A passive fire protection survey inspects the compartment walls, floors, cavity barriers, fire stopping around service penetrations, fire-resisting ductwork and fire doors that contain a fire within its compartment of origin. It is commissioned when a Type 1 fire risk assessment or other evidence gives reason to doubt compartmentation, and in higher-risk buildings it feeds the safety case. Remedial installers should hold FIRAS, IFC or BM TRADA Q-Mark certification.
What the law requires
Requirement B3 of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010 requires a building to be sub-divided with fire-resisting construction to an extent appropriate to its size and use, and requires that unseen spread of fire and smoke within concealed spaces in its structure and fabric is inhibited. Approved Document B gives the guidance: compartment walls and floors, cavity barriers in voids, and fire stopping of joints and service openings, which it says should be kept as few and as small as possible.
Once the building is occupied, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 takes over. The Fire Safety Act 2021, in force in England from 16 May 2022, confirmed that in a building containing two or more sets of domestic premises the Order covers the structure, external walls, anything attached to them including balconies, and all doors between the domestic premises and common parts. The responsible person's fire risk assessment under Article 9 must therefore address compartmentation, and Article 17 requires it to be maintained. In higher-risk buildings the Building Safety Act 2022 adds the safety case and golden thread, both of which depend on knowing the state of the passive fire protection.
Passive fire protection is the built-in construction that does this containment without activation: compartment walls, floors and ceilings; cavity barriers; fire stopping of linear joints and penetrations; fire-resisting ductwork and dampers; structural steel protection; and fire doors. The Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP) publishes the technical library, including TGD 17, the code of practice for installation and inspection of fire stopping. This guide covers the survey that finds the defects. Fire doors, the most inspected component, have their own guide: our fire door inspection requirements guide.
Who is responsible
The responsible person under Article 3 of the Fire Safety Order holds the duty to assess and maintain compartmentation, and in blocks of flats that is the freeholder, RMC or RTM company, with the managing agent delivering under Article 5(4) to the extent of its contract. In a higher-risk building the accountable person under section 72 of the Building Safety Act holds the safety case duty for the same construction. Our managing agent compliance guide sets out how the roles divide, and our duty holder guide covers the recording of who does what.
When a survey is needed
A general fire risk assessment is non-destructive and inspects what can be seen. Compartmentation defects are mostly hidden: above ceilings, in risers, behind boxing, inside cavities. The Local Government Association guide Fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats defines the four assessment types and states that the destructive types are warranted where there is good reason to suspect serious structural deficiencies that could lead to spread of fire beyond the flat of origin, and that the age of the block alone is not generally sufficient reason. The Home Office notes the guide is no longer comprehensive and is being revised, so cite it for the Type 1 to 4 framework rather than as current guidance on every point.
Fire risk assessment types and the compartmentation survey
| Type | Scope | Destructive | Compartmentation content | Typical trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | Common parts | No | Visible inspection only; flags concern | Default for all blocks |
| Type 2 | Common parts | Yes, sampling with opening up and making good | Survey of risers, ceiling voids and compartment lines in common parts | Type 1 flags doubt; unknown service riser construction; post-fire |
| Type 3 | Common parts and sample of flats | No | Visible inspection inside flats, including flat entrance doors and internal partitions | Assurance on flat-level protection and alarm provision |
| Type 4 | Common parts and sample of flats | Yes | Full compartmentation survey including flat-to-flat and flat-to-corridor separation | Serious concern; smoke spread incident; conversion of unknown quality |
Outside residential blocks the same logic applies to hospitals, hotels, care homes and student accommodation, where progressive horizontal evacuation or stay-put strategies depend entirely on compartmentation holding, and the fire risk assessment should state whether that reliance has been verified by survey. Our fire risk assessment requirements guide covers how the assessment should record this.
What the survey inspects
- Compartment walls and floors: continuity to the underside of the floor or roof above, not stopping at ceiling level; construction type and rating against the fire strategy.
- Cavity barriers: presence and continuity in ceiling voids, roof spaces, external wall cavities and around openings.
- Service penetrations: every pipe, cable tray, duct and conduit passing through a compartment line, and whether the fire stopping product is present, correct for the service and substrate, and installed to its certification.
- Linear joints: head-of-wall and floor-edge joints, movement joints, and gaps at deflection heads.
- Fire-resisting ductwork and dampers: presence, access for testing, and damper operation.
- Risers and shafts: whether the shaft is fire-resisting construction and whether riser doors and floor-level fire stopping are intact.
- Fire doors: as a component of the compartment line, checked against certification.
- External walls: where risk is known or suspected to arise from the form of construction, a separate fire risk appraisal to PAS 9980:2022 by a fire engineer, which is the basis for any EWS1 form; RICS states the EWS1 is not a life safety certificate.
The LGA guide identifies service openings and shared extract ducts as the recurring weak points, especially after building work.
What good evidence looks like
No statute prescribes the report format, so the brief must. A usable compartmentation survey report contains:
- Marked-up plans showing every compartment line and the location of every item surveyed, with a unique reference.
- A photograph of each defect, dated and referenced.
- A classification of each defect by severity and by the strategy element it undermines (escape route protection, flat-to-flat separation, structural protection).
- A remedial specification per defect stating the certified product, the tested configuration and the installation method.
- The surveyor's competence evidence.
- Areas not accessed and the reason, so that gaps are known rather than assumed clear.
- For higher-risk buildings, a format that meets the golden thread standards in the Higher-Risk Buildings (Management of Safety Risks etc) (England) Regulations 2023: electronically transferable without loss, intelligible, accessible, secure and with changes recorded by person and date.
Competence: surveyors and installers
The survey and the remediation need different competence and should be procured separately, because the firm that finds the defects should not be the only firm quoting to fix them.
For surveyors, look for fire engineering or fire safety qualifications with specific passive fire protection training, membership of the Institution of Fire Engineers or the ASFP, and a sample report. For installers, third-party certification is the standard:
Passive fire protection certification schemes
| Scheme | Operator | Certifies | Accreditation |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIRAS | Warringtonfire | Installation contractors, across fire stopping, fire doors, fire door maintenance and other passive modules | UKAS to BS EN ISO/IEC 17065 |
| IFC Certification installer scheme | IFC Certification (Kiwa) | Installation contractors for fire protection systems | UKAS to BS EN ISO/IEC 17065 |
| BM TRADA Q-Mark | BM TRADA | Fire door installation, fire door maintenance and fire stopping installation (competence); fire door manufacture (product) | UKAS |
| Certifire | Warringtonfire | Products (fire doors, seals, fire stopping products) | Third-party product certification |
| LPCB RedBook | BRE Global | Products and listed installers of passive fire protection | Third-party certification body |
A remediation needs both product and installer certification. Our contractor vetting and accreditation guide explains how to verify each on the scheme registers.
Common failures and enforcement consequences
- Survey never commissioned in a stay-put building because the Type 1 assessment did not flag it and nobody asked whether the strategy had been verified.
- Survey commissioned, works not done, leaving a report that documents the risk without addressing it. Fire and rescue authorities treat an unactioned survey as evidence of a known failure.
- Fire stopping installed by the M&E contractor who made the penetration, with no certification and no record of product or configuration.
- Works done, no record, so the next assessor has to survey again.
Where an inspecting officer finds compartmentation breached on an escape route or between flats, the response is an enforcement notice under Article 30 or, if the risk is serious, a prohibition notice under Article 31. Our 28-day enforcement notice guide sets out the response sequence, and compartmentation remediation is the item most likely to need an extension because certified installers and products have lead times.
Working with TICDesk
TICDesk is a UK procurement desk for testing, inspection and compliance work. Tell us the building type, height, evacuation strategy and whether you need a survey, remediation or both, and we introduce up to three vetted passive fire protection firms with the certification the work requires, typically within 48 hours. The service is free to the client; TICDesk earns a success fee from the contractor. Visit our fire safety desk or open a brief.
Frequently asked
What is passive fire protection?
Passive fire protection is the built-in construction that restricts the spread of fire and smoke without any action or activation: compartment walls, floors and ceilings, cavity barriers in voids, fire stopping of linear joints and service penetrations, fire-resisting ductwork and dampers, structural steel protection, and fire doors. It contrasts with active systems such as alarms, sprinklers and smoke control. Requirement B3 of the Building Regulations requires it, and the Association for Specialist Fire Protection publishes the technical guidance.
When do I need a compartmentation survey?
When there is reason to doubt that the compartmentation performs as the fire strategy assumes. The Local Government Association guide to fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats reserves the destructive Type 2 and Type 4 assessments for buildings where there is good reason to suspect serious structural deficiencies that could lead to fire spread beyond the flat of origin, and states that age alone is not sufficient. Triggers include a fire, smoke spread and repeated service installations.
What is the difference between a Type 1 and Type 4 fire risk assessment?
Type 1 covers the common parts only and is non-destructive. Type 2 covers the common parts with destructive sampling, opening up construction and making good. Type 3 covers common parts and a sample of flats, non-destructive. Type 4 covers common parts and flats with destructive inspection. A compartmentation survey is the destructive element of Types 2 and 4, and it needs leaseholder access, making good and a specialist surveyor rather than a general fire risk assessor.
Who should carry out fire stopping remedial work?
An installer holding third-party certification for the work type. FIRAS, operated by Warringtonfire and UKAS accredited to BS EN ISO/IEC 17065, certifies installation contractors across fire stopping, fire doors and other modules. IFC Certification runs an equivalent UKAS-accredited installer scheme. BM TRADA Q-Mark covers fire door installation and maintenance and fire stopping installation. Product certification, for example LPCB, is separate and confirms the product, not the installer.
What is PAS 9980 and how does it relate to EWS1?
PAS 9980:2022 is the BSI code of practice for the fire risk appraisal of external wall construction and cladding of existing blocks of flats, written for fire engineers and competent building professionals. A full appraisal is needed where risk is known or suspected to arise from the form of construction. The EWS1 form is a lender and valuer document confirming an external wall has been assessed, following PAS 9980; RICS states it is not a life safety certificate.
What should a compartmentation survey report contain?
No statute prescribes a format, so specify it in the brief: a location schedule referencing every compartment line and penetration surveyed against plans, photographs of each defect, a classification of each defect by severity and by the fire strategy element it undermines, a remedial specification stating the certified product and installation method, the surveyor's competence evidence, and areas not accessed with reasons. For higher-risk buildings the report must meet the golden thread standards for digital, intelligible, transferable records.
Sources & further reading
