happening Now
The Burnaby Fire Department is actively doing fire safety plan inspections across the city right now. If you manage a commercial, retail, or mixed-use building in Burnaby and your plan is out of date — or doesn’t exist — it’s a matter of when you get flagged, not if.
A fire safety plan isn’t just paperwork. It’s the document a Burnaby firefighter reaches for when they arrive at a building in an emergency. It has to be accurate, current, and approved. Outdated information on the fire panel location or fire department connection could cost critical minutes.
How We Handle Fire Safety Plans in Burnaby
We handle the entire Fire Safety Plan Burnaby process end-to-end:
- On-site walkthrough and inventory of all fire protection systems
- CAD-drawn site plans and floor plans showing exits, fire equipment, and firefighter access routes
- Fire Safety Director appointment documentation
- Full plan preparation covering all BC Fire Code Section 2.8 requirements
- Submission to Burnaby Fire Department and follow-through until approval
- Free updates when your Fire Safety Director, Deputy FSD, property manager, or service contractors (fire alarm, sprinkler, extinguisher) change
One flat fee. Approval guaranteed. We own the process start to finish so you can get back to running the building.
Related case study: For a residential example, see our Fire Safety Plan Burnaby project for a 24-suite strata building on Burlington Avenue — same city, different occupancy type, same BC Fire Code Section 2.8 requirements.
If the Burnaby Fire Department has already contacted you — or you want to get ahead of them — send us a message and we’ll get a site visit booked this week. Or see how our fire safety plan service works.
Also in Burnaby: See how we documented a 26-storey residential high-rise fire safety plan on Halifax Street — a completely different building type, same city, same BC Fire Code requirements.
Burnaby submission requirements: See what the City of Burnaby actually requires when submitting a fire safety plan — 4 PDFs, a 60-day deadline, mandatory key box, and pre-incident plan.