Knowledge base

Fire safety guides

Written by the assessors who do the surveys — no filler, no legal hedging, just what landlords, freeholders and managing agents actually need to get compliant.

Awais Sarwar · Fire Risk Specialists

IFSM · NFRAR 1576Direct contact. Clear scope.

Fire safety guidance and printed assessment reports on a desk

29 guides

Everything we know, written down.

Each guide is written and reviewed by an IFSM-registered assessor working in London buildings every week.

Latest guide

Fire door checks: the law and the Grenfell connection

The legislative timeline, exact height trigger and practical responsibilities—without confusing Inquiry recommendations with the law.

8 min read

Fire door inspection rules: frequency, height and responsibility

Who checks which doors, how often, and why exactly 11 metres is not the same as above 11 metres.

8 min read

Fire door inspection checklist for block managers

Prepare access, record what was checked and turn defects into action—not a DIY certificate.

8 min read

Flat entrance fire door checks: access, alterations and older doors

A practical guide for leaseholders and managing agents arranging a complete check.

8 min read

Quay Side House, Barking: inspection, action and follow-up

The original Team EPC inspection record and Awais’s account of the remedial follow-up, kept clearly separate.

8 min read

Fire door inspection costs: how to compare a block quote

Compare the scope behind the fee, including access reattempts, records and follow-up.

8 min read

Shopping-centre fire safety: tenant versus centre responsibilities

The shopping-centre operator and individual tenants can each have fire-safety duties to the extent of their control. A shop needs a suitable assessment for its own activities and premises; shared escape routes, alarms and evacuation arrangements must be coordinated. Article 22 of the Fire Safety Order requires responsible persons sharing premises to cooperate.

8 min read

Opening a shop in a shopping centre: fire risk assessment checklist

Before opening a shopping-centre unit, identify the Responsible Person, assess the completed operating layout and coordinate with centre management. Gather plans, fire-strategy information, service records and staff arrangements. Check exits, stockrooms, ignition sources and assistance needs, then implement the priority actions. An FRA is not a guarantee of landlord or centre approval.

8 min read

Why do I need a fire risk assessment when selling my flat?

The request often appears late in conveyancing, but the legal duty usually belongs to the building's Responsible Person—not the individual seller. Here is what to ask for and what happens if the report is missing.

16 min read

Fire regulations for holiday lets and Airbnbs: what the law actually requires

Since October 2023 every holiday let needs its fire risk assessment in writing, however small. Here is what that means in practice, room by room.

11 min read

Fire risk assessment checklist: what an assessor actually looks at

The exact list our assessors work through on site, so you can fix the easy failures before we arrive.

12 min read

Landlord fire safety duties in England: the plain-English version

What the Fire Safety Order and the 2022 Regulations actually require of you — and what happens if you skip it.

12 min read

How much does a fire risk assessment cost in London?

Honest pricing, what actually drives the number, and how to spot a report that will not survive scrutiny.

11 min read

What happens during a fire risk assessment, step by step

From the first phone call to the report landing in your inbox — what actually happens and when.

11 min read

HMO fire safety in London: what licensing actually requires

What a licensing officer will actually check, and why the wrong alarm grade is the most common HMO failure we see across London boroughs.

11 min read

E-bike and e-scooter battery fires: managing the risk in communal areas

The fastest-growing cause of serious fires we see referenced in London residential blocks — and what a workable policy actually looks like.

11 min read

PAS 79 explained: the standard behind a proper fire risk assessment report

The difference between a report that will survive scrutiny and one that will not usually comes down to this standard.

10 min read

Type 1, 2, 3 and 4 fire risk assessments: which one do you actually need?

Getting the wrong type is the single most common reason a fire risk assessment turns out to be inadequate later.

11 min read

Who is the 'responsible person' for fire safety, and what do they have to do?

It is not always the person you would assume — and there can be more than one at the same time.

10 min read

Fire safety enforcement and penalties: what actually happens if you fail an inspection

From an informal chat with a fire safety officer to a prohibition notice closing your building — the actual escalation ladder fire and rescue services use, and what we see trigger each rung of it.

12 min read

How often should a fire risk assessment be reviewed?

The law says 'regularly' and leaves it there. Here is what that actually means for a Victorian conversion, a 1960s tower block, an HMO and a single-let shop, based on what we see enforcement officers accept and reject.

11 min read

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 explained

The single piece of law behind almost every fire safety duty in England and Wales, translated out of statute-speak by assessors who work against it every week.

13 min read

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: what they require

The specific, checkable duties added on top of the Fire Safety Order — door checks, secure information boxes and resident information, explained by threshold and by what we actually see checked on site.

12 min read

The Building Safety Act 2022: higher-risk buildings explained

The most significant change to building safety law in a generation, and what it actually means on the ground if your building is 18 metres or seven storeys or above.

13 min read

Stay put vs simultaneous evacuation: which applies to your block?

Two very different strategies rely on completely different building conditions being true. Here is how to tell which one your building can actually support.

11 min read

Fire alarm categories explained: M, L1-L5 and P1-P2 under BS 5839

L1, L2, L5, LD2 — the letters on your alarm certificate actually mean something specific. Here is what, and why it matters.

11 min read

Emergency lighting requirements: BS 5266-1 in plain English

Escape routes need to stay usable in the dark. BS 5266-1 sets out where, how long, and how often it must be tested.

11 min read

Fire compartmentation explained: what it is and why it keeps failing

Compartmentation is what turns one flat's fire into one flat's fire, instead of a building's fire. It fails quietly, one cable and one drilled hole at a time.

12 min read