Fire Safety (Hansard, 3 July 1995)

§ Mr. Robert B. Jones

In February last year, a deputation of senior fire officers and representatives of building control and the insurance industry, came to see my predecessor, the hon. Member for Banbury (Mr. Baldry), about fire safety in single storey buildings with large undivided spaces. They were concerned about the safety of firefighters, as well as people within such buildings should they catch fire, and also about the possible pollution and large financial loss that might result. Buildings of this type are found throughout the country as supermarkets, factories and warehouses.

Recognising that if these buildings are to fulfil their functions properly they should not have to be divided into small fire compartments, the deputation recommended that the guidance issued on how to comply with building regulations should be changed so that when new buildings of these types exceeding 4000 sq m were being designed and constructed, a sprinkler system should be incorporated.

Although my Department had reviewed this aspect of the guidance not long before, my predecessor asked that a further study should be made of the fire safety of this type of building taking into account recent fires. This has now been done with the assistance of the Fire Research Station of the Building Research Establishment, the Fire Advisory Panel and the Building Regulations Advisory Committee.

This work has shown that while there may be a case for accepting the deputation's proposal in some respects, it is finely balanced and more time is needed to acquire better information on certain important factors before consultation can take place on detailed technical proposals. However, the following general conclusions have been reached:

(i) a case can be made for sprinklers in new retail single storey buildings with compartments exceeding 4000 square metres, in the interests of occupant and firefighter safety; but a similar case has not been made from the available data for large compartment single storey industrial storage buildings;
(ii) the guidance on measures to restrict fire spread through voids in these sorts of building should be reconsidered, with firefighter safety in mind as well as the occupants. Similarly we should take steps to improve the design and construction of fire barriers;
(iii) automatic smoke ventilation without sprinklers in buildings with low ceilings does not appear to be beneficial to occupants threatened by very fast-growing fires;
(iv) a case can be made for there to be a minimum 4 metre ceiling height in new retail single storey buildings over 4000 square metres, as an additional measure to sprinklers;
(v) the deputation drew attention to fires in which large insulating wall and ceiling panels seem to have been a significant feature. We plan to study the fire implications of the use of these panels in buildings such as cold stores and food factories, with a view to amending guidance or sponsoring a code of practice if appropriate.

My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary is considering the implications for existing occupied buildings if these proposals were to be adopted in building regulations.

In the light of the above, I have asked my officials, in liaison with other Departments and taking account of the advice of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee, to prepare a consultation document covering issues (i) and (iv) above, if possible to be issued by the end of this year. 17W To the extent that it is possible within that time scale the other issues will also be addressed, but items (ii) and (v) in particular are likely to require research and may take considerably more time to resolve. The consultation paper will cover revisions to the whole of the part B approved document, and will therefore incorporate other suggested changes to that part which have arisen since it was last revised in December 1991. Any relevant conclusions from the interdepartmental scrutiny of fire safety legislation and enforcement, on which a separate statement is being made, will also be incorporated.