Fire Safety Update

Last week the government announced changes in relation to fire safety. Some key points to note are:

• The government’s consolidated advice note dated January 2020 has been withdrawn.   It is being replaced (so far as a detailed assessment of external walls of multi-storey, multi-occupied residential premises are concerned) with  Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 9980. Guidance about fire doors and smoke control systems will be published later this year.
• Those in medium-rise flats (ie between 11-18 metres high) will not have to pay to fix unsafe cladding. Developers have been given 2 months to agree to a) fund and undertake necessary remediation on buildings over 11 metres high that they have had a role in developing;  b) a financial contribution scheme to cover the full outstanding cost to remediate unsafe cladding on 11-18 metre high buildings; and c) provide comprehensive information on all buildings over 11 metres high, which have historic fire safety defects, where they played a part in construction in the last 30 years.
• The limitation period for building owners and leaseholder to bring claims for safety defects is to be extended to 30 years.
• Collaborative procurement guidance has been published to remove incentives to cut corners. Click here for the guidance