SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- The evidence we have received during this
inquiry does not suggest that the majority of the external cladding
systems currently in use in the UK poses a serious threat to life
or property in the event of fire (paragraph 18).
- Notwithstanding what we have said in paragraph
18 above, we do not believe that it should take a serious fire
in which many people are killed before all reasonable
steps are taken towards minimising the risks (paragraph 19).
- We therefore recommend that compliance with
the standards set in the 'Test for assessing the fire performance
of external cladding systems', which has been submitted
to the British Standards Institution for adoption as a British
Standard, be substituted in Approved Document B for previous requirements
relating to the fire safety of external cladding systems (paragraph
20).
- We recommend that DETR and the Housing Corporation
instruct local authorities and Registered Social Landlords to
undertake a review of their existing building stock with a view
to ascertaining how many multi-storey buildings are currently
using external cladding systems; and how many cladding systems
are in use which, whilst complying with the regulations in force
at the time when they were installed, do not comply with current
Regulations. Competent fire safety
assessors should then be called in to evaluate what work may be
necessary to ensure that no undue risk is posed by any of these
systems, with particular reference to the lessons learnt from
the fires at Knowsley Heights and Garnock Court. Local authorities
and Registered Social Landlords should also be instructed to monitor
existing cladding systems carefully to ensure that the materials
from which they are constructed do not degrade over time and become
less resistant to flame spread than they were at the time of construction
(paragraph 22).
- Approved Document B should make it clear that
any addition to the outside of a building which has the potential
to lessen its resistance to external fire spread is subject to
the Building Regulations and therefore to the guidance contained
within that document (paragraph 23).
- We would strongly support any moves to consolidate
existing fire safety legislation (paragraph 24).
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