You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Fire chiefs call for review of 18m threshold for cladding restrictions
The professional body for the UK fire and rescue service has urged the government to reconsider the 18m building height threshold for increased fire safety measures, suggesting that shorter buildings are no less at risk.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) expressed its concerns in a submission to a government consultation on a review of Approved Document B, the regulation guidance in England that covers fire safety for buildings, which was reviewed last year.
The group said that it sees “no justification for controlling or restricting fire spread on buildings above 18m yet providing no control below that threshold regardless of the type and vulnerability of the occupants”.
At present, buildings standing more than 18m tall are classed as high rise and so are subject to more stringent restriction on the type of cladding they can use. Government legislation to ban the use of combustible materials in the external walls of residential buildings over 18m came into force in December.
But the NFCC said that building regulations applied to external walls to resist the spread of fire are unrelated to a building’s height. “We are of the opinion that nor should any solutions adopted be,” it said, adding that it “questioned the validity of the 18m threshold for a change in the performance of the external wall”.
READ MORE
It suggested that either the threshold should be scrapped, or there should be rules set for properties below 18m that similarly require developers to use products with limited combustibility.
The facades of smaller buildings should also be subject to testing for fire resistance and how it responds to smoke, NFCC said.
Last month Inside Housing revealed that a social housing tower block with Grenfell-style cladding was denied government funding for the removal of the dangerous material because it fell just 64cm short of the 18m required to qualify.
The NFCC also warned that the recent government ban on combustible materials should not viewed as “job done” when it comes to fire safety and called for other measures, such as increased provisions for refuge areas and evacuation lifts.
