Final building control inspections are important for verifying compliance, but by this stage, many passive fire protection elements are concealed behind the façade. Whilst sections can sometimes be removed, this isn’t always practical and only provides limited ‘spot checks’, offering little assurance of consistent installation quality across the entire building, particularly on large or high-rise projects. 

This is why the idea of ‘progressive reassurance’ is key. The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) recommends in its Building Control for a New Higher-Risk Buildings Guidance Suite that “build elements are progressively verified by the [Principal Contractor] at appropriate points during the construction and inspection processes” and “the project team should ensure they capture the evidence of progressive assurance as this will form their Golden Thread of building information.” 

It goes on to highlight that Principal Contractors can work with manufacturers to support this process of evidence gathering with site inspections. Here, manufacturers can check if the products are being installed in line with their guidance and tested configurations. The frequency of these inspections should be agreed ideally at the procurement stage and built into the project’s wider assurance process, including alignment with the Building Safety Regulator’s inspection schedule. 

In addition to verifying installation quality and contractor competency, inspection records play an important role in maintaining the Golden Thread of information—a core requirement of the Building Safety Act. All duty holders on higher-risk building projects, including Principal Contractors and sub-contractors, are responsible for ensuring that accurate, up-to-date information is captured and maintained from design through to construction and into occupation. This digital record must provide a complete and traceable picture of the building’s design, safety systems, and ongoing management. 

Manufacturer-led inspection and reporting processes contribute directly to this by generating consistent, structured evidence throughout the construction phase. This information helps ensure that safety-critical elements, such as passive fire protection, are properly documented and verifiable as part of the wider compliance process. 

It is also important to note that, in addition to site inspection reports, manufacturers should also be able to provide detailed records of all their interactions with the project team on a particular project. For example, at Siderise, our CRM system allows us to centralise all project engagement into a single place, encompassing everything from early design-stage technical support through to site inspections and reporting. Importantly, this system also tracks the training we have delivered, enabling us to provide the Principal Contractor with visibility of subcontractor competency in installing our products. This is particularly valuable on large or fast-moving projects where installation teams may change over time. All this information can be provided to contractors as part of their Gateway 3 evidence, demonstrating collaboration and compliance.