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.
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 2019 edition, incorporating 2020 and 2022 amendments. Additional amendments were released in March 2024.
To discover expert insight into compartmentation, watch our recent webinar, 'Fire Safety: Building Height, Compartmentation, and FRAEWs', on-demand now.
Fire compartmentation is the cornerstone of a successful Passive Fire Protection (PFP) strategy, encompassing fire-resistant walls, floors, doors, and gap-filling measures.
To discover more about compartmentation and how to best keep your building fire safe, head over to our blog, ‘What Every Building Owner Should Know About Fire Compartmentation’.
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’?’.
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.
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:
A Full Compartmentation Survey is the most comprehensive and identifies and lists all compartmentation defects across the building.
Here is a template of what a Full Compartmentation Survey will include, depending on the requirements of the individual building:
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.