What Will Reformed Fire Safety Guidance Mean for Developers?

The government has published an update to Building Regulations Approved Document B that comes into effect in December 2022. The update introduces new rules for external walls and balconies for new buildings between 11 metres and 18 metres in height. What practical effects will the new guidance have?

The main aim is to clarify aspects of fire safety standards. It also offers flexibility for lower risk medium-rise developments to use environmentally-friendly materials such as structural timber as part of a ‘robust system.’

The i-FAST System

i-FAST would reasonably be classified as a robust system with fully certified fire safety data. The i-FAST panels have a surface spread of flame rating Class 0. The facing boards are non-combustible fibre cement and the insulation is non-combustible stone wool.

The timber framing that helps reduce the overall level of embodied carbon in a construction project is fully enclosed by these non-combustible layers. The framing itself can be treated to achieve Euroclass category B (little or no contribution to fire).

‘Lower Risk’

For building designers a lot hinges on the definition of lower-risk buildings. Currently any building where people reside overnight is considered high risk, as are schools and hospitals. The government is currently consulting on whether certain cases such as hotels and prisons can be defined as low risk for the purposes of the fire safety regulations.

Material selection is just one part of the equation. Fire safety also relies on the design of the building, escape routes, control systems and whether measures such as fire breaks are correctly installed. A design-led MMC construction process offers many advantages in terms of simplifying the connection between design, manufacture and the completed building.

Carbon Reduction

The flexibility to use structural timber in more medium rise buildings will help achieve carbon reduction goals. But there’s still a question about whether reforms could go further and allow structural timber to be used in more applications in building systems where it’s fully enclosed in non-combustible materials.

Extreme caution in the wake of Grenfell is an understandable response. But we need to move forward based on science and robust evidence if we are to achieve the full benefits of embodied carbon reduction through greater use of structural timber.

If you’d like to know more about the i-FAST System, view our animation, contact enquiries@innovaresystems.co.uk or take a look at our resource centre.