Commercial · Statutory Testing
Commercial EICR and emergency lighting.
Fixed wire testing and the annual BS 5266 duration test, on the cycle your building actually needs rather than a default five years. Remedials priced separately, so the test is a test and not a sales call.
Tested to the interval your building needs.
Electrical Installation Condition Report to BS 7671, covering distribution boards, sub-mains and final circuits.
Offices are commonly five years, but many premises are shorter. Industrial units, kitchens, swimming pools and buildings with public access all differ. The previous report should state the interval, and we work to it.
Large installations tested in phases across a year rather than shutting the building down for one visit.
Findings coded and explained in plain terms, with what has to be done and by when.
Monthly function tests and the annual three-hour duration test to BS 5266, with a logbook you can produce on inspection.
Quoted as a separate document from the report. A test that doubles as a quote is a test with an incentive problem.
NICEIC registered electricians. The registration sits with the electrician or their company, and we will give you the number to check.
From survey to certificate.
Circuit count, board locations, access constraints and whether it can be done live or needs shutdowns.
Priced by circuit count rather than by day, so a slow day is not your problem.
Phased around occupancy where the building needs it, including out of hours.
Report issued with findings coded, remedials quoted separately if you want them.
Answered
plainly.
There is no single answer and anyone who gives you one without seeing the building is guessing. Offices and shops are commonly five years. Industrial premises, commercial kitchens, places of public entertainment and buildings with swimming pools are often shorter, sometimes annually. The previous report should specify the interval.
The duty comes from the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which require electrical systems to be maintained so as to prevent danger. An EICR is the recognised way of demonstrating you have done that. It is a duty on the employer or the person in control of the premises.
For most of the testing, yes, circuit by circuit. In buildings that cannot take an outage we phase it, work out of hours, or use a mix of live and dead testing where it is safe. We will tell you which applies before you book.
Because a contractor who finds the faults and prices the fix in the same document has an obvious incentive to find more faults. Keeping them apart means the report is just the report, and you are free to have the remedials done by anyone.
A monthly short function test, and once a year a full three-hour discharge test to prove the lights stay lit for the rated duration. Both go in a logbook. The annual one is the one that catches failed batteries, and it is the one most commonly skipped.
All 32 London boroughs, with a focus on west and south-west London.
The law requires workplace electrical systems to be maintained so they are safe. A periodic EICR is the accepted way to show that, and insurers and leases usually require one.
Yes. Circuits have to be switched off to test them, so we can work early, late or at weekends to keep disruption down.
No. The EICR covers the fixed installation. Portable appliance testing is a separate check that can be booked for the same visit.
Tell us the property
and we will survey it.
A site visit, an honest recommendation and a fixed written quote. London-wide.
Fitting a commercial EICR around a working building.
The hard part of a commercial EICR is rarely the electrical testing. It is doing it without stopping the business. A retail unit cannot lose its tills on a Saturday, an office cannot lose its comms room at all, and a commercial kitchen cannot lose refrigeration for an afternoon. So the inspection is planned around the building before anyone opens a distribution board.
Phasing
A large commercial installation does not have to be tested in one visit. It can be split across several, board by board or floor by floor, with a single EICR issued at the end covering the whole installation. That keeps each outage small and short. It also spreads the cost across a period rather than landing it in one month.
Out of hours
Where a business cannot take an outage during trading, the electrical testing is done in the evening, overnight or at weekends. It is worth asking for that at quote stage rather than discovering it on the day, because it changes the programme rather than the scope.
What you get at the end
One EICR covering the installation, with a schedule of test results for every circuit inspected, every observation coded, and any limitations stated. Where the inspection was phased, the certificate records the dates. Remedial work is quoted as a separate document so the report stays a report. If your insurer or landlord asks for evidence of maintenance, the certificate and the schedule are what they want to see.
Who needs a commercial EICR.
Employers and occupiers
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical systems in workplaces to be maintained so they do not cause danger. A periodic EICR is how most businesses show they have done that.
Commercial landlords and managing agents
Landlords who keep responsibility for the installation, or for communal areas and landlord supplies in a block, need it tested on a regular cycle.
Insurers, leases and licences
Insurers, lenders, lease covenants and premises licences often ask for a current satisfactory report, and a fire risk assessment will usually refer to it.
How often commercial premises are tested.
There is no single legal interval. Guidance from the IET sets recommended maximum periods by type of premises, commonly five years for offices and shops and shorter for industrial units and places of entertainment, and the previous report should state when the next inspection is due. Heavy use, alterations, damp or damage are reasons to test sooner.
What the inspection covers.
Distribution boards and sub-mains
Every board is inspected, labelled circuits checked against what they actually feed, and sub-main cables tested.
Final circuits
Sockets, lighting and fixed equipment circuits are tested for continuity, insulation resistance, polarity and earth fault loop impedance.
RCDs, earthing and bonding
Residual current devices are trip-tested and the main earthing and protective bonding to gas, water and structural metalwork confirmed.
Codes and remedial work
Observations are coded C1, C2, C3 or FI. C1, C2 and FI items make the report unsatisfactory and are quoted separately in writing so you can approve them. Where a board or circuits need replacing, see rewiring and consumer units.
Emergency lighting, fire alarms and PAT.
Emergency lighting has its own monthly function tests and an annual full-duration test under BS 5266, and the fire alarm its own servicing under BS 5839. Portable appliance testing is separate from the fixed wiring. We can book them for the same visit, and our fire risk assessment and fire alarm pages cover the rest of the fire safety picture.
Remedial work and keeping the building compliant.
An unsatisfactory report needs acting on promptly. We quote each remedial item in writing against the observation it relates to, complete the approved work with as little disruption as the building allows, and issue the certificates for it, so your records show the defect found and the defect fixed.
For buildings with several boards or tenants, testing can be split into phases by floor or by unit so no area loses power for long. We record the next due date and remind you before it arrives, alongside the emergency lighting and fire alarm dates for the same premises.
Planning a fit-out or change of use? Testing the existing installation first shows what can be kept and what has to be replaced. See commercial building services and shopfitting.
Often needed
alongside this.
Areas we cover.
We take commercial EICR and emergency lighting work across all 32 London boroughs. Most of our work is in west London, in Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chiswick and White City, and in south west London, in Putney, Wandsworth and Wimbledon. We also work in south east London, in Greenwich, Blackheath and Lewisham.
If your property is outside these areas, call us anyway. We travel across London and will tell you honestly if a job is too far to price properly.