Please find summary below of new Fire Safety regulations which are coming into force April 07 

Approved Document B: Fire Safety

Significant changes to Approved Document B - Fire Safety are due to come into force on April 6th 2007. All applications received after this date need to comply with these new regulatory guidelines although there are a number of relatively minor transitional provisions as follows:
  

Transitional Provisions
Regulations 16B and 17C relate to requirement to provide detailed fire safety information (as required under the Regulatory Reform Act) and Clause 2A allows self-certification of certain works.
 

Regulations 16B and 17C
Where a building notice has been submitted to the local authority; full plans have been submitted (regardless of whether they have been approved); or an initial notice submitted before April 6th 2007, then the requirement to provide detailed fire safety information can be waived regardless of whether the scheme departs from the information deposited.
 

Clause 2A
Works to install heating and hot water service systems started before January 15th 2007 that are in accordance with a building notice, full plans submission or an initial notice are not eligible for the self-certification scheme provisions.
 

Schools
The DCLG states that ‘if BB 100 is not published by 6 April 2007, the relevant provisions of the 2000 edition of Approved Document B (incorporating the 2002 European amendments) will continue to have effect with respect to schools until such time as BB 100 is available. What implications this has for scheme submissions is uncertain.

 

General outline

Approved Document B is now 2 volumes: Volume 1: Domestic and Volume 2: Non-domestic. The draft versions - when combined - are over double the number of pages as the 2002 edition.

• Volume 1: Dwellinghouses is 80 pages and
• Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellinghouses is 155 pages

There are major changes in the compliance criteria and greater detail has been included. The new Approved Document B relies more on risk assessment than prescription although it also contains important alterations to:

• the means of escape;
• travel distance calculations;
• the acceptance of ‘alternative means’ (fire engineering), and;
• a greater responsibility on the building designer (or competent person) to provide detailed information on the maintenance and operation of the building.
   

Some of the changes are as follows:

Volume 1: Dwellinghouses recognises:

• the use of sprinklers (and other automatic fire suppression systems) in domestic situations, especially in lieu of alternative means of escape in certain circumstances (e.g. the ability to use domestic sprinklers as an alternative to a secondary escape from houses with a storey over 7.5m above ground level);

changes to Schedule 2A - competent person certification schemes

• that smoke alarms must have standby power sources and in extensions, smoke detection should be placed in circulations spaces
   

Additional information has been provided re:

• Resolving the conflict between ‘smoke control’ and ‘ventilation systems’;
• The ‘alternative’ method of compliance (ie, fire engineered approach) for loft spaces has been removed
• Compartmentation and cavity barriers
• Instead of the traditional 100mm step between integral garages and dwellinghouses, this can now be achieved with a 100mm sloping floor. NB: Apart from integral garage/dwellinghouses, “fire doors need not be provided with self-closing devices”
• Fire tenders should be able to access within 45m of all points ‘within’ a dwellinghouse.
   

Volume 2: Non-dwellinghouses, includes much of that detailed above and also other clauses as follows:

• Includes a new Regulation (16B) that details the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO) that came into force in October 2006.
• Under the RRO, “Fire Certificates” have been done away
• Employers, building owners and others with responsibility for the premises and its operation must now ensure the safety of everyone who uses their premises including those in the immediate vicinity. The emphasis is now on the ‘responsible person’ to make the premises safe by using ‘preventative measures’.
• Other than this document, HTM 05 should be used for health care buildings and hospitals; and BB 100 should be used for schools.
   

Volume 2 includes:

• New calculations on fire escape stairs and escape routes;
• Specific guidance for disabled users and within tall buildings;
• Details for the protection of ventilation systems
• ‘Extensive’ underfloor voids must be protected with cavity barriers
   

Additional requirements include:

• Fire doors within flats need not be provided with door closers, unless the doors relate to flats designated ‘multiple occupancy’;
• ‘Open sided’ car parks must be constructed in non-combustible materials;
• Certain buildings with compartments over 280m2 should have fire hydrants;
• Buildings exceeding 900m2 with a floor level above 7.5m must have fire fighting shafts
• Unsprinklered buildings need to provide have fire main outlets within 45m of all parts of every storey over 18m

There is also new guidance on:

• the provision of sprinklers in tall (30m+) blocks of flats;
• the provision of sprinklers or free-swing devices in residential care homes;
• the provision of additional fire mains and the need to consider the impact of building design on fire fighting operations in tall buildings;
• inclusive design and the means of escape for disabled people; 
• a maximum compartment size for unsprinklered single storey storage buildings.

NBS is holding a seminar on Part B on 30 January 2007 in London. It is intended to be a forum where we can dissect the documents, explore design implications and examine the implications on professional liability as well as consultative opportunities. Find out more by reading the event summary now