The draft Building Safety Bill and Higher-risk buildings: Overview and Definitions

The draft Building Safety Bill was published on 20 July 2020, intending to ‘deliver the principles and recommendations for reform set out by Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety .’ The Impact Assessment states that the ‘overall effect of the Bill will be to […] Click here to view original…

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Calls to extend restriction on combustible materials

The RIBA recommends that the restriction introduced in December 2018 should: be extended to include hotels, hostels and boarding houses, and all buildings where a catastrophic event could cause multiple fatalities. apply to key materials in external walls only. If not, the list of materials exempt from the ban […] Click here to view original…

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Work stopped on two thirds of cladding remediation projects

Work has restarted at 14% of projects Work has stopped on more than two thirds of the buildings where the remediation of ACM cladding is required, new government data has said. According to the housing ministry’s April building safety update , work was paused on 68% of projects at […] Click here to view original…

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Over 25% of FSO prosecutions involve domestic premises

In his final article reviewing cases prosecuted under the Fire Safety Order, Fire Safety Lawyer Warren Spencer has revealed that over a quarter of all prosecutions brought under the order since 2009 involve an element of domestic living, despite the Order not being intended to apply to domestic premises. The impact of the Grenfell Tower…

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Residents in city’s tallest tower block face massive bills over cladding

Residents in city's tallest tower block face massive bills over cladding

Brindley House in Newhall Street Birmingham Birmingham’s tallest residential tower block faces a staggering 775 per cent insurance increase. The massive hike at Brindley House – the biggest increase in Birmingham – has been spawned by cladding regulations that followed the Grenfell Tower blaze. The rapid spread of the […] Click here to view original…

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Sprinklers to be compulsory in high rise flats over 11m

Building regulations in Approved Document B will be updated in May to cut the height for sprinklers to 11m The move goes further than first floated by Government, which initially suggested changing the 30m height rule to 18m. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said the plan along with further reforms […] Click here to view original…

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More than 300 buildings in England need cladding removed – MHCLG

There are more than 300 high-rise and publicly-owned buildings in England with dangerous cladding systems that fall short of regulations, updated figures revealed. Works to remove and replace Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding have taken place on 141 buildings since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, according to the Ministry of […] Click here to view original…

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