What the FM team asks for first: BMS, fire and security

Why these three systems come first

They're the ones the building can't run without from day one. The BMS decides when the plant runs. The fire systems keep people safe and have to be tested from the first week. Security decides who gets in.

They're also the ones most often handed over as a login on a sticky note and a promise to send the rest later.

BMS and controls

Hand over:

• A plain-English description of how the controls work: what runs when, and why. One page per system is plenty.
• The points list, with each point named the way it shows on the front end.
• Time schedules and setpoints as left at handover.
• Controls schematics and panel wiring diagrams, as built.
• Network and IP details for the BMS: what's connected, where the outstation and the head end are.
• The software version and any licence details the client now owns.
• A short "how to" for the five jobs the FM team will do most: change a time schedule, change a setpoint, acknowledge an alarm, find a trend log, put a plant item in hand or off.
• The controls contractor's service contact, and what the defects period covers.

Site tip: Ask your controls engineer to export the schedules and setpoints on the day of handover, not the day of commissioning. They always change in between.

Fire alarm and emergency lighting

Most of this is also fire safety information under regulation 38 of the Building Regulations 2010. Where it applies, the person carrying out the work has to give it to the building's responsible person by completion of the work, or by first occupation if that's earlier and the building wasn't occupied during the work. You usually supply your part through the main contractor. In England, the responsible person now has to confirm in writing that the information is enough for them to operate and maintain the building, and building control is told. A thin fire section is now visible. Our regulation 38 guide covers who does what.

Fire alarm, hand over:

• The design, installation, commissioning and acceptance certificates, under BS 5839-1 for non-domestic premises (now BS 5839-1:2025) or BS 5839-6 for dwellings.
• The as-built zone plan, the one that goes next to the panel.
• The cause and effect matrix: what each device triggers, including plant shutdowns, door releases, lifts and dampers.
• The device list with locations and addresses.
• Panel operating instructions: silence, reset, disable a zone, read the event log.
• Any agreed variations from the standard, written down.
• The weekly test routine and log book, ready for the first week.

Emergency lighting, hand over:

• The completion and commissioning certificates and test records under BS 5266-1, revised in 2025 (BSI).
• As-built layout drawings showing every fitting.
• The test regime (a monthly functional test and an annual full rated duration test) and blank log sheets.
• How the test system works, if there's an automatic one.

Site tip: The cause and effect matrix is the document FM teams struggle to find most. Put it in the fire section and ask whoever holds the fire strategy to reference it, so nobody has to guess which one is current.

Security and access control

Hand over:

• A system description: what's installed, where the controllers and recorders are, and how the parts link to each other and to the fire alarm.
• As-built drawings with door, reader and camera positions.
• How to add, change and remove a user or a fob, step by step.
• CCTV: where recordings are kept, how long for, and how to export a clip.
• Intruder alarm: zones, how to set and unset, and who the alarm receiving centre is, if there is one.
• Door hardware schedules for access-controlled doors, including how each door behaves when the fire alarm goes off.
• Service contacts and the maintenance visits included in the defects period.

Site tip: Test the fire alarm release on a couple of access-controlled doors with the FM team watching. It's the quickest training session you'll ever run, and it's the one they'll remember.

Handing over passwords and logins safely

The BMS front end, the fire panel engineer level, the access control software and the CCTV recorder all have logins. Most of them shouldn't sit in the O&M manual.

• Keep passwords out of the manual. The manual says which systems have logins and who holds them. It doesn't say what the logins are.
• Change any default passwords before handover.
• Hand credentials to a named person on the client side, through a route they agree, and record who received them and when.
• Ask the client to change the admin passwords once they've logged in.
• Hand over licence keys and software accounts in the client's name, not your engineer's.

That way, a manual that gets copied to every subcontractor on the next fit-out doesn't hand them the keys to the building.

Making it easy to find a year later

The FM team that receives the manual may not be the team that needs it next winter. Make the next person's job easy:

• File by system, not by supplier. "Fire alarm" beats "ABC Fire Ltd docs".
• Put the as-built version on top, and label it. Superseded drawings go in a separate folder or out.
• Name files so they make sense on their own: system, document type, date.
• Label the kit. A panel label that points to the right section of the manual saves a search.
• Hand over the operating information on time. Under regulation 40 of the Building Regulations 2010, where requirement L1 (energy efficiency) applies, the person carrying out the work has to give the owner enough information about the building, the fixed building services and their maintenance requirements, no later than five days after completion, so the building can run on no more fuel and power than is reasonable. Controls information sits squarely inside that.

The quick version

Before you send the manual, check you can answer these five questions from it in under a minute each:

1. How do I change when the heating comes on?
2. What does this fault on the fire panel mean, and who do I call?
3. Which devices does the fire alarm shut down or release?
4. How do I add a new starter to access control?
5. Who has the admin logins, and who services each system?

If any answer takes longer, that's the gap to close before handover.

Late or missing handover information can delay sign-off, final payment or retention release. It also makes the FM team's first week harder than it needs to be.

Related: O&M handover checklist and the close-out timeline