Written answers

Wednesday, 27 May 2020

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Building Regulations

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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1066. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason the Building Regulations Advisory Body was not consulted regarding recent changes to the building regulations technical guidance document for fire safety (details supplied); when the Building Regulations Advisory Body was last convened; when a meeting will be convened; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7847/20]

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Section 14 of the Building Control Act 1990 provides for the establishment, at the Minister's discretion, of a Building Regulations Advisory Body (BRAB) to advise the Minister on matters relating to building regulations.

The term of office of the last BRAB expired on 1 October 2012. The members of that BRAB were appointed for a term of office of five years from 14 June 2007 to 13 June 2012. A temporary extension to 1 October 2012 was granted to the existing members in light of the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations which were at an advanced stage of development at that time.

In accordance with Appendix IIb of the Government’s Public Service Reform Plan, published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in November 2011, the BRAB was listed as one of the forty six “Candidate Bodies for Critical Review by end June 2012”. The outcome of that review process was that the work of the Building Regulations Advisory Body was to be absorbed into my Department. I have no plans to establish a new BRAB at this time.

In relation to Ireland’s evacuation policy, the Fire Safety Task Force established in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy, in its report of May 2018, highlights evacuation of buildings as the default policy in Ireland. This is distinctly different from the “stay put” policy in other countries. The Report also states “The key to life safety in all apartment buildings is a proper two-stage fire detection and alarm system, together with an evacuation strategy...”.

In regard to the recent changes to the Building Regulations technical guidance document for fire safety, Part B and Technical Guidance Document (TGD) B of the Building Regulations deal with fire safety issues. Part B of the Second Schedule of the Building Regulations sets the legal performance requirements of buildings and the associated TGD B provides guidance on how to achieve that performance for common building types. Where works are carried out in accordance with the guidance in TGD B, this will, prima facie, indicate compliance with Part B.

The design of apartments in Ireland has been evolving over recent years, as design teams learn from best practice around the world. In particular, open plan apartments are becoming increasingly popular. TGD B 2006 did not provide specific guidance on open plan apartment arrangements. In 2018, following liaison with Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB), a working group of experts from DFB and my Department was set up to examine the issue of open plan apartments in Ireland and develop appropriate guidance.

All proposed changes to the Building Regulations or amendments to TGDs are formally notified to the European Commission and are subject to a public consultation process and a Regulatory Impact Analysis. The recent additional guidance to TGD B 2006 is no different, in that a draft was published for public consultation from 23 June 2019 to 23 August 2019.

A significant number of submissions were received from individuals, fire safety consultants, housing providers, other organisations and local authorities. My Department carefully evaluated all 39 submissions received, which included approximately 400 comments. In addition, a number of meetings took place with stakeholders such as local authority fire officers, fire safety consultants and construction industry stakeholders.

In developing the additional guidance, standards, tests and engineering approaches were considered and fire safety requirements in a number of jurisdictions, including England, Scotland, the USA, Australia, Denmark and Hong Kong, were reviewed.

The additional guidance amending TGD B 2006 published in February 2020 has a number of provisions for buildings containing apartments and includes a new section specifying provisions for open plan apartments. In relation to internal layouts and provisions for open plan apartments with travel distances exceeding 9m, the guidance provides for -

- sprinkler protection within the apartment to control fire development;

- maximum travel distances within the apartment of 20m;

- single storey apartments only;

- an enhanced fire detection and alarm systems within the apartment;

- interconnected alarms in circulation areas, bedrooms and high risk areas to ensure early detection and warning of a fire; and

- enclosed kitchens or a distance of 1.8m from the main kitchen cooking appliances to the escape route, which is in line with international research and testing.

For smaller apartments, with travel distances less than or equal to 9m, the guidance in TGD B has not changed. TGD B has referenced BS 5588 Part 1: 1990 since the introduction of Building Regulations in 1991, and this continues to be applicable. In these apartments, the travel distances from the apartment entrance door to any point in any habitable room cannot exceed 9m, no habitable room can be an inner room, and the position of any cooking facilities should be remote from the dwelling entrance door and not prejudice the escape route from any point in the apartment. This typically applies to small studio type flats with open internal layouts.

The additional guidance provides that an escape route from a bedroom cannot be through a kitchen in a non-sprinklered apartment, as no habitable room can be an inner room in accordance with BS 5588 Part 1: 1990, as currently referenced in TGD B. Furthermore, the existing provisions of BS 5588-1:1990 clearly indicate that escape from flats with a floor more than 4.5m above ground level should be via common protected corridors/lobbies and protected stairways, not via escape windows. While this does not consider windows to be suitable for escape, it does not preclude the use of windows for rescue.

It should be noted that the additional guidance also addresses other aspects of fire safety for buildings containing apartments and this is set out at the beginning of reprint TGD B 2020. All of the guidance in TGD B (Reprint 2020) should be considered collectively, as fire safety must be addressed in a holistic manner, considering building resilience and ensuring a building is safe for occupant egress and firefighter operations simultaneously.

Technical Guidance Document B - Fire Safety (2006) (Reprint 2020) and a Background Note on Recent Changes to Part B and TGD B of the Building Regulations are available on my Department’s website at:

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