What is PAS 9980?

Introduced in 2022, PAS 9980 is designed to guide fire engineers and other competent building professionals undertaking a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) to determine whether remediation is necessary.

PAS 9980 is not about blanket pass/fail judgments. Instead, it gives a risk matrix to help determine whether remediation is necessary based on the combustibility of materials, cavity arrangement and ventilation, presence and integrity of cavity barriers, height and use of the building and accessibility for firefighting.

The risk matrix consists of five parts to help identify factors influencing the overall risk rating of a building, as well as input mitigation steps to improve safety. The steps are:

1: Confirm that a full Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls is necessary.

2: Collect information required to complete the FRAEW.

3: Identify and categorise the key factors that significantly influence the risk rating.

4: Evaluate each category of risk factors to assess how they may individually and collectively contribute to the overall risk level.

5: Compare the results of the risk factor analysis with the defined benchmark success criteria to determine the outcome.

Alongside providing a clear methodology for assessing the safety of external wall systems, PAS 9980 also offers guidance on the skills needed by professionals carrying out the assessments, thereby supporting the growth of competent professionals by sharing up-to-date knowledge on fire risks related to external wall construction.

PAS 9980 is particularly relevant for construction professionals involved in retrofit or remediation projects, such as fire engineers conducting FRAEWs, architects involved in redesigning external walls and building owners, surveyors, and insurers tasked with ensuring compliance with UK safety regulations (e.g. The Building Safety Act 2022).