Type 1–4 Fire Risk Assessment Selector — Free

Scoping a block of flats? See which Type 1–4 fire risk assessment the GOV.UK guide's criteria point to, why, and what to settle before you quote.

For a purpose-built block of flats, the Type 1 to 4 classification is the language instructions are written and quoted in. Answer a few questions about the building and what you already know. The tool shows the starting point the guide’s own criteria point to, the passage behind each step, and what to settle before you quote. Anything you are unsure about stays a question. It never becomes a bigger scope.

1. The building

Where is the building?
What kind of building is it?

2. What you already know

Answer “not sure” wherever you are. An unknown never raises the scope. It becomes a point to settle before you quote.

Is there reason to expect serious deficiencies in structural fire protection?

Compartmentation, fire stopping, or the separating construction between flats and the common parts.

Is there reason to suspect serious risk to residents from a fire in their own flats?
How are the flats held?
Is the history of works to the block known?

How the starting point is worked out

The four types come from section 35 of Fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats. They differ on two things only: whether the inspection goes inside a sample of flats, and whether construction is opened up. So the tool asks one evidence question for each, then checks whether the flats can actually be entered.

  • Type 1 is the default. The guide says that unless there is reason to expect serious deficiencies in structural fire protection, a Type 1 “will normally be sufficient for most blocks of purpose-built flats”.
  • Opening up needs an identified reason. Destructive inspection follows “good reason to suspect serious structural deficiencies”. The guide adds that the age of the block alone is not generally enough.
  • Going inside flats needs access as well as a reason. Types 3 and 4 inspect inside flats, which the guide says “will not be possible in the case of long leasehold flats” because freeholders normally have no right of access. Tenure can settle the scope before risk does, and until the tenure is known the flats stay out of the starting point.
  • Unknowns stay unknown. The guide says recommending another type “should not be a generic recommendation of all Type 1 fire risk assessments” and should rest on “identification of issues that justify reason for doubt”. A “not sure” here produces a question for the client, never a larger scope.

Buildings the guide excludes, such as HMOs, hostels, houses, holiday lets and conversions not shown to meet the Building Regulations of the day, get no type at all. The tool says which paragraph excludes them. Blocks of shared student or key-worker flats are covered, but the guide’s in-flat guidance is limited to single-household flats, so they are not offered Type 3 or 4. None of the four types mentions external walls, which the Fire Safety Order has expressly covered since the Fire Safety Act 2021, so that element needs agreeing separately.

For what each type involves on site, see fire risk assessment types 1, 2, 3 and 4. For who is responsible for which parts of a block, see fire risk assessments for flats, and for how scope moves the fee, see what a fire risk assessment costs.

Methodology and sources

  • Fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats (Home Office, on GOV.UK; guide first produced in 2011; GOV.UK page last updated 2 December 2024). The rules come from paragraphs 3.2 to 3.8 and 3.13 (which buildings the guide covers) and section 35 (types of fire risk assessment) of the full guide (PDF). GOV.UK says the guide is published under Article 50 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and lists it as applying to England and Wales. The guide itself says it applies only to England and is likely to be relevant in Wales, where the same fire safety legislation applies.
  • Currency. GOV.UK says the guide “should be viewed as no longer comprehensive”, and that the Home Office is working on a revised version. The type definitions remain the working vocabulary for block-of-flats instructions. The guide’s 2011 summary of the law is not current. The one legal point the tool repeats from it, that inspecting inside flats goes beyond the Fire Safety Order, has been checked against article 6 of the Order as it now stands.
  • Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 6, with paragraph (1A) inserted by the Fire Safety Act 2021. Used for the external walls note and for where the Order stops inside a block of flats.
  • Sources last checked: 6 October 2026.
  • The tool runs in your browser and does not save your answers.

This tool summarises published UK fire safety guidance for educational purposes and is not legal advice. The responsible person carries the legal duty for fire safety in the premises and decides what to commission. Whether a scope is adequate for a particular building is a judgement for a competent fire risk assessor.

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