Fire engineering

Expert fire engineering advice and performance based design to deliver compliant, practical and cost-effective fire safety solutions.

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Consultancy

Inspections and testing

Fire protection services

Passive and active fire protection solutions that safeguard people, property and buildings throughout their lifecycle.

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Passive fire protection

Active fire protection and security

Sectors

Our sector expertise enables us to deliver tailored fire safety solutions that address the unique challenges of every building and the people who use it.

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Healthcare

Ensuring staff and patient safety across complex healthcare settings

Student accommodation

Protecting residents and ensuring compliance with minimal disruption

About us

Driven by quality, expertise and innovation, we provide integrated fire safety solutions that help organisations build safer, more resilient environments.

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Accreditations

Third-party accredited for complete peace of mind.

Meet the team

Meet the specialists protecting what matters most.

News and insights

Explore everything Checkmate Fire has to offer, from our services and resources to frameworks, training, case studies and the latest insights.

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Training academy

Build skills and confidence through expert-led fire safety training.

Frameworks

Access trusted procurement routes for compliant fire safety solutions.

Heritage properties

Heritage buildings carry a significance that goes far beyond their walls. Fire safety therefore needs to protect people, collections, and historic character in equal measure. Our specialists understand the sensitivities of working within protected structures, delivering considered fire protection that respects a building’s importance while meeting its statutory obligations.

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FIRE SAFETY IN HERITAGE PROPERTIES

Whether you manage a single listed building, a historic estate, or a portfolio of heritage sites, we provide fire safety support that considers a building’s history alongside its operational and statutory requirements.

Fire safety in listed buildings can be more complex than a conventional risk assessment. Original features, restricted intervention options, and the potential need for listed building consent all influence what can be done, and how. Our specialists deliver both passive fire and active fire protection across listed buildings, historic estates, museums, and places of worship – any space that requires sensitive handling.

We provide a coordinated range of fire safety services for heritage properties, including listed building fire risk assessments, fire door installation and remediation, firestopping, fire compartmentation, fire dampers, and fire strategy reports. Our approach ensures you meet your fire safety obligations while protecting the building’s features that make them so significant.

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HERITAGE EXPERTISE

Working in protected and occupied heritage buildings

Whether it is a cathedral holding daily services, a historic house open to visitors, a working mill, or a listed estate used as a venue, heritage buildings rarely stand empty. Our teams understand the need to work carefully, respectfully, and efficiently within spaces that are lived in, worked in, or open to the public.

Protecting people and collections

We plan fire safety works around opening hours, dust, noise, and the presence of visitors, staff, and volunteers, as well as collections, artefacts, and contents that cannot simply be relocated. Circumstances can change throughout a project, so we adapt our approach accordingly, helping to keep the site safe and operational throughout.

Sympathetic, conservation-aware working

The historic make up of a building can make seemingly straightforward fire safety work a lot more complex. Our approach is always to understand the existing construction and identify the least intrusive way of achieving the required outcomes – whether that means repairing or remediating existing fire protection, improving access, or specifying replacement where it is genuinely needed.

Close working with your teams

Clear communication is central to the way we work – and that is because we know it gives you confidence. Furthermore, projects of this nature rely on close coordination to be successful. We work with responsible persons, facilities and estates teams, conservation specialists, and other stakeholders to agree access, working methods, permits, and any necessary approvals – all the while keeping everyone informed as the project progresses.

FIRE SAFETY AND LISTED BUILDING CONSENT

Balancing protection and preservation

Fire safety measures in listed buildings, from fire doors and detection systems to fire compartmentation and fire dampers, may require listed building consent before work begins. Understanding what can be installed, altered, or adapted – and where a more considered or reversible solution is appropriate – is essential to keeping a heritage building both safe and compliant.

It is our role to establish what needs to be achieved, before developing an appropriate proportionate approach. This could see us upgrading existing fire doors, rather than replacing them, improving compartmentation lines, addressing defects within fire dampers, or developing a wider fire strategy if it is a more complex building. Plus, where specialist input or consent is required, we work with the relevant teams to help ensure fire safety requirements and conservation considerations are addressed alongside one another.

Customer stories

Restoring fire damper compliance in a Grade I-listed museum

Hidden above ceilings and within ductwork, fire dampers are among the most overlooked components of a building’s fire strategy – yet, their failure can compromise the integrity of an entire fire compartmentation system.

See how we restored fire damper compliance in one of London’s busiest Grade I-listed heritage buildings while protecting operations and safety.

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Working out of hours, Checkmate Fire located, tested, and remediated hidden fire dampers throughout one of London’s busiest Grade I-listed buildings – restoring compliance while minimising disruption.

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FIRE PROTECTION FOR HERITAGE BUILDINGS

A heritage building is never just bricks and mortar. It is centuries of alteration, use, and history that fire safety has to work around, rather than over.

We provide fire protection works across listed buildings, historic estates, museums and places of worship throughout the UK. Our teams have practical experience of the sensitivities involved in working within protected and occupied heritage sites.

Many historic buildings combine original construction with centuries of extensions, repairs, and changes of use, often incorporating vulnerable materials such as timber framing or thatch. Understanding how a building has evolved, alongside its current use and protected status, is essential to developing a solution that is both appropriate and effective.

Our heritage projects are supported by robust health, safety, and conservation-aware procedures, including:

Hot works permits and controls
Heritage-specific risk assessments and method statements (RAMS)
Fire safety training for heritage staff and volunteers
Site-specific inductions and conservation briefings
Robust health and safety management
Comprehensive quality assurance
Third-party certified installation standards

Industry recognised standards

Independently accredited. Fully compliant. Trusted nationwide.

We are proud that Checkmate Fire is built on a foundation of continuous improvement – it is a philosophy that is deeply embedded and felt throughout the business. Our third-party accreditations demonstrate more than compliance – they provide independent assurance that our people, processes, and workmanship meet recognised industry standards.

We hold a comprehensive portfolio of industry accreditations covering fire door installation, inspections, surveys, and remediation. They underpin every project we deliver and reflect our commitment to raising standards across the built environment.

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PROTECTING HISTORIC BUILDINGS AND THEIR CONTENTS

Fire safety in heritage buildings

In listed buildings, evacuation routes, means of escape, and fire resistance do not have the luxury of following modern layouts, and altering them is not always possible or appropriate. Approved Document B provides guidance on meeting the fire safety requirements of the Building Regulations, while recognising that existing buildings, including those of special architectural or historic interest, can present particular challenges. Where standard guidance is unsuitable, a carefully considered, risk-based approach is your way forward.

Historic England's fire safety advice for heritage properties highlights particular risks associated with historic buildings, including hot works during repairs and restoration, thatched roofs, and timber structures. For properties containing significant collections or artefacts, emergency planning, and salvage arrangements are also an important part of preparing for a fire.

At Checkmate Fire, we understand that fire safety measures cannot be considered in isolation. Effective compliance depends on how detection, evacuation, passive and active protection, management procedures, and emergency planning work together. We help heritage properties maintain the integrity of their fire protection systems, so buildings remain safe, compliant, and able to continue serving the people who use, work in, and visit them.

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Whether you’re looking for a service, sector, resource, or technical guidance, quickly find the expertise and support you need to move forward with confidence.

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Case Studies

Restoring fire damper compliance in a Grade I-listed museum

Working out of hours, Checkmate Fire located, tested, and remediated hidden fire dampers throughout one of London’s busiest Grade I-listed buildings – restoring compliance while minimising disruption.

News

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BAFE accreditation announcement

Checkmate Fire’s growing fire engineering consultancy is celebrating a major milestone after achieving BAFE SP205 accreditation three months ahead of schedule.

Fire Protection Services

Fire dampers

Inspection, testing, remediation, and maintenance to build confidence in the hidden systems that prevent fire and smoke travelling through ventilation networks.

Complete fire safety assurance

We deliver all fire safety services in line with current legislation, guidance, and third-party accreditation standards.

Technical expertise and practical delivery

Combining specialist fire safety knowledge with practical experience, we bridge the gap between strategy and reality to deliver greater certainty, informed investment decisions, and confidence in managing assets.

Nationwide coverage

Our UK-wide network provides consistent expertise wherever your buildings are located, supporting sprawling estates and multi-site portfolios.

An end-to-end service

Bringing together specialist consultancy, inspections, remediation, and installation, we provide a complete view of fire safety – from initial assessment through to long-term assurance and evidence.

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Talk to our heritage fire safety specialists

Whether you are managing fire safety across a single listed building or a wider heritage estate, dealing with a compliance concern or planning works that may require listed building consent, our specialist team can help you find the right way forward.
We understand the challenge of delivering essential fire safety work without compromising a building’s history, significance, or everyday use.