What facilities managers and main contractors ask us most.

Passive fire protection is the built-in part of a building's fire strategy that contains fire and smoke without needing to be activated — compartment walls and floors, fire stopping at service penetrations, intumescent coatings on structural steel, cavity barriers and fire-rated doorsets. It works alongside active measures like sprinklers and detection to keep escape routes tenable and limit damage.

Compartmentation is the division of a building into fire-resisting cells — typically 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes — so that fire and smoke are contained at the wall, floor or ceiling line for long enough to allow escape and fire service intervention. For it to perform, every breach in that line (services, doors, abutments) has to be sealed with tested, certified detailing.

There is no single statutory interval, but the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to maintain fire safety measures in efficient working order. In practice that means a sampled or full passive fire protection survey on a risk-based cycle — commonly annually for higher-risk buildings and every three to five years for lower-risk commercial stock.

Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, communal fire doors in relevant residential buildings over 11m must be inspected quarterly, and flat entrance doors annually. In commercial premises the responsible person sets a risk-based interval — typically six or twelve monthly. Each inspection should be recorded door-by-door with photographs.

Yes. Every installation we deliver is recorded in OneTrace with per-detail photographs, location on plan, product datasheets and installer ID. The handover pack is structured to drop directly into the accountable person's golden thread of information for higher-risk buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022.

Yes. Fire Armour Services is IFC accredited, covering installation of fire stopping, penetration sealing and compartmentation works by NVQ-qualified operatives. IFC accreditation is third-party scheme certification recognised by main contractors, insurers and building control because it proves installation is controlled, audited and traceable.

Yes. Our quality management system is independently audited to ISO 9001:2015. That gives main contractors documented evidence of how we plan, execute, inspect and hand over every passive fire protection package, including document control, non-conformance handling, inspection records and final handover review.

Our home base is Bolton, with project teams operating across Manchester, Sheffield and the wider North of England. We mobilise nationwide across the UK on framework, programme and project work for main contractors, FM providers and building owners.

Yes. Much of our remedial and maintenance work — social housing, healthcare, data centres, occupied commercial estates — is delivered in live buildings with out-of-hours shifts, dust and noise controls, and resident or tenant liaison built into the programme.

For most enquiries from main contractors and building owners we can attend site for a free evaluation within five working days, and turn around a costed proposal within a further five. Urgent fire-stopping or door defects flagged by an inspection regime are prioritised.

A good handover pack should connect every installed detail to its location, tested system, product data, installer, date and completion photograph. For higher-risk buildings it should also be structured so the accountable person can import or reference it as part of the golden thread, rather than receiving loose photos and datasheets.

Yes. If you already have a compartmentation, fire door or fire stopping survey, we can review the defect schedule and produce a costed remedial proposal. Where the original survey lacks photographs, locations or risk ratings, we may recommend a validation visit first so the programme and evidence pack are reliable.