Hi. We live in a three storey house converted into three flats (on ground, first floor, attic) with one communal entrance way. The renovation was completed and signed off for regs in 2018.

The fire risk assessor has identified an evacuate policy and insist that the smoke alarms and call points (no control panel) in the small communal hall are not adequate and recommended a very expensive grade d ld3 system. They took no steps to understand the construction or check the flats, which all have smoke alarms plus fire suppression systems on the ground floor and top floor flats. This seems potentially unnecessary given the risk at play and will cost us an extortionate amount.

They have also recommended a test switch for emergency lights, door closers and rip out and fit a lockable fire proof box around the electrical cupboard. These seem less unreasonable, but we'd still like to understand if these are really essential as it all seems very disproportionate to a small risk.

Any guidance would be very helpful - I've looks at piles of regulations and bs standards etc and it seems to be the case that if you get an overzealous assessor they can force works on you that might not be necessary because it's all judgement based. Is my understanding right and is there anything we can do?

If it's a stay put block it wouldn't have the communal call points and smoke alarms (in fact Building Regs & Fire Safety guidance says it absolutely should not) and would have smoke control (or at least openable windows to the stairs).

Where is it? If it is in Wales the sprinklers are mandatory regardless of the evac strategy, if England they could be compensation for a departure from the normal guidance which may be pertinent to your problem. I can see how the assessor got mixed up - your current set up, using standard benchmarks, is incorrect for both stay put & full evacuate.

The build is modern enough for it to be a legal requirement for the fire strategy & fire safety information relating to the design to be handed over on completion to the freeholder/owner/RMC who has a legal duty to maintain that information and pass it over if they sell the premises - this would answer the questions about the design.

If the flat detection is linked to the common detection then you are set up correctly for an evac policy as it is with no changes. Fire doors do not need closers other than to the flat entrance doors where no relaxation exists in any build guidance.

If the electrical board is made with a non combustible housing (metal) then it can be argued no further enclosure is necessary (opinion is sometimes divided on this).

The Emergency Lighting has to be tested and the test switches make this easier - it's a sign of a poor build that they are not there as they are pretty standard and should have been there from new!

Building Regs sign off is no guarantee of full compliance with the Regulations, nor of the fire safety legislation that takes force on completion - plenty of modern builds have been found to be defective despite this, sometimes with total loss fires or fatalities as a result. Building Control have no liability and it rests instead with the developer.

If your FRA did not attempt to access at least a proportion of flats to examine the front door fully (both sides, top & closing) and see if the common alarm extends inside it is not compliant with current Government guidance for a suitable & sufficient FRA (as part of this, if readily accessible the roof void should also have been accessed) so you haven't had what you paid for.

Housing is far more specialist than many assessors assume and this is an example of a site where a careful eye is needed!

I can't give you a more definitive answer without seeing the site, remote advice can only go so far!