Fire Protection

Passive Fire Protection

Guardian Edge surveys and remediates passive fire protection across the UK — fire stopping, compartmentation, cavity barriers, fire-rated ductwork penetrations and structural protection. In most existing buildings, compartmentation has been breached by services installed long after the building was completed, and the survey is where the real picture emerges.

Compartmentation that still exists after twenty years of cable installs.

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Who this is for

Responsible persons relying on compartmentation in their fire strategy
Managing agents of residential blocks with stay-put strategies
Facilities managers after a refurbishment or cabling programme
Building owners responding to a Type 3 or Type 4 fire risk assessment

Problems it solves

Every cable and pipe installed since the building opened has gone through a wall
Risers and ceiling voids have never been inspected above the tiles
The building has a stay-put strategy that depends on compartmentation nobody has verified
A fire risk assessment has recommended an intrusive compartmentation survey
There is no record of who did the fire stopping or what products were used

What Guardian Edge provides

Our passive fire protection scope

What we provide

Compartmentation surveys, including intrusive inspection of voids and risers
Fire stopping of service penetrations — cables, pipes, ducts and trays
Linear gap seals, cavity barriers and fire-rated board systems
Fire-rated ductwork, dampers and builderswork openings
Structural steel protection where specified
Photographic evidence and a product record per penetration

Typical scope

Residential blocks, student accommodation and supported housing
Offices, data centres, hospitals, schools and industrial premises
Risers, ceiling voids, plant rooms, roof spaces and service corridors
New-build packages and remediation of existing buildings

Before we price anything

Inspection & survey process

01
Establish the compartmentation strategy
Which walls and floors are meant to be fire-resisting, and for how long. Drawings where they exist; on-site determination where they do not.
02
Inspect intrusively
Above ceilings, inside risers and through voids. Non-intrusive surveys find the easy failures and miss the important ones.
03
Record every defect
Photographed, located and referenced so the remediation can be verified afterwards.

On site

How the work is delivered

01
Remediation scheduled
Priced by penetration and grouped by area so work can be phased.
02
Correct systems installed
Tested and certificated systems used as tested — not a generic sealant applied everywhere.
03
Evidence captured
Before, during and after photographs, product data and installer detail for each penetration.
04
Register handed over
A record you can hand to an assessor, an insurer or the next owner of the building.

Compliance

What the rules actually require

Compartmentation is usually the assumption a building's fire strategy rests on. If a residential block operates a stay-put policy, it depends on compartmentation working.
Passive fire protection products are tested and certificated as systems. A product's fire rating applies to the configuration in which it was tested — substrate, aperture size, service type and support arrangements all matter.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires general fire precautions to be maintained. Compartmentation is a general fire precaution.
Third-party certification of the installing contractor — schemes such as FIRAS or IFC — is not a legal requirement, but it is increasingly expected by insurers and building owners as evidence of competent installation.

Standards & legislation

These are not all the same kind of obligation, and we do not present them as if they were. A statutory duty is law. A British Standard is the recognised way of demonstrating you have met one. Guidance and our own recommendations are neither.

British StandardBS 476-20/22
Fire tests on building materials and structures
The legacy UK test methods for fire resistance of elements of construction.
British StandardBS EN 1366
Fire resistance tests for service installations
The European test series covering penetration seals, linear gap seals, ducts and dampers.
British StandardBS 9999
Fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings
Code of practice covering compartmentation and its role in the overall fire strategy.

Ongoing support

Planned, reactive and multi-site.

Most providers do one of these well. The value of a single provider is that the schedule, the emergency and the portfolio all sit in the same place.

Planned maintenance

Periodic re-survey after cabling, refurbishment or plant replacement works
Permit arrangements so future service installations do not undo the remediation
Programmed remediation across a stock rather than building by building

Reactive support

Urgent fire stopping where a survey has found an immediate breach
Making good after emergency works have penetrated a compartment wall

Multi-site & national portfolios

Stock-wide survey programmes with consistent recording
One evidence register across every building
Regional delivery teams under one instruction

Passive fire protection is the part of a building's fire strategy that nobody sees and everybody assumes. It is also the part most reliably destroyed by twenty years of contractors running cables through walls.

We survey what is actually there, above the ceiling tiles and inside the risers, and we give you a record you can defend. Where remediation is needed, it is carried out with tested systems used in tested configurations, and photographed at every stage.

Procurement, simplified

What happens next?

01
Tell us what you need
One form, one call or one email. A photograph or an existing report is enough to start.
02
We assess the requirement
We confirm scope, access, and whether a site survey is needed before anything is priced.
03
You receive a clear quotation
Itemised, with what is included and what is not. No provisional sums that move later.
04
We arrange attendance
A confirmed date and window, with the engineer or trade named in advance.
05
Works are completed
Carried out by directly managed engineers or vetted specialist subcontractors.
06
Evidence is supplied
Certification, test records and photographic evidence where the work calls for it.

Answers

Passive Fire Protectionquestions.

What is the difference between passive and active fire protection?

Active fire protection acts when a fire starts — detection, alarms, sprinklers, extinguishers, smoke control. Passive fire protection is built into the structure and works without doing anything: fire-resisting walls and floors, fire doors, fire stopping around services, and protection to structural steel. Both are needed, and a building's fire strategy usually assumes both are intact.

Do we need an intrusive compartmentation survey?

If your fire risk assessment recommends one, or the building relies on compartmentation for a stay-put strategy, then almost certainly yes. Non-intrusive surveys can only report on what is visible, and the significant breaches are nearly always above ceilings, inside risers or within voids.

Get a quotation for passive fire protection.

One form, one call or one email. A photograph or an existing report is enough for us to start — and we will tell you plainly whether a site survey is needed before anything is priced.

Request a Quote Arrange an Inspection Or call 0800 634 3475