Our fire safety responsibilities

The safety of our residents is a top priority for us and we are committed to going above and beyond when it comes to fire safety in our buildings.

For our tenants this includes providing smoke alarms as well as checking and servicing gas, oil and solid fuel appliances in annual safety checks and completing regular inspections of electrical systems. (Home owners and leaseholders are responsible for gas, oil and solid fuel appliance and electrical  tests within their own home but we’re responsible for communal installations.)

In our blocks of flats and similar sites, we display Fire Action Notices in the communal areas. These give the fire safety procedures to follow in the unlikely event of a fire, so please read these and contact us if you're not sure. We also make sure that fire risk assessments (FRAs) are up-to-date, there are appropriate smoke detectors and fire alarms, fire doors and other fire safety measures. We also regularly review any fire risks and the procedures for preventing and reporting fires.

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Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs)

If you are unable to evacuate your home in the event of a fire - due to either a permanent or temporary disability, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can carry out a ‘Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan’ (PEEP) with you.

Taller buildings 

Managing the fire safety for our taller buildings is obviously a key focus. We’ve carried out detailed surveys all of these that we own and none have High Pressurised Laminate (HPL) or Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding. 

Since January 2023, new regulations mean that we will carry out quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common areas of blocks over 11m high, as these play an important part in containing any fire. 

We’ll also start annual checks of entrance doors to flats which lead on to the common areas of a block: these also count as fire doors.

However tall your building is, please: 

  • keep fire doors closed - don't prop them open as they're there to stop the spread of fire
  • don’t tamper with doors and self-closing devices
  • report any faults or damage to fire doors or self-closer door fixings immediately on 0300 5000 926, so that we can fix them. 

Taller buildings where Sovereign is responsible for the fire risk assessment

Please note: we’re currently reviewing and updating the following web pages but you can still request the fire safety assessment for your building using the links below.

Taller buildings where a management company is responsible for the fire risk assessment

Please note: we’re currently reviewing and updating the following web pages but you can still request the fire safety assessment for your building via the links below.

External wall systems

We have undertaken a thorough review of all our blocks to determine which ones fall into scope of needing an EWS1 form in line with the current Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) guidance. See answers to frequently asked questions about EWS1 here.

Primary Authority scheme 

We’re part of the national Primary Authority scheme. This means we have a legal partnership with one fire authority (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service) to give us advice we can apply to how we manage fire safety for all our homes.

We also work closely with other local fire authorities (particularly where we have taller blocks, schemes for older people or supported housing) so they’re aware of our fire safety arrangements for the buildings in their area.