Fire Risk Assessment in Wellingborough for Landlords, Units and Schools

Three kinds of Wellingborough client, three different assessments

The legal duty is the same. What the assessor spends the time on is not.

Each type is covered in turn below. If you manage more than one of these, we can assess them in the same visit programme and keep the reports in one format.

Landlords, tenanted flats and HMOs

North Northamptonshire Council licenses the larger HMOs. It does not run an extra scheme on top.

Wellingborough is in North Northamptonshire. The council there has said that mandatory licensing applies to HMOs with five or more occupiers, and that it does not currently meet the legal tests for additional or selective licensing. Its public register lists each licence and sets a maximum number of occupants. The council reported nearly 500 licensed HMOs across the area as of August 2025, and says licensed ones are inspected each year.

This is worth stating clearly because the other Northamptonshire council, West Northamptonshire, does have an additional HMO licensing scheme. That one does not apply in Wellingborough. If an agent or an old forum post tells you otherwise, check the North Northamptonshire pages.

Whatever the licence status, the Fire Safety Order applies to the shared parts of a building that holds more than one household. The landlord or managing agent is the responsible person. We look for:

• A flat entrance door that matches the fire strategy for the building, and a hallway that is clear
• Working detection that matches the licence conditions and the building, with a log of when it was tested
• Escape routes with nothing stored in them, including bikes, post and rubbish
• Emergency lighting where the stair has no daylight
• A written, dated assessment you can show the council, an insurer or a mortgage lender

Our HMO fire safety guide, the landlord annual checklist and fire door regulations for flats go deeper on each point.

Logistics and industrial units

Wellingborough has long had engineering and distribution on its estates, and the A45 links the town to the A14 and the M1.

The estates include Park Farm, Denington, Leyland and Finedon Road. Units there range from small engineering shops to larger distribution sheds. The fire risk is usually about what is stored, how high, and who is on site when the alarm sounds, not about the building shell.

On a logistics site we ask where the stock is kept and whether racking blocks the escape routes. We ask how forklifts and battery packs are charged and where. We check how drivers and visitors who are not staff find out what to do. We look at the alarm and, if there is a monitored one, the arrangements for unwanted alarms. Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service publishes an unwanted fire signals reduction policy for automatic alarms, and a site that triggers repeat false alarms ends up in conversation with them.

Warehouse tenants often split the duty with the landlord. The lease says who maintains the fabric and who runs the day-to-day management. We read the split and write the report so each party can see its own actions. The detection side is covered in fire alarms for warehouses and industrial units, and the passive side in what is passive fire protection.

Schools and education settings

A school assessment is as much about people and routine as about the building.

The responsible person is whoever controls the premises, which depends on the type of school and its governance. We confirm that with you at the start so the report is addressed correctly. We then assess the whole site, including any mobile classrooms, kitchens, plant rooms and the sports hall.

Points that come up often in schools are doors wedged open between classrooms and corridors, storage in stair lobbies, alarm call points hidden by displays, and evening lettings where the hirer has no briefing. Read school fire compliance and fire doors for schools for more on each.

How the assessment works and what you get

One visit, one written report, actions in order.

We walk the whole building, including the roof void access where it is safe, plant rooms and storage areas. The report is written in a PAS 79-1 style and led by Sebastian Grabowski, who holds the Level 4 Diploma in Fire Risk Assessment. Every finding has a priority and a plain fix. You also get a review date and a list of events that should trigger an earlier review.

A fire risk assessment is a separate service from a fire door inspection. The assessment notes how doors are doing in general terms. It does not replace a door-by-door inspection, and the inspection does not replace the assessment. They sit side by side. If the report finds failures, our failed fire risk assessment page explains what to do next.

Price, distance and who we are

A starting figure and the things that move it.

A fire risk assessment for a small commercial premises starts from about £550 + VAT. Floor area, number of floors, sleeping occupants and layout all push it up. A large unit or a school costs more than a small office because there is more to walk and write. Send us the address and some photos and we give you a fixed price.

We are based in Luton, about 39 miles from Wellingborough, and the drive is around 50 minutes. There is no travel charge. For the national service page see fire risk assessments. For nearby areas see Northampton, fire doors in the East Midlands and our Kettering fire risk assessments.

Sources

• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (legislation.gov.uk)
• HMOs in North Northamptonshire (North Northamptonshire Council)
• The law on HMOs (North Northamptonshire Council)
• Unwanted fire signals reduction policy (Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service)

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