Professional Services provided by Concept Environmental Solutions Limited
A Legionella risk assessment answers one important question. Could the water in your building grow and spread Legionella bacteria, and if so, where?
Reaching that answer means surveying the whole system, including incoming supply, tanks, calorifiers, pipework and outlets, and weighing each part against the conditions the bacteria need. The work follows BS 8580-1, the British Standard for Legionella risk assessment.
Legionella thrives in water left to stagnate at roughly 20 °C to 45 °C, especially where scale, rust or sediment offer something to feed on, and the real danger arrives when that water is thrown off as an aerosol someone can inhale. By grading each risk and ranking it, the assessment turns a complicated system into an ordered, practical action plan.
If a building has a water system, someone is responsible for controlling its Legionella risk, and in Birmingham, that responsibility lands on a wide range of organisations.
The city’s corporate offices and headquarters hold a duty for their water systems, as do the manufacturing plants and automotive supply-chain sites spread across the West Midlands. NHS trusts and care homes run large, complex networks where the stakes are highest, and the region’s universities and schools are firmly in scope too.
Hotels and hospitality venues bring guest accommodation and sometimes spa facilities into the picture, with swimming pools, spa pools and cooling towers being higher-risk systems that always warrant assessment. Residential blocks and their managing agents carry the same obligations, so any landlord must assess and control the Legionella risk in the water systems under their charge.
Compliance rests on a framework worth knowing. At its base, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 makes employers, and those in control of premises, responsible for health and safety, and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 treat Legionella as a hazard to be controlled. The HSE turns this into practice through its Approved Code of Practice L8 and the technical guidance of HSG274 Parts 1 to 3, while BS 8580-1:2019 governs the assessment itself.
The duty holder, usually the employer, owner or person in control, has to ensure all of this is in hand. Good practice is to review the assessment every two years at a minimum, or whenever the system, its use or the building’s occupancy changes.
Non-compliance can bring HSE enforcement and, in the worst cases, prosecution, though the real cost is always measured in harm to people.
Every assessment runs the same disciplined route, sized to the building in front of us.
With our Midlands office near Marston Green, we reach most Birmingham and West Midlands sites without delay, and we typically issue your written report within five working days of the survey.
There’s a lot behind a Concept assessment. The accreditations start with the LCA, the Legionella Control Association, and run through BSRIA membership to UKAS, BESA, SafeContractor, CSCS and ARMA, so public and private sector clients can appoint us without hesitation.
Behind the badges sit over 60 specialists, more than 90 years of combined experience and four UK offices, which means your work never depends on one individual. Being part of the Celnor Group lets us draw on broader environmental and compliance capability when a project needs it.
And with our Midlands Regional Office close at hand, Birmingham clients get local people and short response times.
Midlands Regional Office: 94 Bell Lane, Office 12, Marston Green, Birmingham, B33 0HX. For more information call 07481 155 164.
Our Marston Green office, near Birmingham Airport and the NEC, sits within easy reach of the whole West Midlands. Our assessors are out across Birmingham city centre and into Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and Edgbaston, through Digbeth and Marston Green, and on to Wolverhampton, Coventry, Walsall and Dudley. The region’s manufacturing and automotive sites, its large public sector estate and its hospitality venues make up much of the local workload. Outside this list? Get in touch as we travel beyond this patch when required.
Yes. Across the UK, Birmingham included, the duty to assess and control Legionella risk comes from the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and COSHH 2002, with the HSE’s ACOP L8 setting out how to comply. Any duty holder responsible for premises with a water system needs a suitable and sufficient assessment in place. It’s a legal requirement, not guidance you can put off.
It depends on the size and complexity of the site. A small premise with a simple system might take a couple of hours, whereas a large hospital, factory or multi-building estate can run to a full day or more, sometimes across several visits. We scope this with you beforehand so you know what to expect and can arrange any access we’ll need, with the report following shortly after.
At least every two years is the accepted standard. Review sooner, though, if the water system is altered, the building’s use or occupancy changes, or there’s any reason to think the risk has shifted. Keeping the assessment current is what the HSE expects, and what genuinely keeps people safe.
Yes, and it’s one of the advantages of using us. Beyond the assessment, our own teams handle water sampling, TMV servicing, temperature monitoring, tank cleaning, chemical descaling and remedial works. So the actions in your report can be delivered by the same provider, keeping the whole water hygiene programme coordinated rather than split across contractors.
Our assessors are trained, experienced water hygiene specialists who work to the competency standards in ACOP L8 and BS 8580-1. As an organisation we hold LCA accreditation, the recognised mark for Legionella control providers, alongside BESA, UKAS, BSRIA, SafeContractor, CSCS and ARMA. You get assurance on both the individual doing the work and the company behind them.
Yes. We assess simple office systems and highly complex ones alike. Swimming pools, spa pools and cooling towers fall under our leisure-sector work, while West Midlands manufacturing and industrial sites often involve process water, closed systems and unusual layouts we’re well used to. Whatever the system, the assessment is built around it rather than forced into a template.
Make your Legionella compliance straightforward. For a Legionella risk assessment in Birmingham handled by an accredited, locally based team, talk to Concept Environmental. Call 07481 155 164 or request your free site survey.
