Concise answer
What is a facilities manager’s role in a fire risk assessment?
A facilities or building manager will often organise access, records, contractors and day-to-day fire precautions for an office building. The manager may commission the fire risk assessment with suitable authority, brief the assessor, coordinate other responsible persons and manage actions after the report.
The job title does not automatically make the facilities manager solely responsible for fire safety. Duties under the Fire Safety Order depend on employment, ownership and the degree of control. The employer, landlord, tenants, managing agent, building operator and facilities provider may each have duties for different areas or measures.
Arrange
Define the instruction, obtain authority, select a suitable assessor and coordinate site access.
Inform
Provide current plans, occupancy, systems, contractors, incidents, changes and existing assessment records.
Coordinate
Connect landlord, employer, tenant and common-parts responsibilities instead of leaving interface gaps.
Act
Assign findings, apply interim controls, monitor deadlines and retain evidence of completion.
Responsibility map
Map control before instructing the office assessment
London offices frequently combine a freeholder, landlord, managing agent, facilities team, several tenant employers and specialist contractors. A useful FRA brief should say who controls each space and system, not simply name one building manager as the contact.
Where two or more responsible persons share or affect a workplace, they must cooperate and coordinate. The facilities team is often well placed to maintain the working responsibility matrix, but each dutyholder remains accountable for matters within its control.
| Area or measure | Questions for the facilities team | Likely coordination |
|---|---|---|
| Tenant office suites | Who controls fit-out, occupancy, work activities and local equipment? | Tenant employer, landlord and building manager |
| Reception and common routes | Who controls staffing, turnstiles, stairs, final exits and visitor arrangements? | Building operator, security and all occupiers |
| Fire alarm and warning | Who maintains the system, manages isolations and tells tenants about faults? | Landlord or manager, alarm contractor and tenants |
| Fire doors and compartmentation | Who inspects, repairs and approves penetrations in each location? | Landlord, tenants, FM contractors and project teams |
| Emergency plan | Who coordinates evacuation, disabled assistance, drills and assembly arrangements? | Employers, building manager, reception and security |
| Plant and firefighting facilities | Who maintains smoke control, lifts, sprinklers, risers and access? | Building owner or manager and competent specialists |
London office instruction
Scope the real building—not just the occupied office floor
A fire risk assessment for a London office may cover a self-contained workplace, one tenant demise, several floors, common parts or the entire commercial building. Dense occupation, mixed uses, basements, complex access, tall buildings, serviced-office operation and frequent fit-outs can materially affect the scope and competence required.
State what the assessment must connect: the tenant workplace, shared escape routes, building-wide alarm, emergency arrangements and fire-safety information held by the landlord or facilities team. If separate reports are required, define their boundaries and how findings will be reconciled.
- Exact address, London borough, floors, suites, common parts and ancillary areas
- Approximate floor area, normal occupancy and maximum credible attendance
- Tenant list, vacant areas, serviced-office clients and out-of-hours use
- Evacuation strategy, alarm cause-and-effect and shared escape arrangements
- Reception, access control, security, loading, basement and roof access
- Fire doors, compartmentation, smoke control, sprinklers, lifts and risers
- Recent fit-outs, planned works, temporary controls and known defects
- Existing landlord and tenant FRAs, fire strategy, plans and action records
Day-to-day management
Keep the assessment connected to how the building actually operates
An FRA is a point-in-time evaluation supported by a live management system. Facilities teams should be able to show how routine checks, planned maintenance, faults, impairments, contractors and changes are controlled between formal assessment reviews.
Routine checks
Record escape-route, final-exit, fire-door, alarm-panel, emergency-lighting and housekeeping checks at a proportionate frequency.
Fault escalation
Identify who receives a defect, assesses urgency, introduces interim measures and confirms restoration.
Contractor control
Coordinate permits, isolations, hot work, penetrations, access restrictions and fire precautions during work.
Occupancy control
Test arrangements against credible busy days, events, hybrid attendance, visitors and out-of-hours occupation.
Information handover
Keep drawings, strategies, specifications, commissioning records and changes available to people who need them.
Assurance
Check that completed work achieved the required outcome rather than closing an action because an order was raised.
Shared office buildings
Prevent gaps between landlord, common-parts and tenant FRAs
A common-parts report may not assess each employer’s work activities, local hazards, staff training or arrangements inside a tenant suite. A tenant report may rely on shared stairs, alarms and final exits that the tenant does not control. Both can be individually detailed yet leave a serious gap at the interface.
Use a building coordination schedule that records the current responsible persons, assessment dates, material findings, shared-system faults, planned changes and action owners. Relevant information should move when a tenant, manager, contractor or dutyholder changes.
- Maintain a current tenant and responsible-person contact list
- Share relevant alarm, escape, evacuation and impairment information
- Coordinate drills and record lessons affecting more than one occupier
- Reconcile contradictory assumptions across landlord and tenant reports
- Control fit-outs, penetrations, access systems and changes of room use
- Escalate overdue shared actions to the person able to authorise work
- Record limitations where access or information has not been obtained
- Update handover information when occupation or building management changes
Change management
Know when the office FRA needs review
There is no universal statutory expiry date for every office FRA. It must be reviewed regularly and when there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change. The facilities team should connect its change-control and incident processes to that review decision.
| Trigger | What may have changed | Immediate management question |
|---|---|---|
| New tenant or occupation pattern | People, activities, hours, vulnerable occupants and local hazards | Does the assessment and emergency plan still represent credible use? |
| Fit-out or refurbishment | Travel distance, doors, partitions, detection, sprinklers and compartmentation | What must be reviewed before the altered area is occupied? |
| Alarm or system impairment | Warning, evacuation, firefighting facilities and reliance on temporary controls | Who assesses impact, informs occupiers and authorises restoration? |
| Fire, near miss or failed evacuation | Assumptions, behaviour, equipment, procedures and competence | What needs immediate control and what evidence must be reviewed? |
| Repeated or overdue actions | Residual risk, management reliability and the validity of earlier conclusions | Is escalation or an updated competent review required? |
| Management or contractor change | Responsibility, contacts, records and continuity of controls | Has a complete, verified handover taken place? |
Prepare for attendance
Give the assessor evidence, access and someone who knows the building
The assessor should have enough information to understand the building before and during the visit. Nominate a knowledgeable contact, arrange access to all agreed areas and identify any restrictions, uncertain construction or missing records before the quotation is finalised.
- Current FRA, reviews, action plan and completion evidence
- Fire strategy, floor plans, cause-and-effect and relevant design information
- Alarm, emergency-lighting, fire-door, extinguisher and specialist-system records
- Occupancy, tenant, visitor, contractor and out-of-hours information
- Emergency plan, PEEP arrangements, drills, training and incident records
- Fit-out approvals, penetration controls and recent building changes
- Known faults, temporary measures, inaccessible areas and planned works
- A site contact able to explain actual operation and unlock the agreed scope
After the report
Convert findings into accountable building actions
Record each finding with its location, required outcome, risk priority, responsible owner, target date and status. Where permanent work cannot be completed promptly, obtain competent advice on suitable interim measures and record who checks them and when they end.
Keep the assessor’s recommendation separate from contractor quotations and completion evidence. Some actions need design, intrusive investigation or a specialist inspection before the correct remedy can be confirmed.
Triage
Identify urgent life-safety concerns and decisions requiring immediate competent input.
Allocate
Send each action to the landlord, employer, tenant, facilities team or contractor with authority to act.
Evidence
Retain reports, certificates, photographs and verification appropriate to the completed work.
Reassess
Review the FRA where work, new information or residual limitations affect its conclusions.
Competence and quotation
Choose competence for the office building—not the cheapest generic visit
The named assessor should have experience appropriate to the size, occupancy, construction, systems and management complexity of the instruction. Ask how common-parts and tenant interfaces will be handled, what records are needed, how long site attendance is expected to take and what the written deliverables include.
BAFE SP205 can provide evidence about an organisation’s life-safety FRA process, while NFRAR records individually assessed fire risk assessors and their displayed competency level. Check both where relevant, then verify current status, insurance and recent comparable London office or multi-tenant work.
- Named assessor, competence evidence and comparable building experience
- Exact areas, systems, tenant access and documents included in scope
- Expected site attendance, interviews, sampling and limitations
- Premises-specific report, photographs where useful and prioritised actions
- Treatment of dutyholder boundaries and shared-system findings
- Report date, quality assurance, corrections, clarification, VAT and travel