Fire Assessments in Eastbourne East Sussex

Fire Assessments & safety work

Acting on fire risk assessment findings in flats, blocks and commercial buildings: fire doors, compartmentation, detection and escape routes.

Gas Safe registered, FMB members and family-run in Eastbourne.

What we do, and what a fire risk assessment is

A fire risk assessment is a written appraisal of the fire risks in a building and the measures needed to control them. For communal areas of blocks of flats and for commercial premises it is a legal requirement under the Fire Safety Order, and for many buildings it has to be recorded and kept up to date.

What we do is the building work that assessment calls for. Fire doors supplied and fitted to the correct rating with the right frames, strips, seals and closers. Restoring compartmentation where holes have been cut through walls, ceilings and risers for cables and pipes. Protecting escape routes, boxing in services in fire rated board, and fitting detection and emergency lighting.

We work for freeholders, managing agents, landlords and businesses across East Sussex. If you need the assessment itself carried out, we can point you to competent fire risk assessors we work with, and then price and deliver the actions it produces.

Keeping those two roles separate is deliberate, because the person recommending the work should not be the person selling it.

What assessments usually pick up

Flat entrance doors are the most common finding. Original doors in converted houses were never fire rated, and even certified doors fail if the gaps are wrong, the strips are missing or painted over, the closer has been removed or the hinges are not the right type.

Next is compartmentation. Every hole cut through a fire separating wall or ceiling for a cable, a pipe or a duct, and never sealed with the correct fire stopping, is a route for smoke and fire between flats.

Then escape routes: items stored in communal hallways, held open doors, missing or failed emergency lighting, and detection that has not been tested or has been removed by residents.

Finally records. Many buildings have had the work done and cannot prove it, which for the responsible person is nearly as much of a problem as not having done it.

How we deal with the actions

We work through the assessment action by action and price them so you can see each one separately, which matters when the cost is being recovered through service charges and needs to be explained to leaseholders.

Fire doors are fitted as complete assemblies to the certified specification, because a rated door leaf in a poor frame with the wrong gaps does not perform. We record what was fitted and keep the documentation so the building has evidence for the next inspection.

Fire stopping and compartmentation work is photographed before it is closed up, because once it is boarded over there is no way to prove it was done.

You get that record for the building safety file, along with certificates for detection and electrical work.

Fire doors

Supply and fit to FD30 and FD60 as complete assemblies including frames, intumescent strips, smoke seals, closers and the correct hinges and ironmongery, because the assembly is what carries the rating.

Door surveys and repairs

Checking gaps, seals, closers and hinges on existing doors and putting right what fails, which is often cheaper than replacement and is frequently all the assessment requires.

Compartmentation and fire stopping

Sealing around cables, pipes and ducts, and repairing breaches in separating walls, floors and ceilings, photographed before it is closed up so the work can be evidenced.

Escape routes

Protecting hallways and staircases, fire rated boxing to exposed services, and making good afterwards so communal areas are left presentable as well as compliant.

Detection and emergency lighting

Mains and interlinked smoke and heat detection, carbon monoxide alarms and emergency lighting in communal areas and commercial premises, certificated by our electricians.

Signage, hardware and records

Fire door signage, thumbturns, panic hardware and closers, plus photographic evidence and documentation for the building safety file.

Checking a flat entrance door yourself

Flat entrance doors are the single most common finding on assessments, and you can make a reasonable first judgement without a specialist.

Look for a label or plug. Certified doors normally carry a label or a colour coded plug in the top or hinge edge. No marking at all usually means it is not a fire door.
Check the gaps. Around 3mm at the sides and top, consistent all the way round. Wide or uneven gaps mean the assembly will not perform.
Find the strips and seals. Intumescent strips and smoke seals in the leaf or frame, not painted over or clogged.
Count the hinges. Normally three, in steel, with all screws present.
Test the closer. It should close and latch fully on its own from any position, not stop short.
Look at the glazing and letterplate. Any glass should be fire rated, and letterplates and spyholes should be intumescent rated.

Original Victorian panel doors are not fire doors however solid they feel. We can survey the doors in a building and tell you exactly what you have.

Converted houses and blocks in East Sussex

Eastbourne, Hastings and Bexhill have a very large number of Victorian and Edwardian houses converted into flats, and they are the buildings where fire safety findings cluster. Conversions carried out decades ago frequently have original panel doors onto the communal stair, no fire stopping where services were run, and a single staircase serving every flat.

Purpose built blocks tend to have better original separation, but they have often had cables, broadband and pipework run through compartment walls over the years, and each of those penetrations is a breach unless it was sealed correctly at the time.

In both cases the work is usually done while people are living there, so it has to be planned around residents with the escape route kept usable at all times. That is normal for us, and it sits alongside our flat and block refurbishment and carpentry and joinery.

For managing agents there is also the service charge and consultation side. Fire safety works recovered from leaseholders usually need itemised costings and formal consultation, so we price in a form that can be circulated and questioned. There is more on our who we work with page.

Questions we get asked

Do you carry out the fire risk assessment itself?

We are builders rather than fire risk assessors, so we do not write the assessment. What we do is deliver the remedial work it recommends, and we can introduce you to competent assessors we work with regularly. Keeping the two separate is no bad thing, because the person recommending the work is not the person selling it.

Does a block of flats legally need a fire risk assessment?

Yes. The communal parts of a block of flats fall under the Fire Safety Order, which requires the responsible person to carry out and keep up to date a fire risk assessment and to act on it. Recent changes have also increased the duties around flat entrance doors and record keeping. Your assessor will confirm what applies to your particular building.

How do I know if my flat entrance door is a fire door?

A certified door normally carries a label or a plug in the top or hinge edge, and has intumescent strips and smoke seals in the leaf or frame. Gaps should be consistent and small, the door should have the correct hinges and a working closer, and paint should not have clogged the seals. Original Victorian panel doors are not fire doors, however solid they feel.

What is compartmentation and why does it matter?

Compartmentation is the fire resisting separation between flats and between flats and communal areas, formed by walls, floors and ceilings. It is what gives people time to get out. Every unsealed hole cut through it for a cable, pipe or duct lets smoke and fire pass, which is why fire stopping those penetrations is one of the most common and most important actions on an assessment.

Can the work be done while residents are living there?

Yes, and it usually is. We work section by section, keep the escape route clear and usable at all times, agree working hours with the agent, and give residents notice before we need access to their door. Communal areas are protected and cleared daily.

Will you provide evidence of the work for our records?

Yes. We photograph fire stopping before it is closed up, record what doors and ironmongery were fitted and to what rating, and provide certificates for detection and electrical work. That documentation goes into the building safety file and is what the next inspection will ask to see.

Can existing fire doors be repaired rather than replaced?

Often yes, and it is usually far cheaper. Where the leaf itself is certified and sound, adjusting gaps, replacing missing strips and seals, fitting the correct hinges and adding a working closer will frequently bring the assembly back to standard. We survey the doors and tell you which can be repaired and which have to be replaced.

How do these costs get recovered through service charges?

That depends on the lease and on the consultation requirements for major works, which is your managing agent or solicitor’s territory rather than ours. What we can do is provide itemised, action by action costings and a clear scope that stands up to being circulated to leaseholders and questioned, which is usually what the process needs.

Where we work

We are based on Hyde Gardens in Eastbourne, so the town and the villages around it are home ground for us. We are out working here most days and we know the housing well, including the older seafront terraces, the Victorian and Edwardian houses in Upperton and Meads, and the newer estates and blocks of flats nearer the edge of town.

From Eastbourne we cover the whole of East Sussex. Along the coast that takes in Bexhill, Hastings, Seaford, Newhaven, Brighton, where salt air and driving rain are hard on any building. Inland we work regularly in Polegate, Hailsham, Pevensey, Willingdon, Lewes, Uckfield, Heathfield, Crowborough, Battle and the smaller villages between them, where period cottages and country properties often need a gentler approach and older materials matched carefully.

Being local matters for fire safety and remedial work. We can get to you quickly to take a look, we know the buildings and the ground conditions, and we are never far away if you need us again. If your village is not on the list there is a good chance we still reach you, so give us a call on 01323 671001 and we will tell you either way.

Backed by recognised standards

We are Gas Safe registered and members of the Federation of Master Builders, NAPIT and the FSB. Those memberships mean our gas, electrical and building work is measured against recognised standards, and that an outside body has looked at how we work rather than us simply saying we are good at it. For a family business our reputation matters more than anything, and we have built it one customer at a time.