Commercial · Fire Safety
Fire risk assessments.
Every building with a responsible person needs one, and since October 2023 it has to be written down in full, whatever the size of the premises. A great many small blocks and premises still do not have one.
Four types. Most buyers are not told the difference.
Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk from fire.
Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force on 1 October 2023. The assessment must now be recorded in full regardless of the size or purpose of the premises. Before that, only premises with five or more employees had to record it. The change swept a very large number of small blocks into a written-record duty.
The fire safety arrangements, and the name of the competent person appointed to carry out or review the assessment, together with their organisation.
Non-destructive, common parts only. The standard baseline for most blocks of flats.
Destructive, common parts only. Used where there is reason to suspect hidden compartmentation defects.
Non-destructive, common parts plus a sample of flats. Increasingly the expected standard for residential blocks.
Destructive, common parts plus a sample of flats. The most thorough, used after concerns or an incident.
This is the part most assessment-only firms cannot do. Compartmentation, fire doors, sealing service penetrations. We carry out the work the assessment identifies rather than handing you a report and a problem.
From assessment to remedial works.
We talk through the building and tell you which type is proportionate, and why. Recommending Type 4 on a low-rise block with no history would be selling, not advising.
Carried out by a competent assessor and recorded in full, so it satisfies the section 156 duty rather than just informing you.
Findings ranked by risk with timescales, not an undifferentiated list.
Costed and carried out, so the plan gets closed out rather than rolled into next year's assessment.
Answered
plainly.
If you are the responsible person for premises, yes. That includes any building with two or more domestic premises and common parts, so almost every block of flats, plus commercial premises. The duty is on the person in control, usually the freeholder, landlord or managing agent.
Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 removed the five-employee threshold for recording. From 1 October 2023 the responsible person must record the assessment in full regardless of the size or purpose of the premises, along with the fire safety arrangements and the name of the competent person. Many small blocks that previously had an unrecorded assessment now do not comply.
Type 1 is the baseline for most blocks. Type 3 is increasingly what is expected for residential blocks, because it looks inside a sample of flats rather than assuming. Type 2 and Type 4 are destructive and are used where there is a reason, such as suspected compartmentation defects or a previous incident. We will tell you which is proportionate for your building.
The Order requires it to be kept up to date rather than repeated on a fixed cycle. In practice most blocks review annually and reassess fully when something material changes: works, a change of use, an incident, or new occupancy.
We will tell you the assessor's specific qualifications before you instruct, in writing. We do not describe GMAS Group as certified, accredited or approved, because those words mean a named scheme and a defined scope, and we will not imply one we do not hold.
Yes, and that is the main reason to use us. Most fire risk assessors can only produce the report. Compartmentation repairs, fire door replacement and sealing penetrations are building work, and it is what we do.
All 32 London boroughs, with a focus on west and south-west London.
Tell us the property
and we will survey it.
A site visit, an honest recommendation and a fixed written quote. London-wide.