On 14 December 2022, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) released a statement calling for government action regarding single fire escape staircases in high-rise residential buildings.
NFCC is urging the government to change current building regulations and make it a requirement to have more than one staircase in high-rise residential buildings over 18 metres or seven storeys tall.
The call for action follows concerns about the safe evacuation of residents – including those who are elderly, disabled, and vulnerable – in the event of a fire. Many residents across England live in high-rise buildings with only one staircase. This means that, during a fire incident, residents are obligated to use the same escape route as firefighters carrying firefighting equipment. Although the current evacuation strategy in England is to ‘stay put’, NFCC notes that many residents will still try to evacuate using a fire escape staircase – in such cases, additional staircases would be useful.
In an article for Inside Housing, Gavin Tomlinson, the NFCC Protection and Business Safety Scrutiny Committee Chair, noted:
“Evacuation may not always be necessary, as it is often safe for residents to ‘stay put’ unless they are affected by fire, heat, or smoke.
“Nevertheless, the original concept of ‘stay put’ allowed for people to evacuate a building if they wanted to. Yet, buildings are being designed on the assumption that only the occupants of the flat in which the fire started will try to leave.”
Currently, in England, there is “no maximum height for residential buildings with only one staircase”, which contrasts with other countries such as the USA, Canada, and Australia. Notably, in Scotland, buildings over 18 metres in height are required to have multiple staircases.
In particular, NFCC has urged the government to adopt the following changes:
- All new buildings must have more than one protected staircase.
- All existing buildings must be retrofitted with sprinklers.
- Lifts in existing buildings should be installed or replaced for use in an evacuation.
“We are calling on the government to ensure that all new high-rise residential buildings over 18 metres, or seven storeys, have more than one fire escape staircase. In the event of a fire, a correctly designed second staircase removes the risk of a single point of failure, buying critical time for firefighting activities, and providing residents with multiple escape routes,” Gavin said.
NFCC Chair, Mark Hardingham, added: “The government should be commended on the improvements it has made, such as banning combustible cladding and requiring sprinklers at 11 metres. However, we urge the Government to now publish an updated workplan for the review of Approved Document B to give regulators, the public, and the wider fire safety industry confidence that the Government is still committed to reform.”
As reported by Architect’s Journal, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities (DLUHC) is expected to launch a consultation on the number of staircases needed in high-rise buildings.
A spokesperson for DLUHC said: “We will shortly be launching a consultation on building regulations fire safety guidance, including the number of staircases needed to ensure residents are safe in the event of a fire.
“We’re bringing in the biggest improvements to building safety in 40 years – with tougher regulations that will give more rights and protections for residents and make homes safer.
“The new Building Safety Regulator will enforce a more stringent regulatory regime for high-rise residential buildings and other buildings in scope and oversee the safety and performance of all buildings.”
You can read the full statement by NFCC here.