External fire escape stairs, landing platforms and retrofit structures fabricated in our Leeds workshop. Manufactured and installed in accordance with Building Regulations Approved Document B. Coded welders. Galvanised finishes. UK-wide installation.
Fire escapes Leeds property owners commission tend to fall into one of three categories: a retrofit forced by a change-of-use application, a replacement forced by a Fire Risk Assessment, or a brand-new escape route forced by a building works extension. Whatever brought the project to your desk, the same thing is true at the other end — somebody's escape route depends on what gets bolted to that wall. Get it wrong on paper and Building Control will not sign it off. Get it wrong in the steel and the Fire Risk Assessor will come back. Get it wrong in the finish and the structure rusts out of compliance inside fifteen years.
The numbers on a fire escape drawing — travel distance, escape capacity, number of routes, going and rise of the treads, handrail heights, headroom clearance — do not come from the fabricator. They come from the building's fire engineer or, on simpler projects, from the architect interpreting Approved Document B. Our job starts where their drawing lands on our desk. From that point forward the fire escape is steel, welds, fixings, finish, and the install crew that bolts it to your building.
Travel distance, capacity and number of escape routes are determined by your fire engineer or the building's fire strategy. We fabricate and install the escape route to that specification. What we guarantee is the steel — the dimensions, the weld traceability, the structural connections, the galvanised protection, and a crew that turns up when they said they would.
Bespoke external fire escape structures manufactured in our Leeds workshop and installed UK-wide. Every fire escape is fabricated to the drawings provided by the building's fire engineer, structural engineer or architect — or to the dimensions agreed at site survey where a redesign is being scoped. Hot-dip galvanising is standard for external longevity.
Straight-flight, dog-leg and switchback fire escape staircases serving single or multi-storey buildings. Fabricated from structural steel sections with welded mesh, chequer-plate or open-grating treads — anti-slip across wet weather and frost. Stringers, treads and risers built to the going and rise specified by your architect or fire engineer, in line with the BS 5395 staircase code of practice and the dimensional guidance in Approved Document B. Stairs are pre-assembled and trial-fitted in the workshop before galvanising and delivery, so the on-site fit is a bolt-up, not a fit-up.
Floor-level discharge landings, intermediate half-landings on dog-leg flights, and rooftop access landings — fabricated to clear the door swing, accommodate any specified queue width, and tie into the building structure with the connection detail your engineer has called out. Edge protection by guard rail to the height required by the building's fire strategy; toe-plates and kickboards where the design demands them.
The bulk of the fire escapes we fabricate are retrofits — escape routes added to buildings that did not have one, or replacements for stair structures that have corroded past sensible repair. Retrofit work demands a site survey, accurate measurement of existing fixings and substrate, and a connection design that respects what the wall can actually take. We carry out the survey, mark up the existing fabric, agree the connection detail with your structural engineer, and fabricate to suit. Where planning permission is needed — and on most retrofits it is, particularly anywhere visible from the highway — we provide the steel-design package the planning officer wants to see.
Listed buildings, properties inside conservation areas, and any building of historic interest demand a fabrication approach that respects the host structure. Hidden fixings into the lime mortar joints rather than the stone face; finishes specified for visual sympathy as much as longevity; bolt-up assembly designed to minimise on-site cutting or welding. We work alongside the building's heritage consultant and the local conservation officer, fabricate the steel to suit their constraints, and install with a crew used to working around grade-listed fabric. Planning permission and listed building consent are the client's to obtain — we provide the steel-design pack to support the application.
Old fire escapes — painted-steel structures from the 1970s and 1980s in particular — fail in predictable ways. The stringers corrode at the wall-fixing line where water is trapped against the masonry. The treads spall their anti-slip finish. The handrails work loose where the rivets have rusted through. We carry out a visual condition survey, report on what's serviceable and what isn't, and where replacement is the call, fabricate the new escape to the modern Building Regulations standard. Original treads can sometimes be cleaned, re-galvanised and reused — we'll tell you if they can. Most of the time, replacement steel is the right answer.
Treads on an external fire escape have to drain, grip in wet weather and frost, and stay structurally sound under footfall loading. Welded steel mesh, open-grating chequer-plate, and bar-grating with serrated leading edges are all available — substrate selection follows the fire strategy and the building's user profile. Handrails are continuous, top and bottom returns to the wall or terminating in a closed end, to the heights specified by your engineer per Approved Document B and Part K of the Building Regulations.
Standards: Manufactured and installed in accordance with Building Regulations Approved Document B. Staircase geometry fabricated in line with BS 5395 and Approved Document Part K. Welded by coded operatives certified to BS EN ISO 9606. Fabrication tested to BS 4872. Hot-dip galvanised finishes for external longevity.
Scope & responsibility. All metalwork is fabricated to the specifications provided by the client's structural engineer or architect. Final compliance with Building Regulations is subject to the overall building design and is confirmed through Building Control approval. Travel distance, capacity, headroom and number of escape routes are determined by the building's fire engineer or fire strategy — we fabricate and install the escape route to that specification. Where you don't yet have a fire engineer, we'll happily refer you to consultants we've worked with before.
Send us the fire strategy, architect's drawings or structural pack — or photos and a sketch if you’re scoping. We come back with questions inside a day.
Free, no obligation. We measure the existing substrate, check connection feasibility and agree access routes. Listed-building survey takes longer; budget extra time.
Steel drawings and a written, itemised quote — typically inside three working days. Connection details signed off with your structural engineer before fabrication.
Built in our Leeds workshop by coded welders. Trial-fitted on the bench, then hot-dip galvanised. Lead time depends on galvaniser slot and project complexity.
Fitted on site by our team. Edge protection and exclusion zone planned around occupants. Building Control sign-off attended where required.
The fire engineer specifies the route. The structural engineer specifies the connections. We fabricate to both — accurately, traceably, every time.
Every weld done by an operative certified to BS EN ISO 9606. Welder tickets and weld records available with the delivery for your Building Control file.
Most fire escapes we build are retrofits — bolted into existing buildings, often listed or in conservation areas. We've seen the difficult connection details before.
Hot-dip galvanising is our standard external finish. A galvanised fire escape protects itself for decades; a painted one needs maintenance no one books in.
Workshop in Leeds; installation UK-wide. For West Yorkshire sites we typically install within two to three weeks of galvaniser sign-off. For sites further afield — Manchester, the North East, the Midlands, down to London — we travel with a complete install crew and the right access kit.
Outside West Yorkshire? Get in touch — we deliver and install nationwide for commercial fire escape projects.
In most cases, yes. An external fire escape is a substantial addition to a building's appearance and almost always requires planning consent — particularly anywhere visible from the public highway, on listed buildings, and on any property inside a conservation area. There are limited permitted-development scenarios for some commercial buildings, but the safe assumption is that planning is required. We provide the steel-design pack the planning officer needs to assess the application; the application itself is the client’s to submit (or their planning consultant’s).
Fire escapes on listed buildings need both planning permission and listed building consent. The conservation officer will scrutinise the finish, the connection detail to the listed fabric, and how the structure interacts with the historic elevation. We’ve fabricated fire escapes on listed properties before — typically using hidden fixings into mortar joints rather than into the stone face, dark-finish galvanising or specific paint specifications agreed with the conservation officer, and a connection design developed alongside the building’s heritage consultant. Budget significantly more time for design and approval than a non-listed project.
Approved Document B is the practical guidance for fire safety under the Building Regulations. It covers means of escape, structural fire performance, internal and external fire spread, and access for fire services. The compliance of the fire escape route — travel distance, capacity, number of routes, the position of the escape relative to the building, and the protection of any windows or doors the route passes — is determined by your fire engineer or by the architect interpreting Approved Document B for your building. Our fabrication is manufactured and installed in accordance with their specification, and confirmed compliant by Building Control. We do not write the fire strategy; we fabricate to it.
The fire strategy — travel distance, escape capacity, number of routes, headroom and width — is the responsibility of a qualified fire engineer or the building’s architect. The structural design — section sizes, beam and column connections, foundation or wall-fixing capacity — is the responsibility of a structural engineer. We fabricate and install the escape route to their combined specification. Where you don’t yet have a fire engineer or a structural engineer, we’ll refer you to consultants we’ve worked with.
Yes. Retrofit fire escapes are the bulk of what we fabricate — warehouses adding a second escape route to satisfy a Fire Risk Assessment, multi-storey commercial properties converting upper floors to residential, schools and public buildings with a change-of-use application, and listed buildings being upgraded for modern occupancy. Every retrofit starts with a site survey of the substrate, an agreed connection detail with your structural engineer, and CAD drawings the planning officer can review.
Typical lead time, from signed quote to installed and signed-off, is six to twelve weeks — subject to project complexity, planning permission timescales, and galvaniser availability. Site survey takes a few days to schedule. CAD drawings and a written quote follow inside three working days of survey. Fabrication lead time is two to four weeks. Hot-dip galvanising adds another week to ten days. On-site installation is typically two to five days, depending on the number of floors and access conditions. Listed building projects routinely run longer for planning approval.
Three options are standard: welded steel mesh treads (the most common, drains freely, grips well in wet and frost), open-grating chequer-plate (a heavier section with a pressed pattern for grip), and bar-grating with serrated leading edges (the most aggressive anti-slip, often specified for industrial-access fire escapes). All three are hot-dip galvanised. Substrate selection is driven by your fire strategy and the building’s expected user profile — talk to us at the design stage.
For external fire escapes, hot-dip galvanising is the right answer almost every time. It bonds to the steel chemically, protects internal as well as external surfaces, and lasts decades without maintenance. Painted steel looks fine for the first few years and then becomes a maintenance liability — the paint film breaks down at the wall-fixing line, water gets behind it, and corrosion begins. The only time paint makes sense is on listed buildings where the conservation officer has specified a particular colour or finish — and even then, the painted coat goes on top of a galvanised base.
Section sizes, connection capacities and load assumptions come from your structural engineer’s calculations — these are the inputs to our fabrication, not outputs. Where a client asks us about capacity directly, we always come back with the same answer: the structural engineer has the responsibility for the structural design, and the load capacity of any specific fire escape is subject to the fire engineer’s specification and the structural engineer’s sign-off. What we fabricate matches the drawing pack. What it carries is what the engineer has designed it to carry.
Manufactured and installed in accordance with Building Regulations Approved Document B. Staircase geometry fabricated in line with BS 5395 and Approved Document Part K. All welding performed by operatives certified to BS EN ISO 9606. Fabrication tested to BS 4872. Hot-dip galvanising to BS EN ISO 1461. All metalwork is fabricated to the specifications provided by the client’s structural engineer or architect. Final compliance with Building Regulations is subject to the overall building design and is confirmed through Building Control approval.
External steel fire escape staircase fabricated and installed on a multi-storey commercial property — galvanised finish, welded-mesh treads, full Building Control sign-off.
Retrofit external escape, three-storey
Replacement fire escape on a warehouse facility — previous structure failed condition survey at wall-fixing line. New steel installed during a planned weekend shutdown.
Replacement with hot-dip galvanising
Bespoke escape platform and access ladder fabricated for a school conversion project — designed alongside the architect’s fire strategy and signed off by the project structural engineer.
New build escape route, change-of-use
More commercial work on the Projects page.
Fire strategy, structural pack, or just photos of the existing building and a sketch of what's needed — send us your drawings and we’ll come back with a written quote inside three working days. Site survey is free. All quotes are subject to site survey.
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