With the release of the Grenfell report, the focus is back on how many buildings still have unsafe cladding, and what to do about it. There are plenty of misconceptions around what can or can’t be used on your external walls of your property, and how you go about checking its safety via EWS1. Here we aim to clear up the most frequently asked questions with a set of comprehensive answers. With thanks to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors for supplying these.
What is an external wall system?
The external wall system is made up of the outside wall of a residential building and includes the cladding, insulation and fire break systems.
What is the EWS1 process and form?
The EWS1 form is designed to be used for residential properties such as blocks of flats, student accommodation, dormitories, assisted living, care homes and Houses in Multiple Occupation. It is not specifically designed for short-term accommodation such as hotels. However, it does apply to an entire building or block, so may be relevant where there is a case of mixed use.
The idea is that a building owner can confirm that the external wall system on a residential building has been assessed for safety by an expert, in line with government guidance – providing assurance for lenders, valuers, residents, buyers and sellers. It was developed through consultation with fire engineers, lenders, insurers, valuers, and other cross-industry representatives.
A qualified professional conducts an initial fire-risk appraisal on the external wall system, before signing the EWS1 form, valid for the entire building for five years.
Originally government advice specified what was required for external wall systems for buildings above 18m. Hence EWS1 was created to ensure residential buildings over 18m tall could be assessed for safety to allow lenders to offer mortgages. Changes in Government advice in January 2020, brought all residential buildings of any height within scope.
Not every building requires an EWS1 form, however. RICS published proportionate guidance for valuers, including criteria that will be used to help decide whether a particular building should need an EWS1 form. Valuers will always need to follow instructions given by their lender clients. The criteria considers the height of the building, the type of cladding and (in some circumstances) how much of it there is on the building. There are also criteria relating to balconies and combustible material. There needs to be a rationale to justify the request of an EWS1 form.
Do any government announcements about what buildings are in scope for an EWS assessment render any existing completed EWS1 forms obsolete?
No – the forms remain valid until such time as a new EWS1 form or updated fire risk assessment including an EWS appraisal is completed.
The building owner is responsible for clarifying which EWS1 Form is current, whether the form is still required, or why more than one form was produced. The building owner can refer to the professionals involved or through the firm’s formal complaint handling procedures.
RICS-regulated firms are required to have a formal complaints handling procedure and are subject to regulatory oversight. Where there are concerns over a RICS member or firm’s competence or conduct, these can be raised through the formal regulatory process of the RICS.
Does each flat or apartment have to get an individual EWS1 form for selling, buying, or re-mortgaging?
No – each EWS1 form is valid for an entire block or building.
What is the position in Scotland?
Separate EWS1s can be required on a flat-by-flat basis. The Single Building Assessment (SBA) was published June 2024. This is at pilot stage and includes 105 entries. It will ramp up during 2024 once the specification for the SBA is settled.
The Scottish Government is completing a survey of 11m+ medium and high-rise buildings, and have introduced a Cladding Remediation Bill to help safeguard homeowners and residents by creating a new power for the Government to undertake urgent measures to remediate unsafe cladding that presents a risk to life. The Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament 14th May 2024, is expected to gain Royal Assent and come into force in September 2024.
In addition, they seek the devolution of powers to introduce a levy equivalent to the UK Government’s Building Safety Levy for England, to ensure the residential development sector makes a fair contribution to the Scottish Government’s costs of the Scottish Cladding Remediation Scheme. To date, the majority of developers have signed up to pledge self-remediation of buildings they were responsible for Developer Remediation Contracts are in progress with each individual developer. So called ‘comfort letters’ regarding individual blocks are also in progress.
The Scottish Advice Note (SAN) v2 was published on 16 December 2022. This provides advice for those responsible for fire safety in residential buildings including building owners/managers/residents groups responsible for determining the fire risk posed by external wall systems on existing multi-storey residential buildings. This is primary government guidance and currently takes precedence over PAS9980 and other guidance. Successful RICS EWS Assessment course completers working in Scotland will be required to register as a supplier with Public Contracts Scotland in order to be appointed directly by the Scottish Government.
The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 was amended in June 2022 effectively banning the use of combustible materials in an external wall build up:
Building standards technical handbooks 2022: summary of changes for 1 June 2022 – gov.scot. Regulation 8 is amended to ban the use of combustible materials in external wall cladding systems on dwellings and on other defined ‘relevant buildings’ with a storey at a height of 11 metres or more.
A Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill confers on the Scottish Ministers powers to identify external wall cladding systems on residential buildings 11m+ that create or exacerbate risks to human life and to address those risks, to establish a public Register to record that a building’s cladding and fire safety has been assessed (SBA) and that remediation works have been completed. Also to enable one or more schemes to be established to require persons in the building industry to contribute towards assessing and remediating dangerous cladding and for connected purposes.
Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill 2024 – final changes and vote
What is the position in Wales?
The EWS1 process applies equally to Wales as it does to England. The Welsh Government has published (28 July 2023) new fire safety guidance. The Fire Safety Act 2021 was implemented in Wales, by The Fire Safety Act 2021 (Commencement) (Wales) Regulations 2021. The Building Safety Act 2022 has not yet been implemented in Wales, and no new national regulator such as the BSR has been set up.
The Welsh Building Safety Fund allows Responsible Persons the opportunity to access support to carry out building safety-related surveys. Further information can be found here.
The Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) is set up to support leaseholders in medium and high-rise buildings affected by fire safety issues in Wales. A LEASE advisor will respond to leaseholders, review their situation, assess if legal support is appropriate and advise on how to proceed. When appropriate, LEASE will act as a referral service to a dedicated legal services provider whose initial advice will be paid for by the Welsh Government.
What is the position in Northern Ireland?
Northern Ireland cladding remediation funding applications can be processed and delivered through its Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS). In Northern Ireland, the funding will be administered by Homes England as part of the English scheme.
The CSS opened for new funding applications from Northern Ireland applicants on 7 August 2023. The EWS1 Form and process apply equally in N.Ireland.
What happens if the EWS1 assessment identifies that remedial works are required?
If an external wall system requires remedial work, the valuer takes this into account. Other measures such as the installation of a fire alarm may mean the cladding does not need remediation. A valuation will only be possible if there is clarity on cost of the work and a timeline for works to be completed.
Lenders are unlikely to lend until remedial work has been completed, but some may choose to do so with retentions based on their own risk appetite. The EWS assessment is for the building owner to oversee, but the resulting report and EWS1 form should be available on request to all occupants in that block.
There is funding for the removal of dangerous cladding in all qualifying residential properties over 11m. However, leaseholders may still be required to contribute to the remediation, and clarity on the costs that will be incurred per flat will be required for a valuation to proceed. There is no funding for remediation for blocks below 11m.
Does the EWS1 assessment cover fire safety measures?
The EWS1 form assessment is for valuation purposes only. It covers the safety of external wall systems used in residential buildings, determining whether remedial works are required. It’s not designed to assess other fire safety features or risks and should never be used to determine the overall risk of fire to a building.
The person responsible for the building (Responsible Person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005) should have a fire risk assessment (FRA) for the building as this is an independent legal requirement that is already in place and has not in the past commonly incorporated assessment of external wall materials. Note this has changed with the Fire Safety Act coming into force in England and updated FRAs will need to cover the external cladding where this exists.
Is an EWS1 Form required on new blocks of flats?
No – a new building should be compliant with current building regulations and guidance at the time of construction. Carrying out an EWS assessment known as an FRAEW in accordance with PAS 9980 is not appropriate. The building owner should be able to supply all relevant certification re building regulations compliance which should satisfy lender requirements.
Why are lenders asking for EWS1 forms below 18m?
Changes in Government advice in January 2020 (the Consolidated Advice Note or CAN), at the time brought all residential buildings into scope. The RICS guidance note for Valuers published 08 March 2021 provides information on proportionate criteria where an EWS1 should be required.
Does the PAS 9980:2022 Assessing the external wall fire risk in multi-occupied residential buildings published in January 2022 replace the need for an EWS1 form?
Not at the moment. The code of practice for external walls is for building surveyors and fire engineers who will need to carry out mandatory EWS fire risk assessments on buildings as part of the Fire Safety Act 2021 amendments. Under PAS 9980:2022 – the document which will provide a consistent methodology for carrying out an external wall appraisal – there will still need to be a summary report for valuers and lenders to ensure that the property is safe to lend on and does not have remediation costs affecting value.
In time, updated FRAs with EWS appraisals will be carried out for all blocks, and RICS envisages there will be no need for an EWS1 Form. PAS 9980 introduced the term FRAEWs (Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls), and all competent qualified trained professionals undertaking this work should now be using PAS 9980. The CWCT have also published guidance to assist professional assessors, see this link.
The IFE and FIA published new guidance on 5 March 2024 to support use of risk acceptability and proportionality under PAS 9980 ‘Proportionality and risk when carrying out FRAEWs to PAS 9980’.
What EWS1 Form Option is applicable where there are potential issues with cavity barriers?
Cavity barriers are often an essential part of an external wall construction, so they need to be considered in any assessment of the external wall safety.
The EWS1 form references BS 9991 and Approved Document B for guidance for the design and location for cavity barriers. However, those guidance documents only cover ‘common building situations’ and in cases where the external wall is significantly different from those envisaged by those guidance documents, the recommendations in those documents may not be appropriate or necessary. In those situations, the design should be based on advice from a competent professional and agreed with the relevant approving body. If the external wall construction is then built in accordance with that design, that would be perfectly acceptable.
However, in other situations, investigations into external wall construction may identify situations where cavity barriers are in breach of the recommendations of BS 9991 or ADB guidance and that was not intentional. This could be due to poor design or installation – or both. In those situations there would be a need for a fire engineer to assess the risk level that is created in order to determine whether remedial works are required. In this situation it would not be appropriate to use the Option A approach as that would allow sign-off by non-fire engineering specialists, so the Option B approach should be used (i.e. a choice of B1 or B2 depending on whether remedial works are required).
The typical approach, in summary, should be:
- If site investigations confirm that the cavity barriers are not in accordance with BS 9991 or ADB, but that was due to an intentional design that was developed by competent professionals, and approved by the relevant regulatory body – Option A1 or B1 depending on the presence of combustible materials
- If site investigations confirm that the cavity barriers are not in accordance with BS 9991 or ADB and there is no evidence that this was due to an intentional design – Option B1 or B2 depending on whether remedial works are required or not.
Are existing EWS1 Forms completed prior to PAS 9980 being published, still valid?
All EWS1 Forms completed to date are valid for five years unless the building owner wishes to commission a new EWS assessment in accordance with PAS 9980. This may or may not result in a different rating in an EWS1 Form. Individual lender policy should be consulted to confirm that forms completed prior to the publication of PAS9980 are still accepted.