Why buildings accumulate defects
Compartmentation fails by increments. A data run here, a new soil pipe there, a suspended ceiling that hid it all from view. Add historic workmanship, products installed outside their tested scope, and records that never existed in the first place, and the result is typical rather than exceptional: buildings whose fire strategy is intact on paper and broken above the ceiling grid.
How remediation works
Survey and isolate
The as-built condition is surveyed against the fire strategy, and every defect photographed, located and severity-rated — so the remediation scope is defined by evidence, not estimate, and can be priced without repeat investigation visits.
Specify to tested details
Each defect is matched to a tested remedial detail before work starts. Where the existing construction sits outside any tested scope, we say so and refer it for a formal assessment or technical evaluation in line with ASFP Advisory Note 17 — not a bead of mastic and optimism. And where an existing seal is being altered rather than replaced, the original system is identified first and matched, because mixing manufacturers' materials in one seal voids the evidence behind it.
Work around the building
Occupied buildings stay occupied. Works are phased around residents, clinical areas and business hours, with out-of-hours and weekend working where the building demands it — agreed in the programme, not improvised on the day.
Verify and evidence
Every remediated item is re-photographed and closed out against its original defect reference, producing a before-and-after record for the entire programme.
When remediation evidence is demanded
Fire risk assessment actions
Where a fire risk assessment has identified compartmentation or fire door defects, the Responsible Person is under a duty to address them — and to be able to show they were addressed competently.
Building safety cases
For higher-risk buildings, the safety case must demonstrate that fire spread risks are being actively managed. A documented remediation programme is precisely the evidence the regulator expects to see.
Insurance and lenders
Insurers and lenders increasingly ask what sits behind a building's fire strategy. A costed defect schedule and a closed-out remediation pack answer the question before it is asked.
Transactions and handovers
On a sale, letting or contract handback, unresolved fire-stopping defects become price negotiations. Evidence of remediation to tested details takes them off the table.
What you receive
A before-and-after evidence pack proving what was found, what was done, and the tested detail it was done to — cross-referenced to the original defect register and ready for regulators, safety case reviewers, insurers and legal teams.
One team, including the enabling works
Ceiling access, builders' work openings and making good are carried out by our own team rather than left as someone else's problem — so remediation programmes don't stall between trades, and one contractor carries accountability from the first defect photograph to the last closed-out record.
Find out what your building has accumulated.
A survey is the first step — the evidence pack is the last.
Contact us