What counts as a higher-risk building
The threshold is at least 18 metres in height or at least seven storeys, and the building must contain at least two residential units. Care homes and hospitals of that height are captured during design and construction but sit outside the occupation regime. The measurement runs from ground level to the finished floor of the top storey, ignoring roof plant, and it catches a surprising number of buildings that owners assumed were below the line. If you are unsure, the storey count is usually the quicker test.
The duties that come with it
Occupied higher-risk buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator, and there must be a principal accountable person responsible for the structure and common parts. That person must assess and manage building safety risks — spread of fire and structural failure — prepare a safety case report demonstrating it, keep a resident engagement strategy, operate a complaints route, and report certain occurrences to the Regulator. None of that removes the Fire Safety Order duties; it sits on top of them.
- Registration with the Building Safety Regulator
- A named principal accountable person and, where ownership is split, accountable persons for each part
- Safety case report demonstrating that building safety risks are being managed
- Resident engagement strategy and a complaints handling route
- Mandatory occurrence reporting for specified safety events
- Fire Safety Order duties, including the 2022 Regulations, continuing in parallel
Where the fire risk assessment fits
The fire risk assessment is not the safety case, but the safety case cannot be written without it. It provides the evidence on compartmentation, means of escape, detection and alarm, firefighting provision, evacuation strategy and management arrangements that the safety case then argues about. We write assessments for these buildings knowing they will be read that way: each finding is tied to the risk it affects, limitations are stated explicitly, and the management arrangements section is written to be usable rather than boilerplate.
The 2022 Regulations in a tall building
Buildings above 18 metres carry the heaviest recurring duties: monthly checks of lifts and firefighting equipment with faults reported to the fire and rescue service, quarterly communal fire door checks and annual flat entrance door checks, a secure information box, wayfinding signage visible in low light, and floor plans and building plans provided to the fire and rescue service. These are the duties that fail most often, not because they are difficult but because they recur. We run them as a scheduled programme with the records held alongside the assessment.
External walls — where we stop
External wall appraisals under PAS 9980 require a specialist façade or fire engineer with the relevant competence, and we do not pretend otherwise. What we do is establish what is known about the wall build-up, identify where information is missing, record the effect that uncertainty has on the evacuation strategy, and refer you to a suitably qualified engineer where an appraisal is needed. Saying so plainly is more useful than a generalist opinion that a lender, insurer or regulator will not accept.
Evacuation strategy under scrutiny
Stay-put is the default in purpose-built blocks, but it depends entirely on compartmentation holding. Where the assessment finds breached compartmentation, defective flat entrance doors or an unresolved external wall question, stay-put has to be challenged, and the alternative — usually a temporary simultaneous evacuation arrangement with an interim alarm and possibly a waking watch — has to be costed and time-limited. We set out the conditions under which the interim measure can be withdrawn, so it does not quietly become permanent.
Residents are part of the system
The Act treats residents as participants rather than an audience. They must be given information about the building's safety measures, be able to raise concerns and have those handled, and — for buildings above 11 metres — receive fire safety instructions annually. Residents also carry duties of their own: not to damage safety items and to allow access for checks. We provide the plain-English material for all of this, because engagement written in regulatory language does not engage anyone.
What it costs
Fire risk assessments for higher-risk buildings start at £899 and are quoted on storeys, unit count, plant and the depth of evidence required. Safety case fire safety evidence packs, recurring 2022 Regulations checks and resident material are quoted alongside. Registration with the Regulator and the safety case report itself remain the accountable person's legal responsibility — we supply the fire safety evidence that makes them defensible, and we say so rather than implying we can discharge duties that are not ours to discharge.
