The British Safety Council has welcomed the new fire safety planning requirements which are part of the most significant changes to building safety regulations in 40 years.
The requirements came into force on 1 August and are aimed at ensuring all future high-rise developments consider fire safety at the earliest stages of planning to prevent a tragedy like the Grenfell Tower disaster happening again.
The British Safety Council now urges the government to make certain those legally responsible for buildings ensure fire and structural safety risks are effectively managed and appropriately funded.
While new advice from fire safety experts found that there is no systemic risk of fire in blocks of flats below 18m, this may not provide sufficient comfort to leaseholders in medium and lower-rise buildings, who have faced difficulty in selling, anxiety at the potential cost of remediation work, and concern at the safety of their homes.
Although the intervention is designed to reduce ‘needless’ and costly remediation in lower rise buildings (helping flat owners to buy, sell or re-mortgage homes), the decision by the government to relax requirements should not be influenced primarily by cost considerations, but safety factors must be the over-riding consideration.
Mike Robinson, chief executive at the British Safety Council, said: “It is high-time the government improved the standards of safety for people’s homes through a regulatory system that provides essential oversight, from a building’s initial design through to construction and operation. This should, if properly regulated, monitored and resourced, make homes safer in the future, and equally important make residents feel safe in their homes.
“The government’s decision, in the wake of new advice, to no longer require EWS1 forms for buildings below 18m, should be kept under regular review to ensure any changes in risk are properly accounted for and managed accordingly.
“The elephant in the room continues to be who pays for the removal of unsafe cladding from buildings below 18m. Currently, leaseholders are expected to pay £50 a month towards this work. This is a grave injustice. It is only right that the government pays the full cost of remediation up front for what is a historical defect. To not do so, is simply wrong.”
>> Read more stories about the British Safety Council below.
- https://rcimag.co.uk/news/relaxing-hgv-driving-hour-limits-poses-safety-risk-british-safety-council-says
- https://rcimag.co.uk/cladding-and-sheeting/british-safety-council-responds-to-passing-of-fire-safety-act
