Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2023

New fire safety regulations come into force across England on Monday, 23 January 2023, implementing the recommendations in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report.

The regulations are likely to have the biggest impact on building owners. However, the requirements are anticipated to flow down to the obligations of contractors and sub-contractors when constructing, refurbishing, or maintaining the relevant buildings.

The key regulations which may impact the construction industry and place requirements upon Responsible Persons (RP) are summarised below:

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations apply to:

• parts of the building that are used in common by the residents of two or more domestic premises (e.g. communal corridors and stairways)
• flat entrance doors
• the walls and floors that separate any domestic premises from other domestic premises, plant rooms, etc., or from parts of the building that are used in common by the occupants of two or more domestic premises
• plant rooms and other non-domestic areas of the building, such as tenant halls, offices, laundries, gymnasia and commercial premises
• external walls of the building, including doors or windows within an external wall and attachments to an external wall (e.g. balconies) 

Regarding Fire Doors for buildings other than domestic housing, Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 legally requires that fire-resisting doors and escape doors are correctly installed and adequately maintained to be fit for purpose.

However, typically we find that circa 90% of the fire doors we survey have issues requiring attention. Scott Lewis, Sircle’s Compliance Manager, recently wrote an article on this; click here.

How Sircle can help

Sircle provides a wide range of fire-related surveying services designed to ensure you meet current guidelines. Our experienced fire risk assessors and fire safety surveyors all hold relevant qualifications for fire door and fire-stopping inspections.

Our fire risk assessors hold various competency scheme certifications such as NAFRAR, FRACS and registrations with professional bodies such as the IFE, IFSM, FPA, and IFPO.

If you need detailed, electronic, base-level fire door survey information to help evidence your compliance, information recording, or subsequent help managing fire door inspections in-house, we are here to assist.

We provide highly detailed compartmentation surveys and reports which provide you with key compliance information, risk prioritisation, budget costs, remedial solutions, and analysis in a clear, user-friendly format.

Our experienced CAD team can produce fire strategy plan drawings showing details such as compartmentation and fire doors, travel distances, general arrangement plans, fire asset equipment, location drawings, and evacuation plans.

Speak to us today to find out how our range of surveys can help you stay compliant.