§ Mr. GerrardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he expects to publish the revised guidance to support Part B (Fire Safety) of the Building Regulations; and if he will make a statement. [106529]
§ Ms Beverley HughesI have today published the 2000 edition of the Approved Document to Part B of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 1991. The Building Regulations (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1999, which amended Part B, were laid before Parliament on 21 December 1999. The 2000 edition of the Approved Document offers ways of meeting these revised 531W requirements of the Building Regulations. The amendment Regulations and the 2000 edition of the Approved Document will both come into force on 1 July 2000.
There are a number of changes in this guidance, which was last published in 1992. Many of them have been to address areas where the guidance has become outdated, or where the guidance has needed clarification. In addition the guidance now contains information specifically relating to schools and gives guidance on sandwich panel construction.
Some new issues have also been introduced in the 2000 edition of the Approved Document. The revised Approved Document includes guidance on fire alarm and fire detection systems within all relevant buildings and not just dwellings, as was the case in the 1992 edition of the Approved Document. The revised Approved Document now suggests that within a dwelling all habitable rooms within storeys not more than 4.5 metres above ground level should be provided with an emergency egress window. Guidance has also been added to deal with means of escape from storeys within buildings other than dwellings which are also used for the consumption of food and/or drink by customers. This follows two fatal fires in department stores where it has been shown that people in a cafe are not so quick to respond to a fire alarm compared to the other general shoppers.
As announced on 14 December 1999 by my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning, the revised Approved Document now includes a provision for compartmentation or sprinkler protection in single storey retail buildings with a floor area exceeding 2000m2.
In some areas where it has become evident in the light of experience that the guidance in the 1992 edition of the Approved Document was too onerous, the guidance has been relaxed. An example of this is the provision for firefighting shafts (a protected stair core incorporating a stair, lobby, dry riser and in the case of taller buildings a lift for use by the fire brigade). The guidance on these, which was introduced in the 1992 edition of the Approved Document, was found to be unreasonably onerous in certain low rise (between 7.5 metres and 18 metres higher) buildings which have a floor area of 600m2 or more. The 2000 edition of the Approved Document relaxes the provision for certain buildings of this type and gives advice that recommends their use only in the shop and commercial, industrial and storage purpose groups.