Fire Strategy vs Fire Risk Assessment: The 2 Documents Every Office Needs to Match
Ask an office manager for their fire strategy, and you will often be handed a fire risk assessment. Ask the landlord for the same thing, and you may get a 60-page engineering report written ten years ago for a building layout that no longer exists. Both documents matter. The danger is that they describe two different buildings.
A fire strategy and a fire risk assessment are often treated as the same thing, or as alternatives. They are neither. One explains how the building was designed to keep people safe in a fire. The other checks whether the way you actually use the building still matches that design, and what to do where it does not.
For tenants in multi-let offices, schools, universities, and fast-changing tech workplaces, the gap between the two is where real fire risk hides. This guide explains each document, shows where they meet, and gives you the questions to ask so they stay aligned, in the UK and in the other countries where you operate.
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Document 1: The Fire Strategy
What It Is
A fire strategy (sometimes called a fire strategy document or fire strategy report) sets out the fire safety design of a building. It explains how the building meets fire safety requirements under the Building Regulations, usually by reference to Approved Document B or a recognised design standard, and how the different protection measures work together.
What It Usually Covers
- the evacuation strategy (for example, simultaneous evacuation of the whole building, or phased evacuation floor by floor)
- means of escape, including travel distances, stair widths and protected routes
- compartmentation, meaning how the building is divided to stop fire and smoke spreading
- fire detection and alarm systems, and how they are designed to operate
- smoke control, sprinklers or other active systems, where present
- fire service access and facilities
- the management assumptions the design relies on, such as how many people will occupy each floor and how evacuation will be supervised
Who Writes It, and Who Holds It
A fire engineer or designer usually prepares it when the building is designed. On completion of new buildings, extensions and certain changes of use in England, regulation 38 of the Building Regulations 2010 requires fire safety information to be handed to the responsible person. In a multi-let office, the landlord normally holds the strategy for the whole building.
When It Goes Out of Date
Whenever the building changes in a way the design did not anticipate. Older buildings often have no usable fire strategy at all, in which case a retrospective fire strategy may be prepared to describe how the existing building is intended to work.
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Document 2: The Fire Risk Assessment
What It Is
The fire risk assessment is a legal requirement for almost all non-domestic premises in England and Wales under article 9 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. It identifies fire hazards and people at risk, evaluates the risk, and records the measures needed to keep people safe, based on how the premises are used today.
What It Covers
- sources of ignition, fuel and oxygen in your actual space
- who is at risk, including disabled people, visitors and lone workers
- the condition of escape routes, fire doors, alarms, signage and emergency lighting
- your emergency plan, fire wardens and training
- an action plan with owners and deadlines
Since 1 October 2023, section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 has required all responsible persons to record their fire risk assessment in full, along with their fire safety arrangements. Our article on section 156: 9 fire safety duties offices missed explains the detail.
Who Owns It
The responsible person for the premises they control. In a multi-let office, that usually means the landlord for the common parts and each tenant for its own demise. See are you the responsible person for fire safety?
When It Goes Out of Date
Whenever there is reason to think it is no longer valid, or there has been a significant change. That includes changes in layout, occupancy, equipment or work patterns.
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The 2 Documents Side by Side
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| Fire strategy | Fire risk assessment | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Explains how the building is designed to be safe in a fire | Checks how safe the premises are as currently used |
| Main legal context | Building Regulations (building design and completion) | Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (ongoing occupation) |
| Usually written by | Fire engineer or designer | Competent fire risk assessor |
| Usually held by | Building owner or landlord | Responsible person for each part of the premises |
| Point in time | Design and completion, updated after major alterations | Ongoing, reviewed regularly and after significant change |
| Focus | Structure, systems and design assumptions | Hazards, people, management and day-to-day condition |
| Typical length | Long, technical | Shorter, practical, with an action plan |
| What happens if missing | Hard to know what the building was designed to do | A breach of the law for most premises |
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Where the 2 Documents Collide in Real Offices
The fire strategy makes promises on the occupier's behalf. The fire risk assessment is where you find out whether those promises are being kept. The most common conflicts in offices and education settings are:
Occupancy beyond the design. Escape routes are sized for a certain number of people. Hot-desking, team consolidation or hosting events can push numbers past what the strategy assumed.
Fit-out changes to escape routes. New partitions, meeting pods and reception redesigns can lengthen travel distances or block alternative routes. Our fit-out brief explains what to specify before sign-off.
Holes in compartmentation. Data cabling, server room ducting and new services often pass through fire-resisting walls and floors. In tech and AI businesses, this is one of the most common hidden defects.
A phased evacuation the occupier does not know about. If the building uses phased evacuation, tenants must understand which alarm means "prepare" and which means "leave", and their fire wardens must be trained for it. See our fire evacuation strategy guide.
New equipment the design never anticipated. Battery storage, EV charging and high-density server equipment introduce fire loads and ignition sources the original designers never considered. See EV charging at the office: 6 things fire risk assessments miss.
Management assumptions nobody passed on. The strategy may assume fire doors are kept shut, protected lobbies stay clear, or disabled occupants use refuges with a supervised procedure. If the occupier was never told, the assumption fails silently.
Where two or more responsible persons share premises, article 22 of the Fire Safety Order requires them to cooperate and coordinate. In practice, that means the landlord's strategy and assessment and each tenant's assessment should be shared, not filed separately.
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Questions to Ask Your Landlord
Before signing a lease, during a fit-out, or at your next assessment review, ask for:
- a copy of the fire strategy (or retrospective strategy) for the building
- the landlord's fire risk assessment for the common parts
- confirmation of the evacuation strategy and alarm sequence
- the design occupancy for your floor
- details of any planned works that affect escape routes or compartmentation
Our guide to landlord health and safety documentation covers what tenants should expect internationally.
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The Same Split Exists Internationally
Most countries separate fire safety design from ongoing fire safety management. The names change, but the risk of the two drifting apart is the same.
| Country | Design-stage fire safety | Ongoing occupier duty |
|---|---|---|
| England and Wales | Building Regulations and fire strategy | Fire risk assessment under the Fire Safety Order |
| Scotland and Northern Ireland | Separate building standards regimes | Separate fire safety legislation, with similar risk assessment duties |
| Ireland | Fire Safety Certificate under the building control system | Risk assessment and Safety Statement duties, see HSA fire guidance and our Ireland page |
| Germany | Fire protection concept (Brandschutzkonzept) as part of building approval | Workplace risk assessment and fire protection organisation, see our Germany page |
| United Arab Emirates | Civil Defence approvals under the national fire and life safety code | Ongoing compliance and maintenance obligations, see our UAE page |
For multinational groups, the practical lesson is the same everywhere: ask for the design document, check your current use against it, and record the gaps.
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Sector Notes
AI, data and software: server rooms, battery systems and constant reconfiguration put pressure on compartmentation and fire loads. See our AI and data and software pages.
Legal and insurance: paper archives and dense occupancy in city-centre buildings test the strategy's assumptions on fire load and escape capacity. See our legal and insurance pages.
Education: schools and universities often occupy buildings altered many times over decades, where any original strategy has long been overtaken. See our school fire risk assessment guide and education page.
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How Arinite Helps
Arinite has supported 1,500+ businesses across 50+ countries for 15+ years, protecting 100,000+ employees, with 95%+ client retention. Our qualified consultants carry out fire risk assessments that are checked against the building's fire strategy, so your assessment reflects how the building was designed as well as how you use it. See our fire safety services.
- Done For You: our health and safety consultants obtain the landlord's documents, complete your fire risk assessment, and flag every conflict with the strategy, then verify progress through regular health and safety audits.
- Done With You: we review your fit-out plans and occupancy changes against the strategy before work starts, and train your fire wardens for the building's evacuation strategy.
- DIY: you hold your fire risk assessments, actions, drills and warden records on our health and safety consultants and software platform, with expert help on call.
For groups with buildings in several countries, our international health and safety consultants handle local fire safety requirements, and our global health and safety consultants keep every site to one standard. If you are budgeting, see how much a fire risk assessment costs in the UK.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a fire strategy and a fire risk assessment?
A fire strategy explains how a building is designed to be safe in a fire, including escape routes, compartmentation and alarm systems. A fire risk assessment checks how safe the premises are in day-to-day use and records the actions needed. The strategy is a design document; the assessment is an ongoing legal requirement for most non-domestic premises.
Do I need a fire strategy as an office tenant?
You are not usually responsible for producing one, but you should ask your landlord for a copy. Your fire risk assessment and your evacuation procedure need to reflect the strategy for the building you occupy.
What is a retrospective fire strategy?
A fire strategy prepared for an existing building, usually because the original design information is missing or out of date. It describes how the building as it stands is intended to protect people in a fire.
Can a fire risk assessment replace a fire strategy?
No. They do different jobs. A fire risk assessment can identify that design information is missing, and recommend that a strategy is obtained or prepared, but it is not a substitute for one.
When should the two documents be reviewed together?
Before a fit-out or office move, after significant changes in occupancy or layout, when new equipment such as battery storage or EV charging is introduced, and whenever the landlord carries out works affecting escape routes or fire protection.
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Make Sure Your 2 Documents Describe the Same Building
If you have never seen your building's fire strategy, or your fire risk assessment does not mention it, there is a gap worth closing. Book a free gap analysis with Arinite and we will review your fire safety documents, in the UK and internationally, and show you where they disagree.
Written by
Arinite Health & Safety Consultants
Health & Safety Expert at Arinite
