Controlling Smoke for a Clearer Future

The current approach to fire safety

Over the last two years since the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire, all of us in the construction industry will have seen, experienced and felt the first steps of change in the approach to the design, construction and management of fire safety, particularly in residential buildings.

The government commissioned the Hackitt independent review of the Building Regulations and Fire Safety. The Hackitt review identified a systematic failure underpinned by ignorance, indifference, a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities and inadequate regulatory oversight and enforcement tools. There is insufficient focus on delivering the best quality building possible.

The government is proposing a radically new building and fire safety system which puts resident’s safety at its heart. Approved Document B has been republished to provide more specific advice on how to meet the fire safety requirements of the Building Regulations. New Building Regulations have been introduced prohibiting the use of nearly all combustible materials in the external walls of residential buildings more than 18 m tall. These may be extended to include other high-risk buildings in the future.

The construction industry has not stood still during this process. Many stakeholders within the industry, including designers, developers, contractors and building operators, have been implementing their measures to address the problems.

Examples of these include:

• Early decisions to adopt safer external wall construction specifications.
• The increased level of sprinkler protection in buildings.
• The implementation of tighter construction management controls ahead of any changes to regulations.
• An approval scheme for the smoke control industry.

It is still too early to predict what a new building and fire safety system will look like, but the objective of improving building quality is clear. Our industry will face many challenges over the next few years to improve the approach to the design, construction and management of fire safety to deliver better building quality.