The EWS1 form was developed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in December 2019, in consultation with UK Finance and the Building Societies Association, as a response to the fire safety concerns raised after Grenfell.
Before it existed, there was no standard way for lenders to ask “is this building’s cladding safe?” — different surveyors and lenders applied inconsistent tests, which slowed down or blocked mortgage lending on thousands of flats. The EWS1 form gave the industry one common format that every lender would recognise.
An EWS1 form is short — usually a couple of pages — but every section has a specific job:
Every EWS1 form assigns the building to one of two options:
Option A applies where the external wall materials are non-combustible, or present a negligible risk of contributing to fire spread. It splits into two ratings:
Option B applies where the external wall includes materials or a construction — such as ACM, MCM or HPL panels, or cavities without adequate fire breaks — that could contribute to fire spread and needs closer assessment. It splits into two ratings:
Which option and rating your building receives depends entirely on what the investigation finds — not on which company carries out the survey. It’s the single most important line on the form, since it determines whether a lender proceeds, needs further information, or requires remediation first. For the full detail on what each rating means for a sale, mortgage or insurance, see our EWS1 Ratings Explained page.
Only a suitably qualified, experienced professional can sign an EWS1 form — in practice this means a chartered fire engineer (IFE, CEng) or, in some cases, a chartered surveyor with the relevant fire safety competence. RICS guidance is explicit that signatories must be able to demonstrate the qualifications and experience needed to make the judgement, since they’re taking on personal professional responsibility for the assessment.
This matters practically: a form signed by someone without the right accreditation may not be accepted by a lender, which can undo months of work if discovered late in a sale or remortgage.
With Trident Facades Surveys, every EWS1 Form is completed and signed off by fully accredited professionals, including Chartered Fire Engineers (IFE, CEng) and Chartered Surveyors (RICS, CABE, CIOB), with full professional indemnity cover. EWS1 Forms are issued following the relevant RICS, UK Finance and PAS 9980:2022 guidance, providing lenders, valuers and other stakeholders with compliant, recognised and defensible certification.
CEng, RICS, IFE, CABE, CIOB
Fully Compliant Assessments
Defensible Valuation Reports
Comprehensive Building Cover
Whether your building needs an EWS1 form depends on its height, external wall materials, and who’s asking — lender, insurer or buyer requirements can vary from the general guidance below.
If you’re unsure which applies to your building, tell us the height, wall materials and any known issues and we’ll confirm exactly what’s needed.
An EWS1 form has an initial design life of five years, but UK Finance and major lenders don’t enforce an automatic, blanket re-issue solely because a form is over five years old — the lenders behind UK Finance’s industry statement have pledged not to require wholesale reviews on that basis alone. Acceptance beyond five years comes down to individual lender risk policy, and whether the building has had significant works carried out that affect the original conclusions. If yours is approaching or past five years, the first step is checking with your lender or managing agent whether it’s still being accepted before assuming a full reassessment is needed.
Update to watch: RICS has published a second edition of its EWS1 valuation standard, effective from 1 November 2026, which moves valuers toward more proportionate, storey-based criteria for when an EWS1 should be requested at all. This may reduce the number of buildings asked for one going forward — worth checking back on this page as the change takes effect.
If your building doesn’t have a current EWS1 form, we start by establishing what’s actually on the external wall — drawings and records where they exist, physical opening-up where they don’t — then a fire engineer assesses the findings and signs the form. Tell us about your building and we’ll confirm exactly what’s needed.
We provide professional EWS1 services across the UK, delivering fast, fully compliant assessments no matter where your building is located.
Our EWS1 Surveyors operate in all major UK cities with high-rise residential and mixed-use buildings, including:
England: Birmingham - Bradford - Bristol - Coventry - Derby - Exeter - Hull - Leeds - Leicester - Liverpool - London - Manchester - Newcastle - Nottingham - Plymouth - Sheffield - Southampton - Stoke-on-Trent - Cambridge - Oxford - Brighton - Milton Keynes - Portsmouth - Salford - Southend - Preston - Chelmsford - York - Chester - Wolverhampton - Sunderland
Northern Ireland : Belfast
London
We have extensive experience working in London and provide services across all boroughs and neighbourhoods.
Home Counties
We have a dedicated team based across the Home Counties, giving us local knowledge of building types, councils, and access requirements throughout the region.