Consultation outcome

Sprinklers in care homes, removal of national classes, and staircases in residential buildings

Applies to England

This consultation has concluded

Download the full outcome

Impact assessment on the introduction of second staircases in residential buildings above 18m

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Detail of outcome

Amendments to Approved Document B: Second Staircases

This is a partial response to the ‘Sprinklers in care homes, removal of national classes, and staircases in residential buildings’.

The government is committed to ensuring that people can be confident that buildings are safe. Since 2018 the government has been undertaking a technical review of the fire safety guidance to the building regulations within Approved Document B. Government will be introducing a second staircase only solution to ensure that second staircases will be provided in all buildings above 18m+ in height. A second staircase will facilitate evacuation if a ‘Stay Put’ recommendation needs to be overridden. A transition period will be put in place to ensure that there is no disruption to projects which have already received planning permission.


Original consultation

Summary

​​We are seeking views to inform future updates to Approved Document B​

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

​​This consultation seeks views on options to recommend sprinklers in care homes, remove national classifications from Approved Document B, and recommend a maximum height threshold for the use of one staircase in blocks of flats.

Documents

Published 23 December 2022
Last updated 29 March 2024 + show all updates
  1. Added government response, impact assessment, equality analysis, and environmental principles assessment guide.

  2. First published.