General information on fire risk assessments can be found on our Fire Risk Assessments page, however heritage buildings have particular risks and limitations associated with them - old doors, hidden voids, poor compartmentalisation etc. For this reason westrongly recommendthat your fire risk assessment is carried out by a Competent Person / Assessor with experience and an understanding of fire safety within heritage buildings.
Protecting people from fire is the main priority. However, in historic buildings, fire risk assessments should also consider the need to preserve the building's historic character. This requires a balanced approach, taking account of both fire safety and heritage conservation. A range of suitable fire safety measures should be considered, and specialist advice may be needed from professionals such as Conservation Architects, Conservation Officers, Heritage Consultants, or Historic England.
Where changes are unavoidable and have been approved by the relevant authority, they should be designed to visually sympathetic, and compatible with, the building's historic character and setting. Wherever possible, any alterations should be reversible so they can be removed in the future without causing lasting damage.
As heritage buildings are very different to modern buildings, it’s extremely important that you take the time to carry out research and ask suitable questions to be sure that the best person is employed or assigned to carry out the Fire Risk Assessment.
If your business or organisation is relatively small and you think your potential risks aren’t complex, it is possible to do it yourself, but we recommend you use the guidance on the GOV.UK website.
Supplementary Documentation
The Responsible Person should maintain documented arrangements for the management of fire risk within historic buildings under their responsibility. This should include a fire safety policy statement and fire risk assessments for all relevant buildings.
For larger or more complex historic buildings, the fire risk assessment may be supported by a more detailed building-specific record. This should capture key information such as (but not limited to):
- the location of fire compartmentation
- the presence and status of historic nominal or notional fire doors, and whether these are stewarded, fitted with self-closing devices, or operate automatically
- details of evacuation procedures
- active and passive fire protection measures in place.
Such documentation may take the form of a Fire Strategy where appropriate.
If the Responsible Person does not have access to suitably competent expertise within their organisation, they should appoint a fire safety professional with experience in historic buildings. Such specialists should be capable of recommending appropriate alternatives to conventional fire safety measures, including:
- fire-engineered solutions
- assessments to determine whether upgrades to historic doors and partitions are necessary, and
- consideration of specialist fire detection and fire suppression systems where appropriate.
So what is a Fire Strategy?
A Fire Strategy is a combination of fire safety measures that has been shown by reference to design codes or fire safety engineering (FSE) analysis to be capable of satisfying the specified functional objectives.
These strategies should be bespoke to the building. For a heritage building one of the aims should be to consider how to protect the contents and the premises in the event of a fire.
Documented fire strategies are a key point of reference when making any alterations to a building. The recorded fire strategy should be kept as simple as possible. This is so they can be understood by those who need to manage and maintain the building. They are also used to inform fire risk assessments and any building projects, as well as supporting the fire service in its roles as auditor of compliance with the Fire Safety Order.
The fire strategy document should be regularly reviewed and updated to take into account factors such as building works, change in risk and/or changes in relevant legislation.
This review of the fire risk assessment, fire policy statement and any supplementary documentation (such as a fire strategy) is critical, particularly during any construction or refurbishment phase of a project, when temporary conditions, hot works and changes to normal building management arrangements can increase the risk of fire.