Fire Risk Assessment in Slough: What Changes by Building Type

Who enforces in Slough, and what they ask for

For business premises the answer is the fire service. For rented homes it can be the council as well.

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service covers Slough, with a wholetime station on Tuns Lane. Its fire safety officers can inspect a business, ask to see your assessment, and serve notices if it is missing or the building does not match it.

They ask for the same things everywhere. A written assessment, a date it was done, who did it, an action plan, and proof the actions are being closed. A report in a drawer with no actions ticked off is the common failure.

Article 9 of the Order requires a suitable and sufficient assessment. Article 11 covers arrangements for planning, organising and reviewing your fire safety. Both apply whether you have two staff or two hundred.

What changes with the building

The method is the same. What we look at hardest is not.

We write findings in order of risk, so the first page of actions is the page that matters.

Shared houses and flats: Slough HMO licensing

The rules here are moving, so check the council page before you rely on any date.

A house let to five or more people from more than one household needs a mandatory HMO licence. That rule is national and applies in Slough now.

Slough Borough Council ran its own additional and selective licensing schemes, and those schemes have expired. The council opened a consultation on 15 July 2026 on new borough-wide additional and selective licensing. It closed on 23 September 2026. Additional licensing would take in smaller HMOs, such as three or four sharers in two or more households. Selective licensing would take in privately let homes more widely.

Whether either scheme goes ahead is a decision for the council's Cabinet, so we are not telling you it has. If you let a shared house in Slough, check the council's licensing page for the latest.

What does not change is the fire duty. Landlords of shared houses and flats need escape routes, alarms and doors that work. See our landlord guide to fire safety in HMOs and fire doors for HMOs.

How our assessment runs

One visit, one report, an action plan you can work through.

1. 1Information first. You send photos, floor plans, any old assessment and the alarm and emergency lighting test logs.
2. 2Site walk. We walk every floor and every room people use, plus roof voids and risers where we can safely look.
3. 3Report in PAS 79-1 style. Hazards, people at risk, existing controls, a rated action list and a review date. Led by Sebastian Grabowski, who holds the Level 4 Diploma in Fire Risk Assessment.
4. 4Walkthrough. We explain the actions in plain words and say which ones you can do yourself.

The assessment covers the whole building's fire safety. It does not replace a fire door inspection or a fire stopping survey. They sit side by side. To plan repeats, read how often to review a fire risk assessment.

What it costs

We give a fixed price once we have the details.

A fire risk assessment starts from about £550 + VAT for a small commercial premises. The price moves with floor area, number of floors, sleeping use, how complicated the layout is and how old the last report is.

A hotel costs more than an office of the same size, because of the sleeping risk and the number of rooms. We confirm the price before anyone visits. The national fire risk assessments page has the full service detail.

Sources

• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Slough fire station (Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service)
• Licensing private rented property in Slough (Slough Borough Council consultation)
• House in multiple occupation licence (GOV.UK)

Updated October 2026 by Sebastian Grabowski, DC Fire & Security, 2 Winsdon Court, Luton LU1 5LZ.