Our fire safety consultants are often called upon to carry out detailed inspections of buildings to ensure they meet the statutory requirements and regulations in place to protect people, property, and the surrounding area against the risk of fire.
If assets fall short of the standards, our qualified team also advise on solutions to bring it in line with the regulations, and we can provide ongoing consultation on remaining compliant in the ever-changing face of the statutory requirements.
A huge part of our service provision is investigating external wall systems and signing off the EWS1 form, which we do for a variety of property types.
But what is this form and what you do you need to know about it? In this article, we take a closer look at External Wall System Fire Certificates and how our fire safety consultants ensure your assets remain mortgageable.
What is an EWS1 form?
EWS1 forms are required when a leaseholder is buying, selling, or re-mortgaging an apartment in a multi-storey, multi-occupied residential building.
It is important to note that even though the form is dealing with the risk of fire and how to manage this, it is not a legal requirement, nor is it a building safety certificate. EWS1 forms are also not issued by the Fire and Rescue Services.
In fact, it is a mortgage valuation tool that was created jointly by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and mortgage lenders in December 2019 as a response to the Grenfell disaster two years earlier.
In the wake of this terrible incident, lenders pulled all funding for multi-storey, multi-occupied residential developments due to concerns around fire, and valuers downgraded them significantly, meaning a solution was needed to protect residents and asset owners.
Initially, the EWS1 form was launched as a way for mortgage lenders to assess the external wall safety of buildings over 18 metres in height, but since the publication of the government’s building safety guidance in January, 2020, they are now routinely used on buildings of any height.
This is where we come in. Our fire safety consultants are qualified to carry out EWS1 assessments on buildings up to 18m in height, but we partner with the appropriately qualified CEng or IEng MIFireE Fire Engineers on buildings above this level, enabling us to provide full surveying services for buildings of every type.
Does my building need an EWS1 form?
A common question we get asked is does my building need an EWS1 form. If in doubt, our fire safety team are able to assess the building and give an asset owner or manager a definite answer to this.
However, as a rule, a building does need an EWS1 if it fulfils one or more of the following criteria:
- The building is more than six storeys tall.
- The building is more than four storeys tall and features any of the following:
- Cladding covers more than a quarter of the full elevation of the building or there is any other reason it should be regarded as a significant amount.
- The building has cladding made from ACM, MCM, or HPL.
- The building has vertically stacked balconies containing any combustible material.
The EWS1 process
As mentioned, the EWS1 form has been designed for use on residential properties, particularly blocks of flats or apartments, as a way of a building owner confirming that an external walling system has been assessed for safety by a suitably-qualified expert, such as our fire safety consultants.
It is designed to reassure valuers, lenders, and residents that the building is safe, and as such, is mortgageable.
To assess the fire risk posed by the external wall system, our surveyors take a number of the building’s features into consideration including height, the type and amount of cladding and attachments, the presence and amount of combustible materials on the exterior of the building, and the balconies and other features.
Also included in the checks is whether fire resisting cavity barriers and fire stopping have been installed correctly.
Once assessed, the EWS1 form can be filled out for valuers and lenders to consider. Forms last for five years but as they are not legally binding, buildings do not need to be immediately reassessed. In fact, most asset owners will wait until they intend to sell or remortgage some or part of the property to ensure potential buyers can raise funds for the purchase.
EWS1 Assessment outcomes
The EWS1 assessment has two options for two different types of building. Option A applies to buildings where the external walling system is unlikely to support combustion. Option B applies to buildings where combustible materials are present in the external wall system and could need remediation.
The process does not have a simple pass or fail outcome. For option A, there are three possible outcomes, which include:
- A1
An A1 rating refers to an external wall system that has no attachments with significant quantities of combustible materials.
- A2
An A2 rating refers to an external wall system with an appropriate risk assessment of the attachments. This confirms that no remedial works are needed.
- A3
This rating is given in all cases where A1 and A2 do not apply. An A3 rating means there may be potential costs of remedial works to attachments to remove or manage combustible materials.
For buildings that fall under EWS1 option B, there are two outcomes available. These are:
- B1
A B1 rating means the surveyors undertaking the external wall system fire risk assessment have concluded that the risk is sufficiently low that no remedial works are required.
- B2
Unsurprisingly, a B2 rating means the opposite; the surveyors have concluded that an adequate standard of safety has not been achieved. The remedial and interim measures required to put this right will then be communicated to the asset owner or manager via the supporting FRAEW report.
Always employ qualified people
One area of concern is the number of unqualified people carrying out external wall system fire risk assessments (FRAEW) and filling in the EWS1 form. This could have potentially devasting consequences for the residents of such buildings.
In order to help ensure only component professional undertake this work, RICS introduced a new training programme for MRICS/FRICS chartered building surveyors and chartered building control surveyors in January 2021, to enable them to undertake external wall system assessments on low to medium rise residential buildings below 18m in height.
Trident’s fire safety team is qualified to this level and Matt Clare, who leads our fire consultancy group, sits on the RICS Fire Safety Working Group.
This means that by working with us, you can be confident of a comprehensive, professional assessment of your building.
For buildings above 18m in height or those considered high risk, we work with a specialist team of qualified fire safety engineers, meaning we have the capabilities to assess external wall system fire certificates for all buildings that qualify for an EWS1 form.
It is vital to ensure that you use qualified and component professionals to carry out external wall system assessments so whoever you decide to work with, always check their qualifications and experience.