Press and Journal reported on the ‘upgraded fire safety features’ planned to be installed by Highland Council by February 2021, with the council ‘complying with new legislation brought in in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy’. The Scottish law changes require one smoke alarm to be installed in the room ‘most frequently used for general daytime living purposes’, and another in ‘every circulation space on each storey’, including hallways, landings and porches greater than one square metre.
Also, one heat alarm ‘must be installed in every kitchen’, while all smoke and heat alarms ‘are to be ceiling mounted and interlinked’, with the council also aiming to comply with other requirements, such as that carbon monoxide detectors ‘be fitted where there [are] carbon-fuelled appliances such as boilers, open fires, heaters and stoves or a flue’. Alarms must fit new standards and can be either ‘tamper proof long-life lithium battery alarms or mains-wired’.
The cost of the works will be £1m, coming out of the council housing revenue budget, while the news outlet noted that other elements of the legislation include ‘extending the mandatory installation of sprinklers’ in flat based accommodation as well as ‘larger multi-occupancy dwellings and those which provide care’.
A Highland Council spokesman stated: ‘We have currently been carrying out upgrades when we come across properties requiring the work , for example, when they are empty. We intend to initiate a programme of replacements across our stock in the coming months to comply by the February 2021 deadline.’