Escape routes
Partitions and furniture can lengthen travel, create dead ends, obscure exits or change the number of people using a route.
Office refurbishment and occupation guide
Fire risk assessment after an office fit-out
A completed fit-out is not just a visual change. New partitions, rooms, ceilings, doors, systems and occupancy can invalidate assumptions in the existing fire risk assessment and emergency plan.
Before-and-after floor plans
A fit-out can change several fire-safety assumptions at once
New partitions, meeting rooms, pods and occupancy can alter travel, visibility, alarm coverage and compartmentation even when the external footprint is unchanged.
Detection and warning
New enclosed rooms and acoustic pods can affect detector coverage, alarm audibility and visual warning.
Fire-resisting construction
Walls, doors, ceilings and new services must preserve any required compartmentation and cavity barriers.
Occupancy and management
More people or a different use can change exit capacity, assistance plans, wardens, drills and emergency information.
Scope note: The revised FRA should be informed by the fit-out drawings, approvals, commissioning information and fire-strategy assumptions—not only a visual walk-through after occupation.
Concise answer
Does an office fit-out require a new fire risk assessment?
The responsible person must review the fire risk assessment where there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change. An office fit-out commonly changes matters covered by the assessment, so a documented review is needed and the assessment must be revised where necessary.
A minor decorative change may require only a proportionate check. New partitions, meeting pods, increased occupancy, changed escape routes, system alterations or incomplete fire-stopping evidence can justify a wider on-site reassessment or a new report.
Different controls
Building regulations approval does not replace the FRA
Building work must comply with applicable building regulations, including fire-safety requirements. Design approval, consultation, inspection and completion information relate to the building work and should be retained.
The office FRA considers the occupied premises in operation: actual people, work activities, management, maintenance, emergency arrangements and the condition found. Approval of the fit-out is valuable evidence, but it is not a substitute for reviewing the Fire Safety Order assessment.
Design stage
Check the fire strategy, escape capacity, system interfaces and landlord requirements before details are fixed.
Construction stage
Control hot work, temporary alarms, disabled systems, combustible waste and changes to escape.
Completion stage
Obtain approvals, commissioning results, product information, plans and defect records.
Occupation stage
Test actual use, maximum attendance, management, evacuation and maintenance arrangements.
What the assessor checks
Fit-out changes that can affect office fire safety
The assessment should compare the completed layout with the relevant design information and the way the office will actually operate. Concealed or specialist matters may require evidence or a separate competent inspection.
- New rooms, partitions, pods and altered travel distances
- Protected routes, final exits, door swing and escape-route capacity
- Fire doors, glazing, compartment walls and service penetrations
- Suspended ceilings, void barriers, dampers and fire-stopping evidence
- Fire-alarm detection, sounders, visual alarms and cause-and-effect interfaces
- Sprinkler head positions, obstructions and alterations to protected systems
- Emergency lighting, exit signs and controls under normal and failed power
- Electronic access control, turnstiles, shutters and fail-safe release
- Kitchen, print, storage, plant, server, charging and battery areas
- Fire-service access and any effect on firefighting facilities
Operational reality
Reassess occupancy, hybrid work and evacuation
The fitted office may accommodate more people or use rooms differently from the previous layout. The assessment should use the maximum credible occupancy rather than a quiet attendance day and should consider visitors, contractors, cleaners, lone workers and out-of-hours use.
Hybrid attendance can reduce the number of trained wardens or assistants present on particular days. Emergency arrangements should work whenever the office is occupied and should include individual or generic evacuation support appropriate to people who may need assistance.
Maximum attendance
Confirm exit capacity and procedures against the busiest credible use.
New room uses
Check meeting, wellness, focus, event and storage rooms against design assumptions.
Assisted evacuation
Make practical arrangements that do not depend on unavailable colleagues.
Shared building
Coordinate the tenant plan with the alarm, stairs and wider building strategy.
Evidence pack
Documents to collect before the office opens
Good handover information helps the assessor distinguish verified provision from assumptions. Ask the client, designer, principal contractor, landlord and specialist contractors for relevant records rather than relying on a certificate folder whose contents have not been checked.
- Approved layout, fire strategy and relevant building-control information
- As-built plans showing compartmentation, doors and service penetrations
- Fire-stopping register, inspection evidence and unresolved defects
- Alarm, emergency-lighting, sprinkler and smoke-control commissioning information
- Fire-door schedules, access-control interfaces and operation information
- Furniture, linings and specialist-product fire performance where relevant
- Landlord fit-out approvals, common-system information and emergency plan
- Operation and maintenance manuals, responsible contacts and warranties
Close the loop
Turn the post-fit-out FRA into an action plan
The updated report should describe the office as fitted, record the assessment scope and evidence, identify people at risk, evaluate precautions and explain limitations. Actions should identify the location, required outcome, risk priority and party able to complete them.
Separate tenant, landlord, fit-out-contractor and shared actions. Put interim controls in place where a defect cannot be rectified immediately, then retain evidence that permanent work was completed and verified.
- Resolve urgent life-safety defects before normal occupation where necessary
- Assign every action to an organisation and named owner
- Update the emergency plan, staff information and training
- Complete and record an evacuation drill at an appropriate point
- Set maintenance, testing and review arrangements for the new layout
Office guidance and support
Apply the guide to a London office
Use the main office FRA guide for costs, scope and London enquiries, then check assessor competence before relying on a report.
Frequently asked questions
Fire risk assessment after an office fit-out FAQs
When should the post-fit-out FRA be completed?
Fire safety should be considered during design and construction, with the occupied-premises assessment reviewed against the completed fit-out before or as the office is brought into use. Urgent defects should not wait for routine occupation.
Is a fit-out completion certificate the same as an FRA?
No. Building-control and completion evidence relate to the work and design requirements. The FRA evaluates the actual workplace, people, activities, precautions and management under the Fire Safety Order.
Does moving office partitions trigger an FRA review?
It can. Partitions can change travel distance, room occupancy, visibility, alarm coverage, sprinkler effectiveness, compartmentation and escape routes. The significance and necessary reassessment scope depend on the actual change.
Who arranges the FRA after a tenant fit-out?
The tenant employer will normally need to ensure its workplace assessment is current. Landlords, managers and other responsible persons must address parts and systems they control and cooperate over shared matters.
Can an assessor verify concealed fire stopping during a standard FRA?
Only to the extent visible and within the agreed scope. Missing or doubtful concealed work may require records, opening-up or a separate fire-stopping or compartmentation survey by competent specialists.
Should the assessment use current hybrid attendance?
It should understand normal patterns but also test the maximum credible occupancy and whether wardens, evacuation assistants and other arrangements remain effective on every occupied day.
Does a CAT A or CAT B fit-out make a difference?
The label helps describe the project but does not decide FRA scope. The assessor needs to know what was changed, what evidence exists, who will occupy the office and how the completed premises operates.
London office assessment enquiry
Request an office fire risk assessment quote
Provide the office, occupancy and shared-building details needed to review the likely scope and identify a suitable assessor serving London.
- No obligation to book
- Telephone number required
- Suitable for a single office or a portfolio enquiry
Sources and limitations
Guidance reviewed 3 August 2026
This page provides general information for England. It is not legal advice or a building-specific assessment. Fire Safety Services is independent and is not affiliated with the Government, enforcing authorities, BAFE, NFRAR or IFSM.