Fire Safety Lead in London

To provide strategic and operational technical leadership on fire safety, fire engineering, and associated building safety risks across the Council's housing portfolio. The postholder supports the Council, as Accountable Person and Principal Accountable Person for its Higher‑Risk Buildings (HRBs), by providing specialist technical advice, assurance, and oversight in relation to fire safety compliance, design standards, refurbishment activities, fire protection systems, contractor performance, and incident investigation. The role provides independent technical assurance in relation to fire and building safety risks, supports the development of safe systems of work, contributes to incident management, and ensures technical compliance with relevant fire safety, building safety, and health and safety legislation.

The role does not ordinarily hold primary operational responsibility for building‑level risk management, which remains with the Building Safety Management function. Whilst the role primarily provides technical leadership, assurance, and professional oversight, the postholder may undertake limited technical involvement in strategically significant Higher‑Risk Buildings (HRBs) where required to maintain operational competence, support organisational resilience, or provide specialist technical leadership.

Key Accountabilities

• Providing strategic technical leadership and independent professional challenge across fire safety, design compliance, contractor assurance, and building safety risk management.
• Providing assurance to the Head of Fire & Building Safety on emerging technical risks, systemic compliance issues, and organisational fire safety performance.
• Providing professional fire safety leadership, technical assurance, and expert advice across the housing portfolio.
• Ensuring fire safety design, construction, refurbishment, and maintenance activities comply with statutory requirements, recognised guidance, and relevant technical standards.
• Providing independent technical assurance, through risk‑based sampling, that Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) actions, fire safety works, and other life safety control measures across the Council’s non‑HRB housing portfolio are completed, verified, and compliant, with systemic non‑compliance formally escalated where required.
• Leading fire incident investigations, technical reviews, and lessons learned activities.
• Ensuring fire‑related incidents, Mandatory Occurrence Reporting events, and relevant statutory notifications are identified, escalated, and managed appropriately.
• The effective leadership, performance, and development of direct reports.
• Escalating significant fire safety, contractor, compliance, or systemic risks to senior management.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Fire Safety Assurance

• Review drawings, specifications, fire strategies, design submissions, and technical proposals to ensure compliance with relevant legislation, approved guidance, and standards including Approved Document B, BS 9991, BS 5839, and BS 5266.
• Identify design defects, fire safety non‑compliance, compartmentation failures, and technical risks associated with refurbishment, repairs, or existing buildings, providing formal technical recommendations.
• Review findings from intrusive investigations, compartmentation surveys, fire stopping inspections, structural fire safety reviews, and Fire Risk Appraisals of External Walls (FRAEWs).
• Provide technical advice to project teams, Housing, Asset Management, Repairs, Capital Works, Direct Labour Organisation (DLO), Voids, and contractors on corrective actions and risk mitigation.

Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) Assurance

• Provide independent technical assurance of completed Fire Risk Assessment actions across the Council’s non‑HRB housing portfolio using a risk‑based sampling and verification approach.
• Undertake targeted audits and physical verification inspections of completed FRA actions to assess quality, compliance, workmanship, and effectiveness.
• Identify systemic issues, recurring defects, contractor underperformance, or weaknesses in action close‑out processes, ensuring findings are formally reported and escalated.
• Work collaboratively with the FRA Manager and associated compliance teams to improve completion assurance, contractor performance, data quality, and organisational learning.
• Provide technical advice and recommendations where sampled FRA actions are found to be incomplete, non‑compliant, or ineffective.

Site Inspections & Contractor Assurance

• Undertake targeted, risk‑based site inspections during live works to provide independent technical assurance.
• Review and provide technical input on RAMS, permit‑to‑work arrangements, temporary fire precautions, and high‑risk activities including hot works, compartmentation breaches, isolations, and fire stopping works.
• Provide technical assurance of contractor performance and escalate non‑compliance, unsafe practices, or defective works where identified.

Fire Protection Systems

• Provide technical assurance on the performance, design, maintenance, and remediation of fire protection systems including fire alarms, emergency lighting, sprinklers, AOVs, smoke control systems, and fire doors.
• Escalate technical failures and support resolution through project teams, contractors, and the Fire Door Project Manager where required.