While the new building safety regime hasn’t fundamentally changed what requirements higher-risk buildings (HRBs) must meet to comply with the Building Regulations, it has significantly increased the breadth, depth and volume of evidence that must be supplied to demonstrate this. As a result, project teams have had to adapt the way they work and even look beyond their roles to understand how their actions may impact the next Dutyholder in the chain.
For specifiers, this can include considering what supporting services are offered with life safety-critical elements to enable correct design, installation and maintenance. Early engagement with manufacturer technical specialists can help identify any practical challenges that may arise onsite. Then, during construction, these services can help support the translation of design intent into reality so that buildings are safe for occupation.
Changes driven by programme pressures, coordination difficulties, clashes, or unforeseen conditions can all create circumstances in which approved details are modified during installation. This risk is particularly acute at interfaces between different building elements or where multiple trades are involved.
Life safety-critical products, such as cavity barriers and firestops, are reliant on accurate installation to work as intended. Changes to cavity dimensions, substrates, or penetrations through cavity barriers and firestops may seem minor but can affect compliance with the tested specification. If discovered, poor installation can result in delays and costly remedial works at Gateway 3, in addition to the potential risk of main contractors being put on notice by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). If not identified, incorrect installations can compromise compartmentation, allowing fire and smoke to spread beyond the assumptions of the building’s fire strategy, with potentially serious consequences for life safety.
Final building control inspections are important for verifying compliance, but by this stage, many safety-critical products like cavity barriers and firestops are concealed behind the façade, or even the floor finish. While sections can be deconstructed, this can be impractical and only allows for limited ‘spot checks’, offering little assurance of consistent installation quality across the entire building, particularly on large or high-rise projects that must provide robust evidence of the fire safety strategy being enacted across the scheme.
To help contractors working with their standard passive fire safety and acoustic systems in generating progress reports on their installations, Siderise has therefore developed and launched the new Siderise Inspection App. Freely available to download on all mobile devices, this gives project site teams a convenient way to capture installation evidence, monitor build quality standards, and create a robust audit trail throughout the construction phase.
Designed to complement its in-person inspection service, the Siderise Inspection App enables users to document installations in real time with their mobile devices by capturing photographs and key project data. The app then converts this into a structured report that can be submitted for remote review by Siderise’s technical team to confirm alignment with their installation recommendations, and that can also be shared with the wider project team for oversight. This remote approach not only minimises delays associated with arranging site inspections but also allows potential issues to be identified quickly and before they are repeated across multiple floors or areas, which could otherwise result in costly rework, disputes, the rescheduling of subsequent trades, and site activities or reprimands.
The app itself has been designed with life on site in mind, as Lee Nichols, Technical Director at Siderise Group, explains:
“Before developing the Siderise Inspection App, we undertook a comprehensive research programme to better understand the challenges our customers face on site every day. Those insights have directly influenced its functionality, creating a truly unique tool that is not only easier to use in busy site environments, but also integrates seamlessly with wider project documentation and workflows.”
The app reports can also be incorporated directly into project quality records and the Golden Thread of information, helping project Dutyholders compile the evidence required for Gateway 3 applications. Because installation evidence is being collected throughout the build rather than retrospectively at project completion, construction teams can significantly reduce the risk of documentation gaps causing delays during Gateway 3 submissions and handover. This process can also be useful where deviations have had to be made from the approved design, as the actual approach can be clearly documented, assessed and, where necessary, approved through the project's change control process.
Beyond Gateway 3, installation records can be used to inform future maintenance, refurbishment and fire risk assessment activities, helping accountable persons and responsible persons understand exactly what products have been installed, where they are located and how their compliance was verified.
The benefits of inspection services extend beyond regulatory approval on a single project. All interactions with Siderise through the new app now feed directly into its wider project management system, enabling it to generate comprehensive reports where required and identify customer-specific trends, such as recurring installation issues.
“This allows us to not only provide more proactive support to installers, such as targeted training or additional site visits” Lee added, “but also to offer construction managers, and even architects supporting contractor choice, greater visibility into installation quality across their teams and supply chain.”
This can be especially valuable on large or fast-moving projects where installation teams may change over time.
The Siderise Inspection App is part of the technical support ‘wrapper’ that surrounds the manufacturers’ highly tested product ranges, including technical advice, in-person installation inspection services, product, application and installation training, benchmark installations, and more. This holistic support, combined with design and specification tools such as DWG Dynamic CAD packages and testing information packs, makes it easier for Siderise customers to improve the accuracy and efficiency of detailing processes, and assist them in delivering high-quality outcomes at every project stage and Gateway.
Learn more about the Inspection App