The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has issued a consultation document proposing updates to the Building Regulations (Approved Document B).
The proposals include a mandate for care homes in England to install sprinklers regardless of height. (Under Scottish and Welsh Building Regulations, this is already a requirement.) Fire safety in care homes has been raised as a key issue due to the vulnerable nature of residents – many of whom have mobility issues, rendering standard full evacuation difficult to achieve. We welcome this proposal, which will bring England into alignment with bordering nations.
Second staircases for new tower blocks higher than 30m is one of the Government’s direct responses to the Grenfell Tower tragedy of 2017.
Grenfell’s single staircase, alongside its ‘stay put’ policy of evacuation, was highlighted as one of many factors contributing to the 72 deaths and 70 injured in the fire. It showed that not every building is properly built and maintained to the standard that evacuees can rely on a single staircase.
However, some industry voices claim this may not go far enough. The National Fire Sprinkler Network with its membership including most Fire & Rescue Services in the country as well as fire protection contractors, consultants and manufacturers, echoes Gavin Tomlinson of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) who has stressed the importance of second staircases for buildings over 18m:
“We are calling on the Government to ensure that all new high rise residential buildings over 18 metres, or seven storeys, have more than one fire escape staircase. In the event of a fire, a correctly designed second staircase removes the risk of a single point of failure, buying critical time for firefighting activities, and providing residents with multiple escape routes.”
The NFSN has put forward:
“It is of note that 18m seems to be a consistent height for recognising a change in risk within the regs. For instance, at 18m the regulations recognise that compartmentation should increase to 2 hours, that fire alarm systems should be installed to facilitate evacuation, that dry rising mains are a feature in buildings above 18m in height, a requirement due to the physics of pumping water vertically and overcoming frictional loss on pressure created by traditional hose lines.”
The current Scottish Technical handbook requires 2 staircases above 18m.
The Consultation ends on 17 March 2023.
