What Happens When a Building Has No Fire Strategy?

What Happens Without a Fire Strategy?

The absence of a fire strategy — or an inadequate one — can have serious consequences at every stage of a building's life. From planning refusals and building control rejections to delays at Gateway 2 and problems with the sale of completed buildings, the consequences of missing or inadequate fire safety documentation are consistently more expensive and time-consuming than the cost of getting it right in the first place.

Planning Stage: Rejection and Conditions

For higher-risk buildings, the Building Safety Act 2022 requires a fire statement to be submitted with the planning application. Where this is absent or inadequate, the Health and Safety Executive — as statutory consultee — will advise the local planning authority to refuse the application or impose conditions requiring fire safety information before development can commence. Planning refusals are costly and time-consuming, and resubmissions following a refusal on fire safety grounds often require significant redesign.

For major applications in Greater London, London Plan Policy D12a requires a fire statement for buildings of ten or more storeys. Applications without a compliant D12a statement will be refused by the local planning authority or, for applications referred to the GLA, rejected by the Mayor.

Building Control Stage: Non-Approval

Building control bodies will not approve a building control application without satisfactory evidence that the design meets Part B of the Building Regulations. For complex projects — particularly those involving means of escape compliance, sprinkler requirements, or smoke control — a detailed fire strategy is essential to provide that evidence.

Where a fire strategy is absent or inadequate, the building control body will issue a notice requesting additional information, delaying the approval and potentially the construction programme. Where the strategy is submitted late — after the design has been finalised and construction has commenced — it may identify problems that require expensive redesign or remediation.

Gateway 2: Construction Cannot Commence

For higher-risk buildings, the consequences of missing fire safety documentation at Gateway 2 are the most immediate and expensive. The Building Safety Regulator will not pass Gateway 2 without a comprehensive fire strategy. Until Gateway 2 is passed, construction cannot legally commence. Each week of delay costs the developer site preliminaries, finance costs, and programme delay — costs that can easily run to tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds for large developments.

Building Completion and Sale

For completed buildings being sold, refinanced, or valued, the absence of a fire strategy can cause significant problems. Purchasers, lenders, and valuers increasingly require fire safety documentation as part of due diligence and mortgage underwriting. For higher-risk residential buildings, a building assessment certificate — which requires a building safety case including a fire strategy — is required for occupation. Without it, the building cannot legally be occupied.

For existing residential buildings where leaseholders are trying to sell or remortgage, the absence of fire safety documentation can render flats effectively unmortgageable — not because the building is necessarily unsafe, but because the evidence to demonstrate its safety does not exist.

Legal Liability

In the event of a fire, the absence of a fire strategy or inadequate fire safety provisions can expose the building owner, developer, and their professional team to significant legal liability. While a fire strategy is not a guarantee of safety, its absence makes it significantly harder to demonstrate that reasonable steps were taken to ensure the building was fire safe.