The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors ("RICS") has now issued new guidance (March 2021) to the relevant professionals in relation to EWS1 Forms, designed to make it clearer what Buildings fall within the requirement for an EWS1 Form (and thereby releasing other Buildings from such requirement)
The majority of mortgage lenders are in support of this new guidance
Before I set out the new criteria, you need to be aware of the following terms:-
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"ACM Panels" - Panels with Aluminium Composite Materials
"MCM Panels" – Panels with Metal Composite Materials
"HPL Panels" – Panels with High Pressure Laminate
The Guidance Note says that where a valuer or lender can establish that the building owner has met the advice in the consolidated advice note issued by the Government in January 2020, an EWS1 form should not be required, nor would an EWS1 form be required for a building that is over 18 metres that has a valid building control certificate in place.
It will still be the case that Flats in some low rise blocks will still need an EWS1 Form. That applies in particular to buildings having HPL cladding and also blocks of five stories or over which have combustible linking balconies
The new criteria is:-
For buildings over six storeys an EWS1 form should be required where:
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There is cladding or curtain wall glazing on the building or
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there are balconies which stack vertically above each other and either both the balustrades and decking are constructed with combustible materials (e.g. timber) or the decking is constructed with combustible materials and the balconies are directly linked by combustible material.
For buildings of five or six storeys an EWS1 form should be required where:
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There is a significant amount of cladding on the building (for the purpose of this guidance, approximately one quarter of the whole elevation estimated from what is visible standing at ground level is a significant amount) or
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there are ACM, MCM or HPL panels on the building or
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there are balconies which stack vertically above each other and either both the balustrades and decking are constructed with combustible materials (e.g. timber), or the decking is constructed with combustible materials and the balconies are directly linked by combustible materials.
For buildings of four storeys or fewer an EWS1 form should be required where:
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There are ACM, MCM or HPL panels on the building.
RICS are working with UK government and other relevant stakeholders to ensure this guidance is implemented by 5 April 2021
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