In a letter to the Prime Minister, leading fire safety experts and advocates have urged the Government ‘to implement immediately three important regulatory changes’ they say will ‘significantly improve fire safety for high-rise and highrisk buildings’.
For such buildings, the fire safety experts – whose call came in the run-up to last month’s publication of the ‘Hackitt Review’ into the Grenfell Tower fire and the Building Regulations – urge the Government to require immediately that:
- Only non-combustible cladding and insulation be installed;
- Such buildings be fitted with automatic fire sprinklers; and,
- All new such buildings have alternative escape routes.
Signatories to the letter include architect, George Clarke, the European Fire Sprinkler Network (EFSN); Jane Duncan, chair, RIBA Expert Advisory Group on Fire Safety and former RIBA President; the Mineral Wool Insulation Manufacturers Association (MIMA); Ronnie King OBE, Honorary Administrative Secretary and Principal Adviser to the All Party Parliamentary Fire Safety & Rescue Group and former Chief Fire Officer; the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association (BAFSA); Professor Richard Hull and Professor Anna Stec from the University of Central Lancashire; Professor Anne Power from the London School of Economics, and Sam Webb, architect and RIBA Expert Advisory Group on Fire Safety member.
While acknowledging that ‘official reviews are underway’, the signatories argue that ‘10 months on from the Grenfell fire, the UK is no closer to a safer system of fire safety regulation’. They say the steps they recommend would ‘substantially reduce the risk still facing many buildings in the UK, and reassure the many families and individuals living and working in high-risk buildings’.
Architect, George Clarke, said: “The rules for how we build safe homes, offices, schools, and hospitals, have for many years been far too open to interpretation – leading to poor design decisions that have compromised fire safety and put lives at risk. What we are arguing for could be implemented tomorrow, would be extremely effective in making buildings safer, and would help prevent a tragedy such as Grenfell ever happening again.”
Sarah Kostense-Winterton, Executive director at MIMA, noted: “We’ve advocated for years using noncombustible cladding and insulation that can inhibit the spread of fire and won’t emit significant amounts of toxic smoke. Non-combustible materials can help contain a fire, making the difference between a fire in a building and a building on fire. The Government review and inquiry will run their courses, but there is every reason to make these crucial and logical changes straight away.”
