Leasehold
One spandrel panel has been replaced in a different colour from the rest of the elevation. Has that replacement produced an EWS1?
No. A replacement spandrel in a different colour has not produced an EWS1. The survey has noted that one panel does not match the rest of the elevation. Colour is what the eye can see. It is not a fire assessment of the external wall, and it is not the form a lender may ask for. The home survey has not inspected the wall system as a cladding specialist would, and it has not sampled the panel or the one it replaced. A mismatch records a change of appearance. It does not issue, or stand in for, an EWS1.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A spandrel is the panel between windows on a block, often part of the external wall the flat owner does not control. Replacing one in a different colour can mean a repair, a different batch, or a different product. Looking from the ground, or from one flat, does not tell those apart. The survey recorded the colour difference only. It did not open the panel, name the product, or complete an EWS1.
Ask the solicitor for any EWS1 already held for the block, and read the option on that form rather than inferring it from a mismatched panel. The managing agent or freeholder is the usual place that paper lives, not the home survey. A lender who wants an EWS1 is asking for a separate assessment. Tell them the survey noted one spandrel of a different colour and stopped there. Do not describe the replacement as having produced the form.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which spandrel is the different colour, and on which elevation?
- Have you recorded appearance only, and not an EWS1?
- Was the replacement panel opened or sampled on this visit?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the colour mismatch as a visual note, not an EWS1.
- Ask the solicitor whether the block already has an EWS1.
- Do not tell a lender the replacement produced that form.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the new panel looks sound, is the wall system approved?
No. A sound-looking replacement still only shows a face. The survey has not assessed the external wall system, and a neat panel is not an EWS1. Approval, if anyone is using that word, belongs to a separate assessment and to the papers the freeholder holds. Colour and a fair face do not decide fire performance.
Does the survey of this flat cover every spandrel on the block?
No. The note is about one panel that does not match. The surveyor has not inspected every spandrel on the block, and a single flat inspection is not a cladding survey of the whole elevation. Other panels can differ in ways this visit did not record. Ask the solicitor what the block's wall papers actually say.