What are the three phases of the UK fire safety reform?

This reform has been executed in three phases, the first being the Fire Safety Act 2021.

Phase 1: Fire Safety Act 2021

This initial phase of the reform is the legislation that is most directly related to the fire that occurred at Grenfell Tower. This act focused on the prioritisation of assessing and reducing the risk of fire within the structural elements of a multiple occupancy residential building, in particular the external walls.

The specific elements that are of particular focus include cladding, windows, balconies and entrance doors that open out in to common areas of the premises.

The act was passed in to law in April 2021, but did not come in to effect until 16th May 2022.

Phase 2: Fire Safety (England) Act 2022

The most expansive of the three phases, the Fire Safety (England) Act 2022, similarly to phase one, aims to decrease the risk of fire in multiple occupancy residential buildings, but these regulations and requirements for the Responsible Persons (RP’s) are broken down in to different sections depending on the height of the building.

For high-rise residential buildings (at least 18 metres in height or 7 or more storeys), the Responsible Person/s must adhere to the following regulations:

·         Disclose information regarding the building’s external wall system, floor plans and building plans to their local fire and rescue service (FRS) – all information must be provided in an electronic format as well as a hard copy.

·         In addition, hard copies of the building’s floor plans, a single page orientation plan of the building, and the name and UK contact details of the responsible person for the building is available and accessible to firefighters in a secure information box.

·         Adequate wayfinding signage must be installed in all high-rise buildings – must be visible in low light conditions.

·         Monthly checks must be carried out at a minimum on lifts designated for the use of the FRS in high-rise residential buildings and on essential pieces of firefighting equipment.

·         The Responsible Person must inform the FRS if a lift used by firefighters or one of the pieces of firefighting equipment is out of order for longer than a period of 24 hours.

For multiple-occupancy residential buildings (over 11 metres in height or 5 or more storeys), the Responsible Person/s must carry out checks on all communal fire doors quarterly, and all flat entrance doors yearly.

All multiple occupancy residential buildings, no matter their size, must provide residents with relevant and up to date instructions and information regarding the importance of fire doors. 

This guidance was published by the UK Government on the 6th December 2022, and came in to force on the 23rd January 2023.

Phase 3: The Building Safety Act

The third and final stage of this reform will come in to effect on the 1st October 2023, and mainly concerns coordination between Responsible Persons, ensuring that both officials and residents can easily access fire safety information, as well as making it easier for the appropriate authorities to take action against non-compliance with any phase of the reforms.

These regulations will apply to any building that is regulated under the Fire Safety Order (FSO).

With this phase of the reform being fairly new and not in effect just yet, supportive guidance will be published in the coming months to help Responsible Persons understand how to comply with the new regulations.

Updating fire safety legislation on a regular basis is incredibly important to ensure that buildings are as safe as possible, especially those that are occupied by possibly hundreds of people at a time. The devastating events that occurred at Grenfell Tower meant that multiple aspects of the current regulations had to be reassessed, and these three phases of reform have been designed to increase safety in all aspects, including assessing combustible construction materials, providing essential information to the FRS, and ensuring those found to not be compliant face appropriate repercussions.

Note: The Fire Safety (England) Act 2022 and the Building Safety Act will be subject to secondary changes following the pending GTI Phase II Summary Report.

If you’re looking for fire-rated products for your next project, you can find everything you need and more on our dedicated page. We have also been keeping up to date with a number of other fire safety regulations, including changes to combustible materials legislation, regulations around fire door inspections, and an expanded update regarding The Building Safety Bill.