Navigating statutory duties in a shared commercial property often creates confusion among occupants.
When multiple businesses occupy a single asset, defining where your legal liabilities stop and where your neighbours’ begin is critical to maintaining safety, especially from fire hazards.
We, at SEI Tech International, see firsthand how challenging it is for companies to identify who holds the ultimate accountability for structural assets versus internal compartment compliance.
If your organisation operates out of a shared commercial space, establishing clear boundaries ensures you remain on the right side of the law and conduct fire risk assessment for offices in the UK without any confusion. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, responsibility is rarely exclusive; instead, it is shared across a network of designated duty holders.
Who is the Responsible Person?
In the United Kingdom, fire safety laws revolve around the concept of a 'Responsible Person,' and in a multi-tenanted building, there can be more than one responsible person, such as:
● The Landlord/Freeholder: Has complete control over the building's physical structure, including plant rooms and common areas.
● The Employer/Tenant: Is the 'Responsible Person' for that particular area of space allotted to him/her through his/her lease contract.
● The Managing Agent: Often assumes operational duties on behalf of the freeholder to maintain structural protection systems.
Because control is fragmented, we advise that each party must cooperate fully to harmonise their individual risk evaluations.
Dividing the Physical Boundaries
To keep compliance simple, we break down the physical architecture of a multi-tenanted office building into two distinct operational territories.
- Communal Areas and Structural Plant
Management of the escape corridors, stairways, main lobbies, and facilities is the responsibility of either the freeholder or the asset management company. Their inspection covers the overall fire alarm system, emergency lighting, and fire doors of the entire building.
- Individual Demised Office Spaces
Being a tenant, your company will enjoy full control over your office floor or suite. It is your duty to identify any possible sources of fire ignition in your premises, manage your own electrical appliances, and ensure that your internal desks do not block any exit ways.
The Principle of Shared Cooperation
Section 22 of the Fire Safety Order outlines a mandatory duty of cooperation. This means individual businesses cannot complete their safety plans in isolation.
Your internal safety coordinator must actively collaborate with the building's central management team.
For instance, if our surveys identify a fault in a localised hardwired smoke detector, that information must feed directly back into the landlord's master safety ledger.
This continuous feedback loop keeps the building's safety information fully verified and accurate.
Securing Professional Competency
The management of these overlapping statutes requires expert knowledge of the technicalities. At SEI Tech International, we ensure that we provide the exact physical risk assessment and structural audit required for managing these unique boundaries.
Our surveying engineers review the structural soundness, carry out a compartmentation audit, and assess the commonly used escape pathways to ensure that multi-tenant properties are protected throughout their vertical extent. Getting professional workplace fire risk assessment services ensures that your risk assessment is always up to date and fully compliant with regulations.
Do you want to know where the fire safety limits lie in your existing commercial lease? Contact SEI Tech International for our specialised building compliance solutions, or book your risk assessment now.