Produce an FRAEW

How To: Producing a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls

A Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) is the engineering appraisal that takes the data captured in an External Wall Survey and applies the PAS 9980 methodology to produce a risk rating and recommendations for the building's external wall system. In RiskBase, the FRAEW is initiated from the same External Wall Summary that hosts the survey, and the survey data is automatically pulled through as the FRAEW's evidence base and appendix.

This page covers the step-by-step workflow for producing a FRAEW in the RiskBase app. For background on what a FRAEW is, see What is an FRAEW. For the underlying methodology, see What is PAS 9980. For the prior data-capture step, see How To: Performing an External Wall Inspection.

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Prerequisites

• The signed-in user has appropriate permissions to create and approve a FRAEW.

• Access to the RiskBase mobile application is granted.

• The property exists in RiskBase with key metadata set — build completion date, height, building type / use — and the "External Wall" compliance type is enabled for the organisation.

• An approved External Wall Survey for the property is strongly recommended. Starting from approved survey data avoids re-capturing the as-built information and ensures the FRAEW evidence base reflects the same record used elsewhere in RiskBase.

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Start a FRAEW

The start flow mirrors that of the External Wall Survey, with one different selection at the final step:

1. From the "Downloaded Properties" page, tap on a property to open its property page.

2. Tap External Wall Summary.

3. Tap Create FRAEW.

4. Select an appropriate template from the list.

The FRAEW opens. If an approved External Wall Survey exists for the property, the survey data is automatically pulled through into the FRAEW — building description, external wall construction, cavity barriers, attachments, and findings — pre-laid out under the corresponding FRAEW sections.

Figure 1: [the External Wall Summary with the Create FRAEW option highlighted, and a partially populated FRAEW showing survey data pulled through].

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Complete the Appraisal

The engineer focuses on the analysis elements that the survey does not provide. Working through the FRAEW sections in order:

1. Confirm the description of the building. Review the pulled-through survey data and amend or annotate where the engineer's interpretation differs from the captured record.

2. Describe the external wall system in PAS 9980 terms. Substrate, insulation, cladding, cavity arrangement, fire-stopping, attachments — at the level of detail required by the methodology.

3. Evaluate the risk factors as set out in PAS 9980 — combustibility of materials, presence and adequacy of cavity barriers, integrity of compartmentation, contribution of attachments, interaction with means of escape and firefighting access.

4. Assign a risk rating in line with the PAS 9980 tolerability framework.

5. Set out recommendations — remediation, interim measures, ongoing monitoring, or confirmation that no action is required.

Where evidence is limited or the appraisal cannot be concluded at the desktop or visual level, record the need for further investigation (intrusive survey, material testing, fire engineering analysis) in the recommendations.

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Supporting Evidence

The approved External Wall Survey appears as the supporting appendix to the FRAEW. The engineer should review the survey data carefully and reference specific findings, photographs, or measurements in the appraisal narrative where they materially affect the risk rating.

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Submit for Quality Control

1. From the assessment overview, tap Submit.

2. The FRAEW moves into the "QC" and "Approved" tabs and triggers the organisation's custom quality control process.

3. Quality control checks may include the rigour of the analysis, the completeness of the risk factor evaluation, the appropriateness of the risk rating relative to the evidence, and the practicality of the recommendations.

4. Once QC is complete, the FRAEW is approved and retained in document control with full version history.

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After approval

Once approved, the FRAEW is retained in document control with full version history and forms part of the building's fire safety record. It can be:

• Provided to responsible persons, lenders, insurers, and (where applicable) the Building Safety Regulator.

• Surfaced on the web portal, Engage.RiskBase, where clients, responsible persons, and other stakeholders can access the building's fire safety information.

• Reused as the starting point for re-appraisal following remediation works or material alteration to the external wall system.

For background on FRAEWs, see What is an FRAEW. For the underlying methodology, see What is PAS 9980. For the prior data-capture step, see How To: Performing an External Wall Inspection.