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What Is Identified During a Compartmentation Survey?

Posted on 9th April 2024

A fire compartmentation survey aims to assess the integrity of fire compartments within your building. Maintaining the compartmentation correctly is key for stopping the spread of fire and smoke between different rooms and floors.

What do we look for during a compartmentation survey and what are common issues found with fire compartmentation? Continue reading our article to find out.

What are the Common Faults Identified During a Fire Compartmentation Survey?

So what are the faults most commonly identified when conducting a fire compartmentation survey? Here is the list:

Penetrations and Gaps - Service penetrations in the walls and floors such as unsealed pipes or cables are one of the most common faults which can compromise the integrity of the compartment. Gaps around the doors, windows or other openings may also allow the passage of smoke and flames through the compartment.

Fire Doors and Seals - Faulty or improperly maintained fire doors along with missing or damaged door seals are another factor that can negatively impact the effectiveness of fire compartmentation.

Structural Integrity - Any damage or alterations to the structure of the walls, floors and ceilings will compromise their ability to stop the spread of fire.

Service Installations - Another common issue identified during the compartmentation surveying process is inadequately fire-stopped service installations. Those typically include pipes and cables passing through the wall. Any gaps around those create a breach in the compartment allowing flames, hot gases and smoke to pass through.

Ceiling Cavity Integrity - Often overlooked, unsealed ceiling cavities or openings can allow fire and smoke to freely pass between compartments.

Inadequate Use of Fire Stopping Materials - Using inappropriate or insufficient firestopping materials at the construction stage or during repairs is another factor affecting the integrity of your compartmentation.

Inadequate Fire Resistance Ratings - All fire-rated walls, doors and floors need to meet the appropriate fire resistance times. If they don’t, the compartments might be breached.

What are the Outputs of a Compartmentation Survey?

After your compartmentation survey, you will receive a report with the existing condition of the compartments and their suitability to prevent the spread of fire. Where necessary recommendations for remediation and improvements will be made in order to ensure your building is compliant with the best construction practices and the latest fire safety regulations.

The outputs of our compartmentation surveys entail:

Annotated plans of each building floor showing the boundaries of the compartmentation;

Details of any identified breaches, penetrations or damages along with suggested remediation plans;

Any obvious fire risks.

What Should be Done After the Completion of a Fire Compartmentation Survey?

As a building owner or manager it is your priority to rectify any issues found during a compartmentation survey. But even if no faults are found, you're required to keep the report of the survey safe, in an easily-accessible format as part of a traceable record.

Compartmentation survey reports play an important role in the “Golden Thread” approach. This is the standard for transparency and recordkeeping within construction that aids sharing knowledge between responsible parties. This must be upheld throughout the building’s lifespan, starting from the design, through to construction and handed over to the building owner once the project is completed.

How Can GRJ Help?

GRJ Surveying provides comprehensive fire compartmentation surveys all across the UK. With over 15 years of experience, our team has worked on commercial, residential and industrial projects of large scale. Our portfolio includes clients like Willmott Dixon as well as public sector, local councils and private contractors.

Once we have completed your survey if any work is required, we can also take care of your fire compartmentation, rectifying any issues.

If you have any questions or to book your survey, please get in touch with our team.