The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Michael Gove)
In my written statement of 19 February 2024 (HCWS264), I committed to revising statutory guidance to call for more than one staircase to be provided in residential buildings with a storey 18 metres or more in height. The Government published this guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-approved-document-b on 29 March 2024, alongside a partial response to the sprinklers in care homes, removal of national classes, and staircases in residential buildings consultation, which ran from 23 December 2022 to 17 March 2023.
A second staircase will provide additional capacity to reduce congestion, support egress and facilitate additional access for firefighting and rescue. Occupants will benefit from an alternative means of escape if one route is blocked or filled with smoke and a full building evacuation becomes necessary. A threshold at 18 metres reflects the views of several expert bodies, broadly conforms with statutory definitions of higher-risk buildings in existing legislation and aligns England with international precedent.
I realise that an additional staircase has the potential to affect the viability of development. I therefore announced, in October 2023, transitional arrangements which aim to secure the viability of schemes that are already under way. Projects will have until 30 September 2026 to submit building regulations applications and independently have until March 2028 to sufficiently progress work on site. As I made clear in my October 2023 written statement (HCWS1090), this is a continued evolution of our standards for future building construction. Existing buildings, whether single-staircase or otherwise, will continue to be risk assessed, managed and monitored through the procedures and requirements put in place to ensure that they operate to established safety standards.
The Greater London Authority previously set out expectations for second staircases alongside specific fire-safety requirements outlined in the London plan. Our updated guidance gives a clear national position on this issue. We therefore expect that local authorities will align with this position. We will work with the Greater London Authority to align policies with updated guidance to avoid any disproportionate impact on development.
The introduction of a second staircase in tall buildings is a balanced and proportionate policy. It is the latest in a series of measures which minimise both the risk and impact of rare, but high-consequence, incidents, and thus further enhances the safety of people in their homes. This applies to England only.
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