EWS1 / PAS 9980 · London

EWS1 Cladding Inspection in London

Intrusive opening-up of external walls, sample extraction and full photographic evidence — gathered by IRATA-certified rope access technicians to support your fire engineer's EWS1 form or PAS 9980 fire risk appraisal.

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Context

Why London Has an EWS1 Problem

Following Grenfell, RICS introduced the External Wall System review process (the EWS1 form) and, more recently, the Building Safety Act 2022 and PAS 9980:2022 fire risk appraisal of external walls. Lenders, insurers and managing agents in London now routinely require an EWS1 or equivalent before remortgage, sale or insurance renewal on multi-occupancy residential buildings.

The bottleneck is not the assessor. It is getting an experienced surveyor or fire engineer physically up to the wall, opening up the build-up, extracting samples and photographing the cavity, breaks and detailing — at every floor level, on every elevation.

Scaffolding a 12-storey London block to do that costs £40k–£120k and adds weeks of programme. MEWPs cannot reach inner courtyards, lightwells or party-wall-adjacent elevations on tight London plots.

Rope access changes the economics. Our IRATA Level 3 technicians can open up, sample, photograph and reinstate at any floor level, on any elevation, working directly with your appointed fire engineer or chartered surveyor — typically reducing access cost by 70–90% versus scaffolding.

Scope

What Our Rope Access Team Delivers

Intrusive Opening-Up

Controlled removal of cladding panels, render finishes, soffit boards or rainscreen sections at agreed sample locations to expose the full wall build-up.

Sample Retrieval

Extraction of insulation, membrane, cavity barrier and panel samples — bagged, labelled and chain-of-custody recorded for laboratory classification by your fire engineer.

Photographic Evidence

High-resolution photography of the cavity, cavity barriers, fire breaks, fixings and detailing at openings — formatted to suit the assessor's report template.

Cavity Barrier Verification

Visual confirmation of horizontal and vertical cavity barrier presence, alignment and condition — one of the most common PAS 9980 failure points on London developments.

Reinstatement

Weather-tight reinstatement of opened-up areas using like-for-like materials. No leaks, no future ingress problems traced back to the survey.

Fire Engineer Support

We work to the brief set by your appointed RICS-registered EWS1 signatory or PAS 9980 assessor — we do not sign EWS1 ourselves, we provide the access and evidence they need.

Coverage

London Buildings We Survey

We have completed rope access cladding surveys across central, inner and outer London on:

  • Mid-rise (5–18 storey) post-2000 residential blocks with ACM, MCM, HPL, terracotta or zinc rainscreen
  • Render-on-EWI systems on regeneration estates in Tower Hamlets, Newham, Lambeth and Southwark
  • Mixed-use towers in Canary Wharf, Nine Elms, Stratford and Wembley
  • Pre-2000 buildings now caught by the Building Safety Act 2022 over-11m threshold

Why managing agents and freeholders use us:

  • Mobilisation in 1–2 weeks vs. 6–10 weeks for scaffolding hire
  • Access to lightwells, courtyards and party-wall elevations that MEWPs miss
  • Minimal disruption to leaseholders — no scaffold, no balcony obstruction, no security risk
  • Survey can be paused/restarted to suit fire engineer availability without ongoing scaffold hire cost

All work to BS 8454 / IRATA ICOP. Public liability £10m, employer liability £10m, professional indemnity in place.

Related services: External Defect Survey Mastic Sealant Replacement Water Ingress Investigation High-Level Maintenance
FAQ

EWS1 Cladding Inspection — FAQ

No. The EWS1 form must be signed by a fire engineer or chartered building surveyor on the RICS / IFE / IFSM registers. We provide the rope access, intrusive opening-up, sample retrieval and photographic evidence that the signatory needs to complete their assessment. We routinely work with London-based EWS1 signatories and can recommend reputable firms if you don't already have one appointed.
Cost depends on building height, number of elevations, number of sample openings the fire engineer specifies, and reinstatement scope — but rope access typically lands at 10–30% of an equivalent scaffolded survey on London blocks above 8 storeys. We provide fixed-price quotes once the assessor's sampling brief is confirmed.
A typical 10–14 storey, 4-elevation London residential block with 6–10 sample openings is on-site for 3–5 working days including reinstatement. Larger or more complex schemes can be programmed in two phases (sampling first, then reinstatement once the fire engineer confirms no further sampling is needed).
PAS 9980:2022 is the methodology most fire engineers now use for the underlying fire risk appraisal that supports an EWS1, and it is also referenced in Building Safety Act regime work for higher-risk buildings (HRBs over 18m / 7 storeys). Our scope is the same in either context — we provide the access and evidence to support the assessor's appraisal.
Yes. Reinstatement is part of every rope access EWS1 survey we deliver. Cladding panels are refixed, rainscreen sections replaced, render patched and EPDM/membrane laps re-dressed. We give the managing agent a written sign-off and photos of every reinstated location.
Get Started

Unblock Your EWS1

Send us the building address, height and the fire engineer's sampling brief — we'll come back with a fixed-price quote and a programme that fits your assessor's availability.

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