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P1-1

Require external wall information for fire services

Grenfell Tower Inquiry · Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 1 Report · Issued 30 October 2019 · Addressed to: UK Government

Government responseUK Government: Accepted in part (Jan 2020)

DeliveryHome Office says completed (Feb 2025)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation, 33.10a

The owner and manager of every high-rise residential building be required by law to provide their local fire and rescue service with information about the design of its external walls together with details of the materials of which they are constructed and to inform the fire and rescue service of any material changes made to them.

Grenfell Tower Inquiry, Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 1 Report · 30 Oct 2019 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Home Office reported in February 2025 that implementation of the recommendation was complete following the commencement of the Fire Safety Act and the entry into force of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 in January 2023 (Home Office, Feb 2025). The department stated that under these regulations, responsible persons for high-rise residential buildings are required to prepare a record of the design and materials of external walls and send it electronically to their local fire and rescue service (Home Office, Feb 2025).

Sources

Home Office, Feb 2025

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

Government response

●UK Government · Accepted in part · 21 Jan 2020

Words of: HM Government (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report: Government Response, January 2020 (published on GOV.UK 21 January 2020)

The Home Office’s upcoming Fire Safety Bill will aim to clarify the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 – the ‘Fire Safety Order’ – to put beyond doubt that building owners or managers of multi-occupied residential buildings of any height are required to consider fully and mitigate the fire safety risks of any external wall systems and front doors to individual flats. This will also affirm Fire and Rescue Services’ ability to enforce locally against building owners who have not remediated unsafe ACM cladding.

The Fire Safety Bill will create a firm foundation to enable the Government to lay regulations needed to deliver the legislative recommendations in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report. These recommendations include building owners or managers sharing information with fire and rescue services on external wall systems, and undertaking regular inspections of flat entrance doors. The Home Office plan to consult on these proposals in Spring 2020.

Extract from: Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report: Government Response

Site note: This is the government's response to the Phase 1 report (CP 209, 21 January 2020). It is organised by theme, not by recommendation, and states its position once, in its introduction: "the Government accepted in principle all these recommendations", meaning the recommendations "relevant to government". Where the row shows a passage from a themed section, that is the section on this recommendation's subject; where it shows the introduction, the response has no passage on this recommendation's subject. The status on a recommendation addressed to government is the introduction's. Where the recommendation is addressed to building owners, the emergency services or the National Police Air Service, the response describes work without stating acceptance, and the row is marked noted.

Site note: The source gives this passage once, for the section "Recommendations where changes are required by law". The same words are recorded on P1-1, P1-38 and P1-39.

Delivery

●Home Office says completed · 26 Feb 2025

Status: complete

In 2020 the then government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation and then responded to this consultation in 2021 ).

The Fire Safety Act (FSA) clarified the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) as including the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and flat entrance doors for premises containing two or more sets of domestic premises. The Act commenced in full on 16 May 2022.

The FSA removes any legal ambiguity and requires responsible persons to update Fire Risk Assessments to take account of external walls and flat entrance doors. Alongside the Act, the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT) was launched, this is an online tool to help responsible persons identify which buildings should have their fire risk assessments updated first.

Commencement of the FSA was followed by the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 on 18 May 2022. These regulations, made under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, implement this recommendation and came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person of a high-rise residential building must prepare a record of the design of the external walls of the building including the materials from which the walls are constructed. The Regulations also require the record to contain details of the level of risk which has been identified by the fire risk assessment and the mitigations have been taken in relation to that risk. The responsible person must send this record electronically to their local fire and rescue service. A template will be provided to assist the responsible person in preparing this record.

From: Progress against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations, February 2025

Site note: This is the Home Office's thematic update on progress against the Phase 1 recommendations. Its introduction says it includes updates from the relevant government departments and assurances received from the National Fire Chiefs Council, London Fire Brigade and other emergency services on their progress. The status line and the passage are the Home Office's compilation of what those bodies reported to it; where the passage gives a status for fire and rescue services and a separate one for London Fire Brigade, both are shown as printed.

Earlier statements on delivery (0)

●Home Office · 16 Sep 2024

Status: Complete

In 2020 the then Government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation and then responded to this consultation in 2021 ( link ).

The Fire Safety Act (FSA) clarified the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) as including the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and flat entrance doors for premises containing two or more sets of domestic premises. The Act commenced in full on 16 May 2022.

The FSA removes any legal ambiguity and requires responsible persons to update Fire Risk Assessments to take account of external walls and flat entrance doors. Alongside the Act, the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT) was launched, this is an online tool to help responsible persons identify which buildings should have their fire risk assessments updated first.

Commencement of the FSA was followed by the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 on 18 May 2022. These regulations, made under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, implement this recommendation and came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person of a high-rise residential building must prepare a record of the design of the external walls of the building including the materials from which the walls are constructed. The Regulations also require the record to contain details of the level of risk which has been identified by the fire risk assessment and the mitigations have been taken in relation to that risk. The responsible person must send this record electronically to their local fire and rescue service. A template will be provided to assist the responsible person in preparing this record.

From: Progress against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations, September 2024

Site note: This is the Home Office's thematic update on progress against the Phase 1 recommendations. Its introduction says it includes updates from the relevant government departments and assurances received from the National Fire Chiefs Council, London Fire Brigade and other emergency services on their progress. The status line and the passage are the Home Office's compilation of what those bodies reported to it; where the passage gives a status for fire and rescue services and a separate one for London Fire Brigade, both are shown as printed.

●Home Office · 5 Feb 2024

Status: Complete

The Government consulted on its proposals to implement this recommendation in its Fire Safety Consultation (carried out in 2020). The Government responded to the consultation in 2021 ( link ).

The Fire Safety Act (FSA) clarified the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) as including the external walls (including cladding and balconies) and flat entrance doors for premises containing two or more sets of domestic premises. The Government commenced the Act in full on 16 May 2022.

The FSA removes any legal ambiguity and requires responsible persons to update Fire Risk Assessments to take account of external walls and flat entrance doors. Alongside the Act, the Government launched the Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation Tool (FRAPT), an online tool to help responsible persons identify which buildings should have their fire risk assessments updated first.

Commencement of the FSA also allowed the Government to lay The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 on 18 May 2022. These regulations, made under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, implement this recommendation and came into force on 23 January 2023.

Under the Regulations, the responsible person of a high-rise residential building must prepare a record of the design of the external walls of the building including the materials from which the walls are constructed. The Regulations also require the record to contain details of the level of risk which has been identified by the fire risk assessment and the mitigations have been taken in relation to that risk. The responsible person must send this record electronically to their local fire and rescue service. A template will be provided to assist the responsible person in preparing this record.

From: Progress against the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations, February 2024

Site note: This is the Home Office's thematic update on progress against the Phase 1 recommendations. Its introduction says it includes updates from the relevant government departments and assurances received from the National Fire Chiefs Council, London Fire Brigade and other emergency services on their progress. The status line and the passage are the Home Office's compilation of what those bodies reported to it; where the passage gives a status for fire and rescue services and a separate one for London Fire Brigade, both are shown as printed.

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The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.