The Government has published a document listing amendments to Volumes 1 and 2 of Approved Document B which will come into effect in September 2026.
These amendments principally concern:
- Threshold for the provision of a second staircase in blocks of flats with a storey 18m or more in height.
- Evacuation shafts are introduced to support the provision of evacuation lifts.
- Changes to provisions for fire doorsets.
- New terminology including definitions for evacuation shaft, evacuation lift lobby, interlocked stair and storey exit.
- Provisions for horizontal escape and vertical escape separated as per the structure of Volume 2.
The 2019 edition incorporating the 2020 and 2022 amendments will continue to apply where a building notice or an initial notice has been given to, or a building control approval application with full plans made to, the relevant authority before 30 September 2026 and either the building work to which it relates:
- has started and is sufficiently progressed before that day; or
- is started and is sufficiently progressed within the period of 18 months beginning on that day
You can view the amendments at the link below:
Fire safety: Approved Document B
FIS will publish further detailed guidance on these changes in the coming months.
See more news likes this
CPA Weekly Notes
In partnership with Barbour ABI, the CPA has produced Regional Construction Hotspots for Great Britain 2016, which seeks to analyse construction contract awards on a high level of regional granularity, firstly to identify pockets of growth, or hotspots, in regional...
JLL Report: The cost of office fit-out
This EMEA perspective provides a valuable tool for companies with capital expenditure programmes to compare costs and inform decision-making. JLL has priced an actual project in a consistent way across 19 countries, providing directly comparable costs for a modern...
CPA Weekly Notes
The CPA Weekly Notes include news on the launch of the Parliamentary Reception, the economy, the ONS construction output data for May 2016, Association activities, Parliamentary and Government Update and exports. Read the Notes here.