What is a Fire Compartmentation Survey and Why Do You Need One?

Last updated: 31st May 2024

Fire compartmentation plays a crucial role in preventing fire spread in buildings for all social housing landlords. This blog aims to provide comprehensive insights into fire compartmentation, the importance of conducting Fire Compartmentation Surveys, and which survey is best suited for your organisation.  

What is fire compartmentation?  

The main objective of fire compartmentation is to divide a building into fire-resistant compartments to prevent the spread of smoke, gases, and flames. These compartments are created by installing fire-resistant construction and doors which aim to provide between 30 and 120 minutes of fire resistance. You can access the most up-to-date information on compartmentation requirements in The Building Regulations 2010, Approved Document B (additional amendments were released in March 2024).

In 2011-12, fire and rescue services reported 380 fire-related fatalities in the UK. Of these, 130 deaths were attributed to a lack of fire compartmentation.

To delve deeper into your fire compartmentation duties, download our free Guide to Effective Fire Compartmentation to discover how to best keep your building fire safe, including an insightful compartmentation checklist to assess your approach. 

Key areas of fire compartmentation  

Fire compartmentation is the cornerstone of a successful Passive Fire Protection (PFP) strategy, encompassing fire-resistant walls, floors, doors, and gap-filling measures.  

• Walls and floors: The primary factor leading to compartment failure is gaps in walls and ceilings by service penetrations including water pipes, waste pipes, electrical cables, and ventilation ducts.  
• Fire doors: Internal doors such as flat entrance doors, doors to stairways and lobbies, doors that sub-divide corridors, and doors to plant rooms and cupboards are required to prevent fire spread in accordance with the building’s fire strategy and must be certified fire doors. All fire doors must be kept shut or locked as appropriate and be regularly checked to ensure they are compliant and operate as expected. Fire doors in buildings over 11 metres in height must be checked against the fire door requirements under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Fire door information must be provided to all residents in any residential building with two or more domestic premises with common areas. 
• Gaps must be sealed to preserve the fire resistance of each compartment. You must have adequate fire-stopping to ensure those gaps are sealed. 

To discover more about compartmentation and how to prevent the risk of fire spread, read our blog, ‘What Every Building Owner Should Know About Fire Compartmentation’.

What is a Fire Compartmentation Survey? 

Undertaking a Fire Compartmentation Survey is a legal requirement under Article 8 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which specifies that you must take general fire precautions, defined in Article 4 as an obligation to take measures to reduce the risk of fire on the premises and the risk of the spread of fire on the premises. These surveys are essential for sustaining compartmentation in almost all buildings in England, particularly high-rise and commercial premises. Compartmentation Surveys differ from Type 2 and Type 4 Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) as they provide a more comprehensive evaluation of compartmentation integrity. 

The Responsible Person (RP) for each building is responsible for understanding the relevant fire safety surveys that need to be carried out alongside your FRAs. To find out who the RP in your building is, read our dedicated blog, 'Fire Safety Act 2021: Are you the ‘Responsible Person’?’.

Which type of Compartmentation Survey do you need?  

Based on the findings of your FRA, some buildings may require full Compartmentation Surveys, other less complex and smaller buildings may not require such comprehensive surveys, but as the RP, there’s still a requirement to ensure adequate standards of compartmentation are maintained.  

The FRA is the starting point to gather a holistic view of your building; then, you may need to identify additional information related to compartmentation and external wall construction.  

You may require a Compartmentation Survey as a result of FRA actions or when served an Enforcement Notice by a fire and rescue service. You then have no less than 28 days from the notice to take steps to rectify the issues identified in the notice. A prohibition notice may be served due to inadequate compartmentation, which can prohibit or restrict the use of part or all of a building. A Compartmentation Survey can be used to identify all compartmentation issues to provide a full schedule of defects to enable a competent fire stopper to address the issues. Compartmentation should be reviewed as part of a regular FRA review process with more detailed surveys undertaken where required.  

For expert insight into fire compartmentation and Compartmentation Surveys, including the recommended fire resistance duration for your compartments, watch our recent webinar, 'Fire Safety: Building Height, Compartmentation, and FRAEWs'. It's on-demand now!

Compartmentation Survey costs and length of time can differ depending on the nature of the building. We would recommend choosing a tailored option to ensure you get all the information you need to ensure fire safety and compliance with regulations. The survey types are outlined below:  

• Full Fire Compartmentation Survey  

A full Compartmentation Survey is the most comprehensive and identifies and lists all compartmentation defects across the building.   

Here is a template of what the survey will include, depending on the requirements of the individual building:  

• A survey of all areas of the building, including fire doors. 
• An assessment of all compartment lines, seals, and fire dampers. 
• A measured survey and compartment mark-up. 
• Asset tagged passive fire protection and fire doors indicated on detailed floorplan.  
• Recommended actions. 
• A risk rating for the building based on survey findings. 

 As we do not undertake remedial works to repair defects identified within the Compartmentation Survey, you can be assured that our surveys are accurate and will not identify any unnecessary defects.  

For a more detailed insight into what a full Compartmentation Survey includes, have a look at our compartmentation services or get in touch with one of our fire experts to discover which survey you need. 

• Bespoke Compartmentation Surveys focus on specific issues like the soil stack, riser, and roof space inspection.  
• Intrusive Compartmentation Surveys inspect compartmentation measures within enclosures, above plasterboard ceiling covering, and around door frames.  
• Post-installation Surveys can be undertaken after a third-party company has completed remedial works to ensure it was done correctly and that your compartmentation is now sufficient.  
• Compartmentation Sample Surveys use sample areas of the building to create an overview of your building’s compartmentation in a quicker and more cost-effective way. This can be completed within the 28-day deadline that you may have to provide evidence of action to a fire and rescue service following the serving of a notice.