EWS1 forms for Birmingham buildings
Birmingham has one of the largest council housing estates in Europe and a city centre full of new residential towers, so we see the full range: fire door programmes, communal alarm upgrades and higher-risk building safety cases.
The EWS1 form is a standard way for a qualified professional to confirm to lenders and valuers that the external wall of a residential building has been assessed. It is a valuation document, not a fire safety certificate, and it does not replace the building's fire risk assessment.
There are two routes. Option A is for walls where the materials are unlikely to support combustion. Option B is for walls that do contain combustible materials, and needs a fire engineer to judge whether the risk is low enough or whether remedial work is needed. An EWS1 is valid for five years.
The rules that apply in Birmingham
Occupied buildings in England at least 18 metres or seven storeys high with two or more residential units are higher-risk buildings. They must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator, and the Principal Accountable Person must prepare a safety case report that can be called in at any time.
What is included
- Desktop review of existing documents
- Intrusive inspection where needed
- Option A or Option B assessment
- Signed EWS1 form for lenders and valuers
- Remediation scope where the outcome is B2
- Advice on whether a PAS 9980 appraisal is more useful
Buildings we work on in Birmingham
- Freeholders
- Resident management companies
- Managing agents
- Leaseholders selling or remortgaging
Areas we cover from Birmingham
From Birmingham we also cover West Bromwich (5 miles), Sutton Coldfield (6 miles), Solihull (7 miles), Walsall (8 miles) and Dudley (8 miles). Elsewhere in West Midlands we work in Coventry, Wolverhampton, Solihull, Walsall, Dudley and West Bromwich. If your building is not in a listed town, we still cover it: every enquiry for ews1 forms in West Midlands is handled the same way.