Waking watch case studies
Interim fire-safety cover on buildings with identified defects — what the building needed, how the watch was staffed, and what happened to the cost and the compliance position.
These case studies cover waking watch deployments Ashridge Group has run on residential buildings with identified fire-safety defects. Each records the building, the shift pattern, the officer numbers and the outcome — including how long interim cover ran before an alarm system replaced it.
There are 6 case studies in this category. For how the service itself works — scope, staffing and accreditation — see our waking watch and fire safety services. Cover is deployed from our regional teams — see the areas we cover.
The work
Waking Watch
Encore Group needed continuous waking watch across six residential blocks in Westminster after the building’s Fire Risk Assessment identified an interim need for patrols. We had officers on site within four hours and ran two per shift, 24 hours a day, for eight months until permanent…
Waking Watch
Pageant Steps needed waking watch across three riverside blocks on Rotherhithe Street while the fire alarm system was upgraded throughout. One block, Calder Court, is a Higher-Risk Building under the Building Safety Act 2022. We mobilised within four hours and staffed two officers on days and…
Waking Watch
Encore Group needed continuous waking watch across Bishop’s Court, a three-block residential development in Spitalfields, after its Fire Risk Assessment identified an interim need for patrols. We have provided one fire-trained officer per shift, 24 hours a day, since December 2025, on a contract planned to…
Waking Watch
St Paul’s Place at 40 St Paul’s Square is a historic Birmingham factory converted to mixed use, with private apartments and penthouses on its upper floors. Centrick needed waking watch while remedial works were carried out. We have staffed one officer on days and one on…
Waking Watch
Centrick needed interim fire cover at Waterside Heights, a premium apartment building in Dickens Heath Village near Solihull, while its L5 fire alarm system was decommissioned. We staffed two officers on days and two on nights for the eight days the system was out of use.
Waking Watch
When faults developed in the fire alarm system at Burlington Gate in Walsall, Encore Group needed interim fire cover while they were put right. We provided one fire-trained waking watch officer on site 24 hours a day for ten days, standing down on 26 June 2026…
On two of the deployments published here, New Palace Place in Westminster and Rotherhithe Street in London, we had officers on site within four hours of instruction. Mobilisation is typically within 24 hours, and often same-day where a fire and rescue authority has issued a notice.
It depends on what the interim measure is covering. The deployments published here range from eight days, while an L5 alarm system was decommissioned at Waterside Heights in Solihull, to around twelve months at Bishop’s Court in Spitalfields while permanent fire safety measures are completed.
An SIA licence is a security guarding qualification, and a waking watch is a fire safety role. Our officers hold Fire Marshal, Fire Safety Awareness and Fire Extinguisher Use certification, First Aid at Work, and safeguarding qualifications for both children and vulnerable adults, and complete a site induction covering that building’s own fire evacuation procedure.
Where the client has agreed, yes. The waking watch case studies here name both the managing agent and the development. Some engagements stay anonymised at the client’s request.
Other case study categories
Manned guarding, construction site security, mobile patrols and key holding — for utilities, infrastructure, education, heritage and corporate clients.
8 case studies
Hard and soft services, cleaning, maintenance and grounds — delivered by directly-employed teams across multi-site estates.
1 case study
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