Cambridgeshire

Fire Risk Assessments in Cambridge

Firesurv (an OEC trading brand) delivers Fire Risk Assessments throughout Cambridge and the surrounding Cambridgeshire — sized appropriately to the premises and the regulatory exposure of the Responsible Person. Where the building risk warrants it, we deliver Type 3 and Type 4 FRAs, PAS 9980 FRAEW for external walls, and statutory flat entrance door inspections under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.

Applicable legislation

RRO 2005 · Fire Safety Act 2021 · Building Safety Act 2022 · PAS 79-1/2 · BS 9991 · BS 9999

Scope in Cambridge

What we deliver across Cambridge and Cambridgeshire.

Full Fire Safety service overview

Fire Risk Assessments (Type 1–4)

PAS 79-1 (non-residential) and PAS 79-2 (residential) risk assessments, with fully costed priority action plans aligned to BS 9997.

Fire Door Inspections

FDIS / UK Fire Doors-aligned inspection of every doorset, with photographic evidence, defect register and remedial specification.

Compartmentation Surveys

Structural fire protection audits — compartment floors, walls, service penetrations and cavity barriers — supported by fire-stopping remedial packages.

Fire Alarm Systems (BS 5839)

Design review, servicing oversight and drain-down testing — ensuring category L1–L5 / M systems meet their design intent.

Emergency Lighting (BS 5266)

Site surveys, design verification, duration testing and annual certification.

Passive Fire Protection

Surveys, specifications and oversight of fire-stopping, intumescent coatings and cavity barriers — to 3rd-party certified standards.

Compliance Support & Retained Advice

Retained fire safety advisor role: ongoing review, legislative updates and responsible-person coaching.

Fire Risk Assessment Remedial Works

End-to-end delivery of FRA actions — from scope through to sign-off and updated FRA.

Fire risk in Cambridge — colleges, tech and the urban edge

Cambridge's fire safety landscape mirrors the city's distinctive building stock — heritage colleges and academic departments, the rapidly expanding tech and biomedical campus ring, the Addenbrooke's hospital complex, and the modern residential and mixed-use development crescent around the city. Each demands a different approach to the Fire Safety Order, the Fire Safety Act 2021 amendments, and the FSER 2022.

Cambridgeshire Fire & Rescue Service operates the enforcement function across the city, with consistent focus on the HMO sector and on student accommodation. The Building Safety Regulator is actively engaged with the operators of the city's HRB-classified residential blocks — a category that includes several of the more recently completed CB1, Eddington and Trumpington Meadows developments.

Sector exposure in Cambridge

The collegiate university and the 31 colleges face a fire safety challenge similar to Oxford in scale and complexity. Listed building consent constraints, single-stair access in historic staircases, heavy timber doors and sleeping risk in undergraduate accommodation all combine to make fire strategy a continuous management exercise rather than a one-off compliance event.

The science and tech park estate — Cambridge Science Park, Granta Park, Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge Biomedical Campus — operates labs, offices and ancillary buildings under the Fire Safety Order. Higher-hazard chemical and biological inventories in some lab spaces drive additional fire engineering scrutiny, particularly around extract systems, gas storage and means of escape from confined lab areas.

Addenbrooke's and the wider Cambridge University Hospitals NHS estate demands Type 1 FRAs delivered to HTM 05-03 standards, with progressive horizontal evacuation strategies and complex occupant-dependency considerations.

The HMO and private rented sector across Mill Road, Romsey, Petersfield, Newnham and Chesterton operates on Victorian and Edwardian terraced stock. Cambridge City Council operates additional HMO licensing in defined areas, with corresponding fire safety scrutiny.

The modern HRB residential estate — particularly in the CB1, Eddington and Trumpington Meadows developments — requires the full FSER 2022 compliance package: flat entrance door inspections, common-parts inspections, AOV maintenance, and where applicable PAS 9980 FRAEW.

What we routinely find in Cambridge FRA work

The most common findings on Cambridge Type 1 FRAs are flat entrance door non-compliance (paint-blocked intumescent strips, oversize threshold gaps, missing self-closers), compartmentation defects at service-riser, soil-stack and meter-cupboard locations, and combustible items in common parts during student-letting changeovers. On the lab and tech-park estate, we frequently identify extract system penetration of fire compartments, missing or under-rated fire dampers, and inadequate evacuation procedures for the volume of contractor and visitor traffic moving through the buildings.

How Firesurv delivers in Cambridge

Firesurv's Cambridge coverage extends across the historic city core, the tech and biomedical campus ring, and the wider Cambridgeshire footprint towards Huntingdon, Ely and Peterborough. We coordinate with the college bursars, science-park operators and CUH FM teams to deliver programmes that respect the term-time, lab-shift and clinical-access realities of each building. PAS 9980 FRAEW and fire engineering work is delivered by Level 5/Level 6 fire engineers; fire door inspections by FDIS-qualified inspectors.

The evolving fire safety landscape

Since the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June 2017, the UK fire safety regulatory framework has undergone the most significant reform in a generation. What was once a relatively settled body of law built around the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO 2005) has been substantially supplemented by the Fire Safety Act 2021, the Building Safety Act 2022, and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Duty holders — identified in the legislation as "Responsible Persons" — now operate under a regime of higher expectation, higher scrutiny and materially higher penalty.

The Responsible Person and the legislative framework

Under Article 3 of RRO 2005, the Responsible Person is, in broad terms, the employer, owner, occupier or person having control of non-domestic premises. Where there is more than one Responsible Person, each must co-operate and co-ordinate fire safety measures. The duties imposed on the Responsible Person are extensive and include: undertaking a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment (Article 9); eliminating or reducing risks so far as reasonably practicable (Articles 8–22); providing general fire precautions; appointing competent persons; and recording significant findings.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified that, for multi-occupied residential buildings, the scope of the fire risk assessment extends explicitly to the structure and external walls of the building (including attachments such as cladding and balconies) and to all doors between domestic premises and common parts — closing the ambiguity exposed at Grenfell.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, in force from 23 January 2023, impose further duties on Responsible Persons of multi-occupied residential buildings — including the provision of information to residents, monthly lift inspections in high-rise buildings, annual inspections of flat entrance doors in high-rise buildings, and the provision of building information to local Fire and Rescue Services.

The Building Safety Act 2022

The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) introduced a new, more stringent regime for Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) — broadly, occupied residential buildings of at least 18 metres in height or 7 storeys with at least two residential units. For HRBs, a Principal Accountable Person (PAP) must be identified, building safety cases prepared, and the Building Safety Regulator notified of occurrence events. The Golden Thread of information — a live, digital record of all fire and structural safety information — must be maintained and shared with successive duty holders and residents.

Fire Risk Assessments — PAS 79-1 and PAS 79-2

The methodology for delivering fire risk assessments is set out in PAS 79-1:2020 (non-residential premises) and PAS 79-2:2020 (residential premises). Both documents, published by BSI and the Fire Protection Association, describe a nine-step process that includes identification of fire hazards, evaluation of fire protection measures, assessment of the likelihood and consequence of fire, and the generation of a risk-scored action plan.

Firesurv distinguishes between four types of residential fire risk assessment: Type 1 (non-destructive, common parts only — the default baseline); Type 2 (destructive sampling in common parts); Type 3 (non-destructive, common parts and sample flats); and Type 4 (destructive, common parts and sample flats — typically commissioned where there is reason to believe the fire strategy may be compromised).

Fire doors — FDIS, BS 8214 and the UK Fire Doors scheme

Certified fire doors are one of the most heavily tested elements of passive fire protection — and one of the most frequently found to be defective in real-world inspections. Firesurv's fire door inspectors operate to BS 8214:2016 — Code of practice for fire door assembly and hold accreditation under the Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) and the UK Fire Doors scheme. Every doorset is inspected against a structured 30-point checklist covering leaf, frame, gaps, intumescent seals, smoke seals, ironmongery, glazing and signage.

Compartmentation and passive fire protection

Compartmentation surveys are conducted to BS 9991:2015 (residential) and BS 9999:2017 (non-residential) and focus on the integrity of compartment floors, walls and service penetrations. Particular attention is paid to service risers, ceiling voids and cavities — areas where fire-stopping failures are common and where fire and smoke can spread invisibly. Remedial works are specified and overseen by third-party accredited installers operating under FIRAS and equivalent certification schemes.

Detection, alarm and emergency lighting

Fire detection and alarm systems are designed, installed, commissioned and maintained to BS 5839-1:2017 (non-domestic) and BS 5839-6:2019 (domestic), with system category (L1–L5, M, P1/P2) determined by the building use and evacuation strategy. Emergency lighting is specified to BS 5266-1:2016, with annual full-duration testing and monthly function checks logged in the fire log book.

Evacuation strategies and Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans

The default evacuation strategy in purpose-built residential blocks remains "stay put", predicated on the effectiveness of compartmentation. Where compartmentation is compromised, a temporary simultaneous evacuation strategy is implemented, often supported by a common alarm system and a waking watch. Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) are prepared for residents with mobility or sensory impairments, aligned with the HSE's guidance and BS 9991.

Enforcement and why it matters

Since 2023, penalties for breaches of RRO 2005 include unlimited fines and imprisonment of up to two years. The Sentencing Council's guidelines ensure that large organisations face turnover-linked penalties running into millions of pounds. Beyond enforcement, a well-evidenced fire safety regime protects lives, protects the building fabric, protects resident confidence and protects the Responsible Person's personal liability.

Frequently asked · Cambridge

Answers for duty holders in Cambridge.

Does Firesurv deliver FRAs for Cambridge tech-park and lab buildings?+

Yes. Lab and tech-park FRAs need to address higher-hazard inventories (chemicals, biological agents, gas storage), the fire engineering implications of containment-level requirements, and the specific evacuation procedures for contractor and visitor traffic. We engage with lab safety officers and FM teams throughout the assessment process.

What are the FSER 2022 flat entrance door inspection requirements for Cambridge HRBs?+

Annual inspection of every flat entrance door opening onto a common escape route, plus a quarterly inspection of every common-parts fire door. Records must be retained and the Responsible Person must respond to defects inside reasonable timescales. Firesurv delivers FDIS-certified inspections across Cambridge HRB stock with portal-based defect tracking.

Do new CB1 and Eddington residential blocks need PAS 9980 FRAEW?+

Where the residential block is above 11m and external wall construction cannot be evidenced against the original specification, PAS 9980 FRAEW is the standard mechanism. Many of the newer Cambridge residential blocks have inadequate construction-stage documentation in the field and require some level of intrusive sampling to support a medium or high-confidence FRAEW rating.

Do I need a Fire Risk Assessment?+

Yes. Under Article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, every Responsible Person in non-domestic premises must carry out a suitable and sufficient Fire Risk Assessment. The Fire Safety Act 2021 extended the scope to include structure, external walls and flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings.

How often should a Fire Risk Assessment be reviewed?+

A Fire Risk Assessment must be reviewed regularly — typically annually — and whenever there is a significant change to the premises, occupancy or activities, or if the Responsible Person suspects it is no longer valid.

What is a Type 4 Fire Risk Assessment?+

A Type 4 FRA is a destructive fire risk assessment that inspects common parts and a sample of dwellings in a multi-occupied residential building. It is typically commissioned where the fire strategy may be compromised — for example due to known compartmentation defects.

Are fire door inspections a legal requirement?+

Yes. Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, Responsible Persons of multi-occupied residential buildings above 11m must carry out quarterly inspections of common-parts fire doors and annual inspections of flat entrance doors. OEC delivers FDIS-aligned fire door inspections to BS 8214.

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