Suspended engineer accused of forging fire safety certificates for high-rise flats

An expert has been accused of signing off fire safety certificates for flats in high-rise blocks using the credentials and signature of another engineer without permission, the BBC has been told.

Adam Kiziak has been under investigation for potential malpractice by the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) – which suspended him in August 2024.

However, Mr Kiziak’s company is understood to have continued to sign off safety certificates since then.

Lenders, including NatWest and Nationwide, are now withdrawing mortgage offers to people hoping to buy flats with fire safety certificates issued by Mr Kiziak’s company, Tri Fire.

Mr Kiziak’s lawyer told the BBC: “Any allegation of fraudulent activity is strenuously denied.”

Tri Fire carries out safety surveys and issues fire safety certificates for flats in high-rise blocks across the UK. These certificates, known as EWS1s, were introduced in 2019 after the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people.

The form rates the fire risk of a building based on its overall construction and an assessment of any cladding. The majority of banks and building societies require EWS1 certificates when deciding whether to lend money on flats in apartment blocks.

There is no official register of EWS1 certificates, but analysis by the Building Safety Register has found 410 of the 1,139 EWS1s signed off between March 2020 and the end of 2021 were issued by Tri Fire.

Mr Kiziak, who is still allowed to work, can’t sign off safety certificates while he is suspended by the IFE.

Awwal Salisu, a qualified fire engineer based in Saudi Arabia, told the BBC he entered into an agreement with Tri Fire via a recruitment agency to assess up to 100 buildings.

He believes Mr Kiziak used his signature without his knowledge to allow him to continue issuing safety certificates.

In the majority of cases, Mr Salisu alleges there was insufficient information to be able to issue safety certificates and returned the forms to Mr Kiziak’s company for further work.

But the BBC has seen a number of EWS1 forms carrying Mr Salisu’s signature and using his IFE membership number, which Mr Salisu says were not among the 100 he was asked to review and which he knew nothing about.

“I am very angry about it,” says Mr Salisu. “I’ve had sleepless nights – my reputation is at stake.”

Mr Salisu says he uses a unique electronic signature on documents that can be traced back to him using the IP address on his laptop

He added: “The one good thing about all of this is every report that is submitted with my initials, none of them will actually have my electronic signature.”

He has written to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the IFE and UK Finance – which oversees the mortgage lending market – to alert them to what he believes has happened.

Some major lenders say that they have now stopped offering mortgages on homes signed off as safe by Mr Kiziak, leaving buyers in limbo.

First-time buyer Sam Ireland told the BBC his mortgage offer was retracted when his lender discovered the fire safety assessment of the property he hoped to buy had been issued by Tri Fire.

“You feel completely powerless,” says Sam, who now has to start looking for another flat to buy and arrange another mortgage. “It’s just scuppered the whole thing.”

The BBC has also learned of other people whose applications have been rejected by other lenders where Mr Kiziak’s firm was involved.

Mr Kiziak’s lawyer told the BBC they were unable to offer any further detail as there is a pending investigation, but added their client was “very sorry for any distress and the difficulties that the current situation may have caused”.

The IFE declined to comment further while its investigation is ongoing.

The government recently announced plans to speed up the process of getting the thousands of tower blocks with flammable cladding and fire safety defects fixed.

A Freedom of Information request by Construction News found more than 60 blocks accepted into the government’s taxpayer-funded Cladding Safety Scheme had been carried out by Tri Fire, throwing into doubt if they have been correctly assessed.