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Rules to force developers of high-rise buildings to consider fire safety at the earliest stages of their planning applications have been brought into force today.
Under the new requirements – known as ‘planning gateway one’ – plans for high-rise residential buildings must demonstrate they have been designed with fire safety in mind before planning permission is granted.
This includes planning for the site layout and access for fire engines.
To assist planning departments with this, local planning authorities must seek specialist advice on relevant applications before a decision is made.
Housing minister Christopher Pincher said this role was likely to become part of the proposed new Building Safety Regulator, which will be led by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and oversee the safety regime for residential high rises. Mr Pincher said he has appointed the HSE as the statutory consultee.
The new rules come in ahead of the implementation of the Building Safety Bill, which still needs to be passed through parliament.
As part of the proposals within the bill, the government has set out three gateway points where a building owner must demonstrate compliance with fire safety requirements during the design and construction of a building. Gateway one, which will occur at planning stage, has been introduced via amendments to secondary planning legislation rather than the Building Safety Bill.
Gateway two will take place before building work starts, while gateway three will occur before occupation of the building with an application being submitted to the Building Safety Regulator to be signed off before people can move in. The latter two gateway requirements are set to be introduced in the next 12 to 18 months.
Peter Baker, chief inspector of buildings at the HSE, said the gateway one reform would “ensure that fire safety is considered from the very beginning of a building’s life and that developments benefit from integrated thinking on fire safety”.
Mr Baker said the HSE’s status as a statutory consultee would enable it to apply risk-based fire safety knowledge and expertise to evaluate planning applications. “This will enable local planning authorities to make sound and informed decisions,” he added.
Mr Pincher said: “This is a key step in our progress towards a new, risk-based building safety regime that will ensure fire safety is prioritised at every stage in the development of high-rise buildings.”
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