What is an EWS1 form?
If you live in a block of flats and are planning on remortgaging your property, or if you are considering buying a flat, your mortgage lender may request to see the building’s EWS1 form, sometimes known as an EWS1 certificate.
An EWS1 form shows mortgage lenders that the building in which the flat is situated has been assessed and deemed safe by a fire safety expert. Once the lender is made aware of this, they will then proceed with the mortgage loan as they know the flat is likely not to be destroyed in the event of a building fire.
So what exactly is an ESW1 form? How do you get one? Who can get one? Which buildings require one? And how much do they cost?
We will explore all these questions and more as we answer the question: what is an EWS1 form?
What is an EWS1 form?
An EWS1 (external wall system) form is a document that confirms that an external wall or its attachments – for example, a balcony – on a building that contains flats has been assessed by an expert to ensure it adheres to fire safety guidelines. Since 2021, ESW1 forms have been included as part of standard fire risk assessments, which owners of residential buildings must update every three years.
EWS1 forms were introduced after the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in 2017, in which over 70 people died. One of the main reasons the fire was so disastrous was because of the combustibility of the cladding on the building.
So let’s start by taking a closer look at what cladding is.
What is cladding?
Cladding is when one material is laid over another. Cladding is used on buildings and construction for thermal insulation, weather resistance, noise control, or aesthetic purposes. Cladding can be made using many materials, including metal, wood, brick, aluminium, cement, and more.
There is a hollow cavity between the building’s wall and the external cladding. In the event of a fire, this cavity creates a chimney effect and sucks hot air up. Moreover, the cladding material can also contribute to the spread of the fire.
Because of the fire hazards that cladding can pose, residential buildings must have cladding inspected as part of standard fire risk assessments.
An EWS1 form includes cladding but also assesses other external wall attachments, such as staircases or balconies.
Why do you need an EWS1 form?
In June 2017, the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London was set ablaze after a fridge malfunctioned on the fourth floor. The fire rapidly spread throughout the building due to the building’s cladding and external insulation creating a chimney effect that shot the hot air and fire upwards.
72 people tragically died, and 70 were seriously injured in the disaster. This made it the worst residential fire in the UK since the Second World War.
In the wake of the tragedy, much of the blame was apportioned to the cladding and insulation systems, which were deemed highly combustible and unsafe. This led to tighter fire risk assessment guidelines.
To ensure that external wall systems were sufficiently assessed for fire safety, the EWS1 form was introduced a year after Grenfell in 2018. As of 2021, cladding inspection is a standard part of any fire risk assessment.
Furthermore, mortgage lenders were spooked by the fire, as many properties with mortgages were destroyed in the blaze. After Grenfell, it soon emerged that many other residential blocks had similarly combustible cladding.
So the EWS1 form is there to reassure mortgage lenders that mortgages are safe to be offered on flats in a building with cladding. For this reason, it is a separate component of a fire risk assessment, which is there to help keep residents safe in the event of a fire.
What kind of buildings need an EWS1 form?
Buildings that fulfill all of the following criteria require EWS1 forms:
Residential buildings.Buildings fitted with cladding or a combustible timber balcony.Buildings over 18 metres tall OR have six storeys or more.
Buildings without cladding or a wooden balcony do not require an EWS1 form. However, it can be difficult to tell if a building has cladding and some that look as though they are built from traditional materials are actually a brick external wall system that counts as cladding.
How do you get an EWS1 form?
Getting an EWS1 form is the responsibility of the owner of the building. To get an EWS1 form, you need to hire a qualified professional engineer to conduct a fire risk assessment of the external wall system. One form covers the whole building.
Once you have professionally approved the wall, the ESW1 form is valid for five years.
There is a shortage of qualified professionals who can conduct external wall system surveys, and many buildings require them. So it is important that you follow the guidelines outlined above to ensure any building you are responsible for definitely needs an ESW1 form.
Who is responsible for getting an EWS1 form?
It is the responsibility of the building’s owner to get both the fire risk assessment and the EWS1 certificate. Only the legal owner of a building has the authority to arrange for an ESW1, so the responsibility is entirely theirs.
Since 2021, the law states that every fire risk assessment must also include an inspection of the cladding. If the building you live in or own has not had a fire risk assessment in a few years, then it won’t have had an assessment of the cladding. Again, it is the legal responsibility of the building owner to get an up-to-date fire risk assessment.
If the owner of a building you live in refuses to get an EWS1 form, you should gather the other residents and leaseholders of the building and write to the owner collectively. If they continue to ignore you, you should contact your local council and inform them of the situation.
If the building you live in already has an ESW1 form, you should be able to contact the building owner and ask for a copy of it.
What happens after the assessment?
Once a building has been assessed, it will be categorised into one of the following groups:
Group A – External wall systems and materials are not likely to support combustion.
A1 – no cladding contains significant quantities of combustible materialsA2 – the cladding requires no remedial workA3 – the cladding is unlikely to support combustion, but remedial works may be required.
Group B – The cladding contains combustible materials.
B1 – The fire risk is low enough that remedial works are not requiredB2 – The fire risk is high enough to require remedial work.
What happens if the cladding is deemed unsafe?
If the cladding contains combustible materials, it will be marked as either B1 or B2. B1 means it is safe and does not require any work. B2 means the cladding needs work to be made safe.
If the building is marked B2 and is over 11 metres tall, the UK government will pay for the unsafe materials to be removed. The money used for these payments is raised by a Residential Property Developers Tax, which all major housing developers pay into.
If the building is under 11 metres high, the leaseholders must pay for the remedial works on the building.
Are ESW1 forms a legal requirement?
ESW1 forms are not legally required. However, fire risk assessments are a legal requirement.
You may be required to get an ESW1 form if you are the leaseholder or freeholder of a building that falls into the categories of needing an ESW1 and you want to sell or remortgage the building.
While an EWS1 form is not a legal requirement, mortgage lenders will likely require one to be willing to offer mortgages on properties within the building. Not all mortgage lenders will demand one, but it is usually best to assume they will.
How long does it take to get an ESW1 form?
Getting an ESW1 form could take as little as two months or as long as one year or more.
There is currently a high demand for ESW1 forms, and it can be a complicated and time-consuming process that requires a lot of research, evaluations, and surveys by professionals.
ESW1 forms have to be signed off by a registered fire engineer, of which there are very few in the UK. According to the Institution of Fire Engineers, as of March 2022, there are just over 100 fire engineers in the whole of the UK. On top of this, fire engineers must also have Professional Indemnity Insurance, which has become more difficult to obtain.
With so many people demanding the services of only a handful of qualified professionals, there is a large backlog and waiting list to get an ESW1 form.
How much do ESW1 forms cost?
Fire risk assessments and ESW1 forms cost money, but the overall price depends on the size of the building and the amount of cladding it has. Generally speaking, an assessment will cost between £6,000 and £20,000.
However, there have also been instances in which an ESW1 form has cost upwards of £30,000.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of an EWS1 form?
The main benefit of an EWS1 form is that it ensures that people know if the building they want to live in is safe. The fire at Grenfell could not have been prevented, but the damage and fatalities could have been limited, and people have a right to know about the fire safety of the place they want to have a home.
The disadvantage to EWS1 forms is the inverse of this; if the building is found to be unsafe, a mortgage lender may not allow someone to have the mortgage they need to move into the property.
Furthermore, because the forms are not mandatory, building owners are not obliged to complete them. However, some mortgage lenders won’t offer mortgages without them. This can leave buyers in a difficult situation that can be hard to advance from.
Summary
An EWS1 form is a document that shows mortgage lenders that a building with cladding has either been deemed safe or outlines any remedial work it needs. Although not every mortgage lender will demand an ESW1 form, owners of buildings that meet the criteria should have one to ensure they are up-to-date with fire risks.
If you need your building’s ESW1 form, contact the building owner and ask to see it. Or, if the building doesn’t have one, request that they arrange for a fire risk assessment. It is the building owner’s responsibility that the building and its inhabitants are kept safe.
