In an apartment complex the fire separation runs straight through the ownership structure. The party walls, the floors, the stairwell, the storage corridor and the shafts are communal, but the penetrations in them often arise from work by individual owners: a new boiler, an extractor hood, a fibre-optic connection or a refurbished bathroom.
For owners' associations, Grazy Brandwering maps where the fire separations run, what condition they are in and what remediation is needed. We deliver a report the board can use directly at the members' meeting: per defect the location, the risk and the cost, so that decision-making and budgeting rest on facts rather than assumptions.
Risks relevant to this sector
Unclear responsibility
When a communal fire separation is defective, the association and the owner sometimes point at each other. The deed of division determines ownership, but the duty of care for communal provisions generally rests with the association.
Work carried out by residents
Every owner may refurbish within their own apartment. Holes drilled through a party wall or floor for pipes and cabling are almost always left unsealed.
Storage areas and stairwells
It is precisely at the boundary between the storage corridor, the parking level and the stairwell that things go wrong: doors that no longer close, breached ceilings and openings around pipework.
Deferred maintenance
Many complexes from the sixties to the nineties have never been checked. Without a multi-year maintenance plan, defects remain for years until an incident or an inspection.
Services that make the biggest difference here
Fire-Resistant Seseals
Certified sealing of cable, pipe, and duct penetrations so that fire and smoke compartments remain intact.
More about this serviceFire-Resistant Doors
Custom-made fire-resistant doors and frames that protect escape routes against fire and smoke for up to 60 minutes.
More about this serviceFire-Resistant Separstructures
Walls, ceilings, and flame barriers that divide your building into safe, manageable fire compartments.
More about this serviceConsultancy & Assessment
From quickscan to full inventory: we clearly map out the fire safety of your building.
More about this serviceMaintenance & Inspection
Periodic inspection and maintenance keep your fire protection provisions demonstrably in order.
More about this serviceWhat that looks like in practice
At a complex of 78 apartments we surveyed the party walls, the storage corridor and both stairwells: 140 unsealed penetrations found, 12 fire doors rejected. The report with a cost estimate per item went straight to the members' meeting and the remediation was carried out in two phases across two financial years.
View our projectsAssessment framework
- Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (Bbl) - specific duty of care, art. 3.5
- NEN 6068 / NEN 6075 - WBDBO and smoke resistance between dwellings and escape routes
- NEN 2767 - condition assessment for the multi-year maintenance plan
Questions about fire safety in owners' associations and residential complexes
That depends on the deed of division. Communal building elements - party walls and floors, stairwells, shafts and storage corridors - generally fall under the association. Damage demonstrably caused by an individual owner's work can be recovered from that owner. Our report records for each defect where it sits, so the board can make that assessment.
There is no fixed inspection obligation for structural fire protection, but the duty of care in the Bbl applies in full. The association must be able to demonstrate that the communal fire safety provisions are present and in order. This is asked for at an incident or an inspection by the safety region.
With a report that names the location, the risk and the cost of each defect, plus a proposal to phase the work across several financial years. That turns it into a budgeting question rather than a debate about urgency.
Yes. Most of the work is in communal areas: corridors, stairwells, shafts and storage areas. Work inside a dwelling we schedule per apartment in consultation with the resident, usually within half a day.
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