RICS updated EWS1 form and valuation guidance

Airey Miller Technical Director, Mark Pratten provides insight into the updated RICS valuation guidance for EWS1 forms.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has updated their EWS1 Form and RICS valuation guidance. The form seeks to centralise and make the data work, however, the RICS is not insisting on the forms being uploaded to the FIA portal, only suggesting it. This seems to be a missed opportunity for the data in our industry to work a little harder when establishing key building information.

EWS1 Forms should be backed up with a report using the PAS 9980 methodology, however, the RICS is not requiring the report to be issued to lender - only the form. This needs further consideration, as insurance companies do need to better understand the risks around the EWS1 process, and having the supporting information should make them more risk aware, allowing them to be able to categorise buildings better in terms of risk.

The RICS is currently seeking framework candidates to assess existing EWS1 Forms and their accompanying reports to enable the industry to feedback and determine the best practice approach to producing a report format. Hopefully this will be forthcoming so that the industry can have some consistency around what is expected and ensure that the producers of such forms have a benchmark that they will be measured against. Ideally the insurance companies will be provided the opportunity to input into this also, so that the risks can be better quantified and understood. The EWS1 approach in our view still needs a joined up approach with the Fire Safety Act and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO). The industry is still working in silos around the building safety issue and information being produced for EWS1 Forms using the PAS 9980 (albeit RICS has been clear this is 'Not a life safety Certificate') is information that can be used to better understand risk and how the industry is viewing 'proportionality'.

The RICS has stated that a 'B2' outcome will require building owners to issue this to the responsible person to consider the outcome in their Fire Risk Assessments. The BSI has still not updated the PAS 79 for dwellings guidance, this needs addressing soon. The PAS 79 and 9980 need to integrate with one another as currently the two approaches do not align to the 'proportionality' approach the government is advocating and the risk based outcomes do not align.

Mark Pratten, Technical Director

Mark is Technical Director at Airey Miller Limited and a shareholder of the company. He has 18 years’ experience in the affordable housing sector and has recently taken a lead role in the development of our fire surveys and remediation works service offering, which has seen the development of Airey Miller Surveys Limited. Mark's role as Technical Director also includes management of the groups BIM and Information Management service.