Façade remediation is the process of identifying, designing for, and correcting defects in a building’s external wall system — most commonly combustible or non-compliant cladding, but also failed cavity barriers, deteriorated render, leaking curtain walling and ageing window systems. For many buildings, remediation has become a legal and safety priority following building safety reforms introduced after Grenfell, and it typically follows a defined path: survey and investigation, strategy, design, procurement, and construction.
Trident works across every stage of that path except one — we don’t carry out the initial condition surveys and intrusive investigations ourselves. That work sits with our sister company, Trident Facades Surveys, who specialise in façade condition surveys, opening-up investigations, PAS 9980 assessments, FRAEW and EWS1. If your building hasn’t yet been surveyed, that’s the right place to start.
You can’t safely design a remediation strategy — let alone price or build one — against an assumption. Façade construction on older buildings is often undocumented, and the only way to know what’s really behind the cladding is to open it up and look: what the panels are made of, how the cavity is built, whether cavity barriers are present and correctly installed, and how far any defect extends across the building. Getting this wrong at the survey stage carries through into every later decision — strategy, design, cost and programme.
Assessing the current state of the external wall, cladding and associated components.
A wider assessment of the full external wall build-up, not just the visible cladding.
Physically exposing sample areas to confirm construction and condition where drawings are missing, outdated, or unreliable.
Identifying cladding material, fixing method and fire performance.
Fire risk appraisals of external walls, carried out to the current industry methodology.
Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls, the detailed assessment that typically follows an initial fire risk assessment where external wall risk is flagged.
External Wall System assessments, used to evidence external wall fire safety, most commonly for lending and valuation purposes.
Once our survey team has established the condition of your façade, that evidence feeds directly into façade remediation strategy and façade remediation design — the next stages in the façade remediation process. Because survey and remediation sit within the same business, that handover happens seamlessly, with no loss of information or re-briefing between teams.
If your building hasn’t yet been surveyed, or you’re holding an outdated report, that’s the place to begin — not a remediation quote.