We were instructed to provide independent building safety consultancy in relation to a multi-storey residential development in Bury, Greater Manchester.
The property had accumulated a range of fire safety assessments, surveys and management records over time. The client required a coordinated review to establish the current position, determine which information remained reliable, identify gaps in the available evidence and define the further specialist work required.
The instruction extended beyond reviewing an individual Fire Risk Assessment. It required consideration of the interaction between the Fire Risk Assessment, existing Fire Strategy information, external wall and cladding records, FRAEW requirements, compartmentation, fire stopping, fire doors, testing and maintenance information and ongoing building management arrangements.
The objective was to convert fragmented information into a clear compliance pathway and a defined basis for specialist investigation, procurement and future remedial works.
The first stage was a structured review of the available building safety information.
This included consideration of:
Fire Risk Assessments and outstanding actions;
existing Fire Strategy information;
external wall and cladding records;
FRAEW and associated external wall assessments where applicable;
compartmentation and fire stopping information;
fire door inspection records;
testing and maintenance documentation;
evacuation and management arrangements;
previous specialist surveys and remedial recommendations;
available drawings, specifications and historic construction information.
The purpose was not simply to collate documents, but to assess what each had been commissioned to establish, whether its scope was adequate for its intended purpose and whether the information could reasonably be relied upon when determining the next stage of work.
A Fire Risk Assessment and a Fire Strategy perform different functions.
A Fire Risk Assessment considers fire hazards, the adequacy of fire precautions and risks to relevant persons in an occupied building. It does not necessarily establish the original design rationale for compartmentation, means of escape, fire resistance, smoke control, evacuation arrangements or other fire safety measures incorporated within the building.
Where original design information could not be satisfactorily established, the review therefore considered the requirement for a Retrospective Fire Strategy.
The purpose of this work was to establish and document the intended fire safety principles of the building and provide a technical framework against which subsequent surveys, remedial recommendations and management arrangements could be assessed.
The review also considered the adequacy of existing evidence relating to compartmentation and fire stopping.
The required specialist scope needed to address areas such as:
compartment walls and floors;
service risers;
penetrations through fire-resisting construction;
service voids and interfaces;
fire stopping around mechanical and electrical services;
cavity barriers and concealed interfaces where relevant;
evidence of previous alterations or remedial works.
The consultancy role was to define the purpose and required outputs of the Compartmentation Survey and Fire Stopping Survey rather than simply procure a generic inspection.
Survey deliverables needed to identify assets and defects clearly, record locations, categorise remedial requirements and provide sufficient information to support subsequent specification, procurement and management.
The external wall construction formed a separate but connected part of the building safety review.
Available information was considered alongside the requirements for external wall assessment, including the relationship between façade construction, insulation, cavity barriers, fire stopping and other components of the external wall system.
Where relevant, this included review of FRAEW information and consideration of the evidence required to support associated cladding remediation or funding applications.
The intention was to ensure that external wall issues were not considered in isolation from the wider fire safety strategy of the building.
A significant part of the consultancy role was determining exactly what specialist work was required.
Rather than instructing several independent surveys without a common purpose, separate workstreams were defined around the information required to establish the overall compliance position.
These could include:
Retrospective Fire Strategy;
Fire Risk Assessment review;
Compartmentation Survey;
Fire Stopping Survey;
Fire Door Survey and asset register;
external wall and cladding assessment;
FRAEW review;
intrusive investigation where necessary;
consolidation of testing and maintenance records.
The required reporting outputs, inspection extent, asset schedules, drawings, defect classifications and priorities were defined before approaching the market.
Specialist fire consultancy and survey work was then capable of being procured against a common technical brief.
The procurement process considered more than the headline fee.
Tender and proposal assessment included:
understanding of the instruction;
proposed survey methodology;
inspection coverage and sampling strategy;
competence and relevant experience;
professional indemnity arrangements;
proposed reporting outputs;
drawings and asset schedules;
identification and categorisation of defects;
programme;
exclusions and assumptions;
ability to support the subsequent remedial stage;
commercial submission.
This allowed suppliers to be compared on a consistent basis and reduced the risk of appointing the lowest-cost submission only to discover that the resulting survey did not provide the information required for the next stage.
The purpose of the specialist investigations was not simply to produce another series of reports.
The intended outcome was a consolidated evidence base capable of informing:
prioritisation of fire safety actions;
remedial works specifications;
procurement and tendering of corrective works;
Fire Safety Management Plans;
testing and inspection regimes;
resident and stakeholder information;
future Fire Risk Assessments;
statutory and regulatory compliance records.
This provides a clearer progression from assessment, through evidence and strategy, to defined scope, procurement, remedial works and ongoing management.
The consultancy approach provided a structured route through a complex collection of building safety information.
Rather than treating the FRA, Fire Strategy, compartmentation, fire stopping, fire doors, FRAEW and cladding information as separate exercises, the work established how each contributed to the wider understanding of the building.
This allowed gaps in the available evidence to be identified, specialist instructions to be properly defined and subsequent procurement to be assessed against the required technical outcomes.
The resulting framework provided the client with a clearer basis for progressing further investigation, remedial works and long-term fire safety management.
One of the principal difficulties with existing residential buildings is not necessarily the absence of fire safety documentation.
A building may have accumulated Fire Risk Assessments, compartmentation surveys, fire door inspections, external wall assessments and maintenance records over many years without those documents collectively establishing how the building is intended to perform in fire.
The first requirement is therefore often to establish what information exists, what each document actually demonstrates and what remains unknown.
A Retrospective Fire Strategy can provide the framework against which compartmentation, fire stopping, fire doors, external wall construction and management arrangements are subsequently considered.
The same principle applies to procurement. A specialist survey is only useful if its scope and reporting outputs provide the information required to make the next decision.
Establishing that evidence base, identifying the gaps and defining the subsequent work forms part of our wider building safety and compliance consultancy.
