Assess the fire risk of your building's external walls

If your building has two or more flats, your fire risk assessment must cover all of the following.

Who must assess the walls

The duty falls on the responsible person, usually the freeholder, a managing agent or a residents' management company. You may appoint a competent fire risk assessor to carry out the assessment for you, but the duty stays with you.

What the fire risk assessment must cover

Write down the assessment and review it regularly, and whenever there is a significant change to the building (Article 9). If it does not yet take account of the external walls, the responsible person or a competent assessor should start with a visual inspection of them.

In many buildings that is enough. Where the walls are brick or masonry, or the building otherwise presents no significant risk of fire spread, the assessor can deal with the external walls as part of the routine assessment. A detailed appraisal is needed where there is a known or suspected risk from the way the walls are built, such as combustible cladding or insulation.

Decide whether you need a fire risk appraisal of the external walls

A fire risk appraisal of the external walls (FRAEW) is a detailed assessment, by a specialist, of the risk of fire spreading through the external wall system. It looks only at the external walls. It does not replace the fire risk assessment, which remains the main assessment, and its findings should be used to update that assessment.

An FRAEW is usually needed when the fire risk assessment finds concerns, for example:

• combustible materials have been identified
• the wall construction is not fully understood
• more detailed investigation is needed

A block of any height can need one. Brick or masonry walls are generally unlikely to, but confirm the walls are brick and not brick slip over combustible insulation, and be aware that combustible balconies or decorative cladding can still call for specialist appraisal. A new building that complies with current Building Regulations should not normally need one when it is completed.

Assessors follow PAS 9980:2026, which replaced PAS 9980:2022. An FRAEW done to the 2022 version remains valid until it needs review. A new one is usually needed only if the external walls change or a later fire risk assessment recommends it.

Choose a competent assessor

An FRAEW needs a specialist with experience of external wall systems and how their materials behave in fire. A standard fire risk assessor may not have those skills. Before you appoint anyone, check their:

• qualifications and professional registration
• experience of similar buildings
• professional indemnity insurance, where relevant
• knowledge of current fire safety regulations and fire testing standards

Membership of a professional body such as the Institution of Fire Engineers, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Institution of Structural Engineers or the Chartered Association of Building Engineers is not enough on its own, so ask about relevant experience. The Cladding Safety Scheme publishes a panel of firms that carry out FRAEWs, which you can use even if you are not applying for funding.

Cost depends on the size and complexity of the building and how much documentation exists. It can include opening up the walls and testing materials, and the work can take several weeks or longer. Gather what you can before you start: construction drawings and as-built information, completion certificates, previous fire risk assessments, records of alterations, operation and maintenance manuals, and warranties for the cladding and insulation.

Read the risk outcome

The assessor reaches the outcome using professional judgement, not a formula. If they find a risk that puts residents in immediate danger, they should tell you straight away. For a building over 18 metres high, the local fire and rescue service must also be told.

Act on the findings

The recommendations should be proportionate and aimed at risk to life. Some buildings need cladding removed and replaced, some need better detection or suppression, and some need a mix. Update your fire risk assessment, tell residents why the appraisal was done and what it found in plain language, and be ready to give them a copy of the fire risk assessment or the FRAEW if they ask.

Help with the cost may be available:

• government funding through the Cladding Safety Scheme for eligible buildings, which you can check using the Homes England Tell Us tool
• remediation by a developer that signed the Developer Remediation Contract, which covers life-critical defects in buildings of 11 metres or more that it developed or refurbished in England in the 30 years to 4 April 2022
• protection for qualifying leaseholders in buildings of 11 metres and over from paying for relevant historical safety defects, under the Building Safety Act 2022

A leaseholder or certain regulators can also ask the First-tier Tribunal for a remediation order that requires a landlord to fix relevant defects. The order can require the landlord to complete an FRAEW.

Send an external wall record to the fire service

The Home Office publishes a template for the record. Ask your local fire and rescue service which file format and email address it uses; the National Fire Chiefs Council can signpost you. Keep the record high-level, because firefighters use it to plan their response.

Know what an EWS1 form is

An EWS1 form does not replace an FRAEW and does not meet your fire safety duties. Since January 2022, RICS guidance has said that investigations should follow PAS 9980, so an EWS1 may draw on evidence from an FRAEW.

What happens if you do not comply

Failing to include the external walls in your fire risk assessment, or failing to prepare and send the Regulation 5 record, is an offence under Article 32 of the Order where it places one or more relevant persons at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire.