Fire risk assessment in Hounslow

Chiswick and Brentford have dense Victorian and Edwardian terraces converted into flats, alongside mansion blocks and newer riverside development. Hounslow town centre has a mix of Victorian conversion stock, post-war purpose-built blocks and newer high-rise development. Feltham, Hanworth and the western wards are more suburban, with 1930s semi-detached housing and some larger former council estates. The borough also contains hotels, logistics and aviation-related commercial premises.

Hounslow operates additional licensing for HMOs across the borough, reflecting the high proportion of shared housing in Chiswick, Brentford and Hounslow town centre. Confirm the current boundary and renewal date with Hounslow Council before submitting an application. Riverside and airport-related developments may have additional planning conditions.

Hounslow sits partly within the ULEZ boundary in the east, so we confirm the postcode before quoting. Chiswick and Brentford have controlled parking and busy streets, while the western suburbs are easier. Commercial premises near Heathrow often need out-of-hours surveys. Reports are delivered within 24 hours of the visit.

Chiswick High Road and the streets running down towards the river contain a dense mix of Victorian and Edwardian mansion blocks, terraced conversions and newer riverside apartment schemes near Brentford's regenerated waterfront. The mansion blocks typically have a single stone or timber staircase serving five or six storeys, built long before a lift or a secondary escape route was considered necessary, and we find that decades of incremental refurbishment have often left service risers poorly fire-stopped where new cabling or plumbing has been threaded through. Riverside apartment blocks are newer and generally better provisioned, but often rely on a specific stay-put or simultaneous evacuation strategy that needs checking against how the building is actually being managed day to day.

Hounslow town centre mixes older Victorian conversion stock with post-war purpose-built blocks and a wave of newer high-rise development around the High Street and bus station, giving us a genuinely varied caseload within a small area. Feltham and Hanworth, further west, are more suburban, with 1930s semi-detached housing and several larger former council estates where deck access and communal stairwells are the main focus of assessment. HMO conversions are common across both areas given the borough's rental demand, and we routinely find alarm systems in these properties that were installed for a smaller household and have not been extended to cover new partitions or an added bedroom.

The western and southern parts of the borough back onto Heathrow's cargo and logistics area, bringing hotels, crew accommodation and warehouse premises into our regular caseload alongside residential work. These buildings tend to be larger and more heavily used than typical residential stock, so we allow more time on site and pay particular attention to fire detection coverage across large open floorplates, emergency lighting battery condition, and whether staff fire training and evacuation drills are being recorded, which is something enforcing officers frequently ask to see.

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, the freeholder, managing agent, landlord or employer must ensure a written fire risk assessment exists, is acted upon, and is reviewed at least annually. Buildings over 11 metres also require quarterly communal fire door checks, annual flat entrance door checks and wayfinding signage. We can deliver all of it in one visit.