Fire risk assessments in Berkshire

We cover Berkshire, focusing on the east of the county and Reading: Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest and Reading. Our fire risk assessments there are for private landlords, HMO operators, block managers, employers and housing providers. The work ranges from terraced shared houses in Reading and Slough to new-town flats in Bracknell and newer apartment blocks near Reading and Maidenhead stations.

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service enforces fire safety law across Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, and Wokingham, on behalf of the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority, whose members are drawn from all six councils.

Where we work in Berkshire

• Slough
• Windsor
• Maidenhead
• Ascot
• Bracknell Forest
• Reading

Overcrowding in Slough, terraces in Reading

Slough has seen the sharpest growth in private renting in the South East, from 24.3% of households in 2011 to 30.7% in 2021. The council’s 2026 licensing evidence counts 16,710 privately rented homes, 28.6% of its stock, and its monitoring report gives an average of 27.2 square metres of living space per person, against 36.5 in comparable towns. Overcrowded HMOs, large shared households and outbuildings used as living space (the “beds in sheds” problem the council has reported) all make a fire more likely and escape harder.

Reading’s private rented stock is dominated by Victorian and Edwardian terraces, many let to University of Reading students or young professionals. Bracknell, a post-war new town, has estates of low-rise flats with shared stairs, while Windsor, Maidenhead and Ascot have more owner-occupied homes and purpose-built blocks run by managing agents. In a terraced HMO the assessment focuses on the single escape stair; in a managed block it is more about doors, detection in the common parts and the condition of compartment walls.