October 26th 2023
Deadline issued to developers to conform to the second staircase rule
Michael Gove has announced that developers will have 30 months to adhere to the new second staircase rule but, has failed to provide specifics on how the transition will work.
The housing secretary has said developers will have two and a half years to take on board new building regulations, which, is calling for second staircases on buildings higher than 18 metres.
Michael Gove announced the new rule following the incident of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, which occurred in 2017. A second staircase will give residents an alternative fire exist and fire-fighters the option of a dedicated fire-fighting stair.
For already approved applications to build the additional staircase, developers will be issued 18 months to start pouring concrete to prevent stockpiling. However, if they fail, plans will have to be redrafted to conform with the new rule and resubmitted.
In a written statement, Michael Gove, said: ‘I can now announce the intended transitional arrangements that will accompany this change to Approved Document B.
‘From the date when we publish and confirm those changed to Approved Document B formally, developers will have 30 months during which new building regulations applications can confirm to either the guidance as it exists today, or to the updated guidance requiring second staircases.
‘When those 30 months have elapsed, all applications will need to conform to the new guidance.
‘Any approved applications that do not follow the new guidance will have 18 months for construction to get underway in earnest. If it does not, they will have to submit a new building regulations application, following the new guidance.’
However, this statement from Mr Gove has become a cause for concern. A widespread of reports have emerged, which, state that developers have put schemes on hold to address the second staircase problem. This is particularly evident in London as Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said he wanted to apply the mandate immediately to major projects.
Against this backdrop, the government’s decision to propose a second staircase on buildings above 18 metres in height came as a shock to the industry after authorities previously consulted on plans to bring in the same scheme, but at a 30-metre threshold.
After delivering his speech, Michael Gove said he wanted to be clear that buildings designed under the existing regime were not inherently unsafe, and that he expected lenders, managing agents, insurers, and others to behave accordingly, and ‘not to impose onerous additional requirements, hurdles, or criteria on single-staircase buildings’.
Image: Junar Eliang
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