As part of its ongoing building safety campaign, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has released an informative case study detailing its building control activities and why its work is so important
Citing the example of a newly constructed high-rise residential building from late 2024, the case study offers insight for developers and industry professionals into some of the “critical safety issues” the BSR has been identifying as part of its review of building control applications.
“Given the complex nature of high-rise tower block safety, this review aimed to ensure that all fire safety systems, evacuation measures, and firefighting provisions met the highest standards before residents could move in,” the regulator said.
Whilst undergoing final safety inspections before occupation at the newly constructed high-rise, the following concerns were highlighted by the London Fire Brigade’s Principal Fire Engineer. They included:
- Firefighting facilities: Inadequate compartmentation in risers, unsecured riser doors, incorrect lift operation in emergency scenarios, and ineffective communication systems in firefighting lifts.
- Fire suppression systems: Non-compliance with sprinkler system standards, inadequate water supply to upper floors, and potential failure of pumps due to incorrect installation.
- Smoke control issues: Ineffective smoke extract in residential corridors and basement areas, risking firefighter safety and reducing visibility in an emergency.
- Power and emergency systems: Nondiverse routing of primary and secondary power supplies, leading to increased failure risk in fire conditions.
- Wayfinding and evacuation measures: Missing or unclear wayfinding signage, lack of an evacuation lift, and a single stairwell design, creating potential bottlenecks in an emergency.
As the regulator states, the significance of the deficiencies identified led to it working closely with the developers, fire safety engineers, and LFB to ensure “full remediation before occupation could be permitted”. Occupation of the block was blocked until the regulator was satisfied that all issues had been addressed with formal compliance notices also issued to developers.
As part of its engagement strategy for the block, additional site inspections were carried out to cross-check the findings with those made by LFB, ensuring that all fire safety measures aligned with the Building Safety Act 2022 and the requirements of Approved Document B. Additionally, independent fire safety engineers were brought in to “validate the integrity of passive and active fire protection systems”.
Corrective actions were taken as a result, with all firefighting riser doors being secured to maintain compartmentation integrity; firefighter lift controls being reconfigured to prevent unsafe lift operation in fire emergencies; smoke control systems being upgraded to ensure effective smoke extraction and fire containment; the installation of a fully operational, standards-compliant sprinkler system that effectively covered all residential areas; and the enhancing of signage and ensuring power supplies were correctly separated to reduce fire risk.
You can view the full case study here.
Amidst industry frustration over the slow progress of applications passing through the gateway process, the BSR believes the case study sheds much-needed light on the quality of some of the planning applications it receives whilst also highlighting the critical role the regulator plays in holding developers accountable for fire safety compliance. In an interview with Inside Housing, Deputy Director of the BSR, Tim Galloway, said that by rejecting such applications, the regulator was “preventing unsafe homes from being built”.
Acknowledging that the high number of planning applications and the regulator’s limited resources were also issues, Galloway said: “We’ve rejected plans where the applicants own analysis of the smoke control system demonstrated it would put smoke into the evacuation routes, or applications for the remediation of cladding where it’s not demonstrated that the facade of the building is capable of taking the weight of the new cladding and in some cases, not even demonstrating that the new cladding is any better in terms of combustibility than the cladding that’s proposed to be taken off.
“We are talking about pretty fundamental things, and that’s quite worrying.”
In light of the government’s ambitious new homes plan, calls have been made for greater transparency from the BSR regarding its application processing times. In response to a written question on this topic, Alex Norris, Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Local Growth confirmed there would be regular performance data from the regulator moving forward:
“The Department and the Building Safety Regulator recognise the value to the sector in providing performance data. From this quarter, BSR will be publishing quarterly data demonstrating the volumes of applications received, recorded outcomes and decision times for determination.
“Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) and BSR jointly keep BSR’s operational set up under review as a departmental priority. We are working with the BSR to undertake a further programme of enhancements to improve application processing times which we recognise are too long. Enhancements to the service will continue to scale up in the coming months.”