Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities):
This Government is committed to ensuring that people can be
confident that our buildings are safe. The Building Safety Act
set up a new, robust regime, with a new Building Safety Regulator
at its heart. In recent years, we have also changed statutory
guidance on fire safety, with new measures including:
- a ban on combustible materials for residential buildings,
hotels, hospitals and student accommodation above 18m, and
additional guidance for residential buildings between 11m-18m;
- a lower threshold for the provision of sprinklers in new
blocks of flats from 30m to 11m;
- a requirement for wayfinding signage for firefighters in
residential buildings above 11m;
- requirements for residential buildings over 18m to have an
Evacuation Alert System, and for new residential buildings over
11m to include a Secure Information Box (SIB).
We must never be complacent in our approach to safety. In July, I
confirmed that I intend to introduce new guidance requiring
second staircases in new residential buildings in England above
18m. This not only reflects the views of experts including the
National Fire Chiefs Council and Royal Institute of British
Architects, but also brings us into line with countries –
including Hong Kong and the UAE – in having a reasonable
threshold for requiring second staircases.
I can now announce the intended transitional arrangements that
will accompany this change to Approved Document B. From the date
when we publish and confirm those changes to Approved Document B
formally, developers will have 30 months during which new
building regulations applications can confirm to either the
guidance as it exists today, or to the updated guidance requiring
second staircases. When those 30 months have elapsed, all
applications will need to conform to the new guidance.
Any approved applications that do not follow the new guidance
will have 18 months for construction to get underway in earnest.
If it does not, they will have to submit a new building
regulations application, following the new guidance. Sufficient
progress, for this purpose, will match the definition set out in
the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England)
Regulations 2023, and will therefore be when the pouring of
concrete for either the permanent placement of trench, pad or
raft foundations or for the permanent placement of piling has
started.
With these transitional arrangements, we ensure that projects
that already have planning permission with a single staircase,
the safety of which will have been considered as part of that
application, can continue without further delay if they choose.
This means that, for some years yet, we will continue to see 18m+
buildings with single staircases coming to the market. I want to
be absolutely clear that existing and upcoming single-staircase
buildings are not inherently unsafe. They will not later need to
have a second staircase added, when built in accordance with
relevant standards, well-maintained and properly managed. I
expect lenders, managing agents, insurers, and others to behave
accordingly, and not to impose onerous additional requirements,
hurdles or criteria on single-staircase buildings in lending,
pricing, management or any other respect.
Those who live in new buildings over 18m can be reassured that
those buildings are already subject to the additional scrutiny of
the new, enhanced building safety regime. Their fire-safety
arrangements are scrutinised in detail at the new building
control gateways and planning gateway one.
I realise that developers and the wider market are waiting for
the design details that will go into Approved Document B. The
Building Safety Regulator is working to agree these rapidly, and
I will make a further announcement soon. In the meantime, I am
confident that this announcement of the intended transitional
arrangements will give the market confidence to continue building
the high-quality homes that this country needs.
