Fire SafetyHeading Feature
Building on fire safety New and existing buildings need to ensure compliance with two separate pieces of legislation - the Building Safety and Fire Safety Acts - which meet recommendations from Phase 1 of the Grenfell enquiry. The Building Safety Pledge, which sets out the principles under which life-critical fire-safety issues on buildings of 11 metres and above will be remediated and is currently signed by 48 developers, will soon be a legal requirement
Five years on from the Grenfell Tower disaster, the Building Safety Act 2022, which ushers in the biggest swathe of regulatory changes to the UK built environment in almost 40 years, became law in April. The 262-page document aims to reduce safety risks related to fire spread and structural failure through greater planning scrutiny, increased regulation of professional competence and the creation of new statutory roles during the design and construction of ‘higher-risk’ buildings. It runs alongside the Fire Safety Act, which finally came into force on 16 May 2022, over a year after it received Royal assent. Comprising four brief sections, the Fire Safety Act has significant ramifications for ‘Responsible Persons’ as it essentially extends
improvements to fire safety guidance form the scope of fire risk assessments to assess part of the wider update to tighten the safety of a building’s external wall building regulations and provide system (including attachments clearer fire safety rules for the such as balconies) on any The design or construction of building with two or more Building residential developments. residential premises, The latest changes meet including hospitals Safety A c recommendations and care homes. The t 2022 aim from Phase One of the Act also introduces s to reduce s Grenfell Tower Inquiry. a requirement to related t afety risks Under the regulations, assess fire doors in o fire spr responsible persons both communal and ead and stru for high-rise residential flat entrances. ctural buildings will be required failure to provide their local fire Guidance and rescue services with upAt the same time as the to-date electronic E Act comes into force, new
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