EWS1 forms issued by F.I.R.E. Consultancy
Search EWS1 forms issued by F.I.R.E. Consultancy by postcode or building name, with information on external wall assessments and PAS 9980. We have made these available to provide confidence that the work was undertaken by us, ensuring legitimacy.
External Wall Survey (EWS) forms are produced following an assessment of a residential building’s external walls. The purpose is to demonstrate fire risk understanding underpinned by reports’ findings using PAS 9980:2022 methodology.
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The first iteration of EWS forms was introduced in November 2019, resulting from work by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and other stakeholders, including UK Finance and the Government.
In December 2019 RICS introduced its own version, which has since become commonplace. The third edition of the EWS1 form was issued on 16 March 2022, following earlier versions introduced in December 2019 and March 2021.
Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the original form was an attempt to encourage mortgage lenders that the asset was safe to lend on - it was thought that this would offer confidence to the market that residential buildings over 18m in height were safe to occupy and allowed a binary (safe/unsafe) system of assessment for surveyors.
The assessment of properties is not as straightforward as a binary choice - the risk-based approach has now evolved to allow surveys of properties and fire engineering professionals to work alongside one another, as described in the notes within the EWS1 form.
PAS9980 is a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall (FRAEW) construction and cladding of existing blocks of flats Code of Practice. The document sets out a methodology to conduct and record an appraisal of external walls in situations where the construction is suspected to not resist fire spread adequately.
An assessment of risk often follows quantitative and qualitative methods.
Quantitative methods can be divided into two outcomes; probabilistic and deterministic.
Using probabilistic methods, a quantified risk can be determined based on the frequency and consequences of a hazard.
For deterministic methods, worst case values are applied. However, selecting data values may be too conservative, resulting in risk criteria not being met. Therefore, careful judgement is required when using numeric values.
F.I.R.E. Consultancy’s assessments follow qualitative methods.
The PAS9980 document presents a five-step risk assessment process, with an emphasis on the importance of proportionality in relation to risk and associated mitigation measures, including considerations of benefit gained, practicality and cost.
* Publicly Available Specification which is a fast-track standard produced by experts consulting for/with the service from BSI (British Standards Institution).
** The PAS9980 does not address spread of fire from one building to another, the performance of external walls in terms of fire resistance, or the ability of the walls to maintain structural stability and it is not applicable to new buildings.
