Provision of an Organisational Review of Fire Strategy and Detailed Buildings Review

Tender description

National Records of Scotland (NRS) is seeking tenders for the provision of an overarching review to be undertaken of its fire strategy along with the development of detailed individual fire strategy reviews of the six separate buildings that comprise the NRS Estate. NRS requires a review of its estate and processes around the management of fire. The anticipated performance of the buildings in the event of a fire needs to be understood and analysed, including the systems in place to detect and suppress fire, raise alarms and carry out safe evacuations. The review is to include the general arrangement of the buildings and their fabric as well as all existing fire safety systems – detection, alarms, evacuation, suppression systems and compare these to current best practice given the nature of the organisation and the irreplaceable material that it holds for the nation. Three of the six buildings are Category A listed and are themselves of cultural significance. Buildings are given listed status if they are of special architectural or historic interest and Category A listings are reserved for buildings of national or international importance either architectural or historic, or if they are fine, little altered examples of some particular period, style or building type. Understanding how these iconic listed buildings can achieve best practice in fire performance and safety is a key requirement. The outcome of the overarching review is to provide clarity and direction to NRS and the detailed reviews are to provide specific understanding of any limitations of the existing arrangements, and recommendations to ensure NRS achieves compliance with best practice and industry standards based on a detailed understanding of the business requirements of the organisation. NRS requires a review of responsibilities, priorities, processes and procedures in the governance of fire as well as a review of how it supports staff and managers in facilitating and managing this essential requirement. A further requirement of the review is to allow NRS to understand the existing situation across its estate and to consider improvements that can be made to building fabric performance, fire safety systems and operational processes where required, and to raise awareness of the risks of fire by all and also be confident that it is providing a suitable environment for the storage of precious documents and a safe environment for staff and visitors. The Contractor may be asked to provide additional fire safety advice and assist NRS in the implementation of recommendations that result from the review if required.