Evacuation from fire in high-rise residential buildings: A rapid evidence review
Review of evidence on strategies for evacuation from high-rise residential buildings, highlighting the need for tailored planning.
Applies to England
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In response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendation to develop national guidelines for fire and rescue services to carry out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings, the National Centre for Social Research was commissioned to review existing evidence (1985 - July 2020) on evacuation strategies.
The key finding of the review was a general absence of robust evidence on evacuation from high-rise residential buildings and very few UK specific studies. No single strategy was indicated as universally appropriate for evacuation from high-rise residential buildings, suggesting that every high-rise residential building should have a tailored fire evacuation plan, developed in full consideration of the building design, the composition of occupants and, crucially, the presence, or indeed absence, of effective compartmentation. The review focused on peer reviewed academic research published since 1985, to ensure identified UK research was in line with the building regulations brought into law that year, through to July 2020 when the review took place.