UK government press release relating to the use of “EWS1” forms

The "EWS"1 form is a template document created by RICS relating to external wall compliance, often required by lenders.  RICS designed the EWS (External Wall Survey) process to try and overcome some of the difficulties that had arisen for valuers and lenders in relation to valuing residential properties with actual or potential combustible external wall systems.

Suitably qualified persons (e.g. a fire engineer) can complete what is known as an "EWS1 form" for their client (usually the building owner), which can then be provided to the valuer whom has been appointed to value the property.  The EWS 1 form allows the assessor to select certain pre-formulated options, and its purpose is to provide a consistent or standardised method for describing what assessment has been carried out for the external wall construction of residential apartment buildings.

In response to increasing use of the EWS1 forms on all types of residential high-rise buildings, the government sought to clarify the position in a November 2020 press release. The key message is that owners of flats in buildings "without cladding" in their external wall systems will no longer need to have a completed EWS1 form to sell or re-mortgage their property.

Whilst it is not entirely clear from the press release itself what the Government defines as a building "without cladding" in this context, it is likely that the definitions used in the accompanying Government data release / technical note regarding the EWS1 process, published the same day, will apply.

As set out in that technical note, façade materials were categorised as follows:

• Cladding: aluminium composite material (ACM), brick slips, high pressure laminate (HPL), metal composite material (MCM), metal sheet panels, render system, plastic, tiling systems, and timber or wood.

• Non-cladding: brick, stone panels or stone, concrete and glass.

This change in approach therefore appears further to reflect that external wall systems with non-combustible façade materials, such as brick or stone, pose a less significant risk to life safety, regardless of the nature of the insulation used on the building.  

Interestingly, the technical note also makes clear that of the data so far collected (which relates to private leasehold dwellings) some 34% of properties above 11m tall fell within the "no cladding" category, and a further 20% fell within the "insignificant" amount category (said to be 20% or less of the façade). This highlights that a number of high rise residential buildings often contain varying combinations of external wall systems, and also reflects that over 50% of such buildings have no, or relatively little, "cladding" used in their facades.  It remains to be seen whether the exemption from the EWS1 Form process may be extended further in that context.

Overall, in our view, these developments continue to reflect a growing recognition that the extent to which the use of combustible materials in a building's external wall reflects a danger to safety and requires remediation is in fact a very nuanced issue that is not necessarily suited to a prescriptive or one-size-fits all approach.