Guide
PAS 9980 and FRAEW
A plain guide to fire risk appraisal of external walls. By the Guidex team. Last updated 3 November 2026.
In this guide
What are PAS 9980 and an FRAEW?
PAS 9980:2022 is a BSI code of practice. It gives a method for the fire risk appraisal of external wall construction and cladding on existing multi-storey, multi-occupied residential buildings.
A fire risk appraisal of external walls (FRAEW) is the assessment carried out with that method. It looks at the risk of fire spread through the external walls of a block of flats.
Who carries it out
PAS 9980 is aimed at competent fire engineers and other competent building professionals who advise on external wall fire risk.
GOV.UK guidance tells building owners to use an appropriately qualified and competent professional with suitable experience of multi-storey residential buildings. Read the GOV.UK guidance.
When one may not be needed
Not every block needs a full appraisal. GOV.UK guidance says that, for some buildings, it should be obvious to a competent fire risk assessor that the risk of fire spread is low enough. Buildings with brick or masonry walls are the example it gives. The fire risk assessor then normally deals with the external wall in the routine fire risk assessment.
Judgment is part of the method
The approach is risk-based, so an FRAEW needs competent professional judgment. Two competent assessors can weigh the evidence differently, which is why the reasoning must be clear in the report.
How Guidex can help
Guidex can read PAS 9980:2022 when you select it, and answers cite the exact clause, table or figure. It helps you reach a first draft of an FRAEW the same way it helps with a fire strategy, working in your company’s template and respecting its structure, legal wording and liability wording.
It also helps with site inspections and pre-site-visit markups, so your findings are marked up and carried into the report. The appraisal and the judgment stay with the competent assessor. Read about fire engineering AI.
This page is a general summary from published sources, and not the text of PAS 9980. It is not advice on a specific building.
See it on your own project
The quickest way to judge Guidex is to point it at a building you already know and check its answers against your own.