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Government fire safety regulations review 'ongoing'
The government has refused to reveal when fire safety building regulations will be updated, following the Grenfell Tower blaze yesterday which has so far claimed 12 lives.
After the 2009 Lakanal House fire in south London, in which six people died, the coroner on the case recommended the government simplified part B of the building regulations that relate to fire safety so they were easier for landlords to understand.
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However, four years later the regulations have not been updated, despite assurances last year from former housing minister Gavin Barwell that a review would be completed.
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government said the work is “ongoing” and would not give a date for when the updated regulations will be published.
They added that the government’s priority “is to make sure we have the highest possible standards”.
The fire in Grenfell Tower in the early hours of yesterday morning blazed up the building at an alarming rate, leaving 12 dead and 75 people hospitalised.
Mr Barwell said last year that the government had “publicly committed ourselves to reviewing part B following the Lakanal House fire”.
In 2013, then communities secretary Eric Pickles responded to the coroner’s recommendations and promised a “future review” of building regulations with an updated version published in 2016/17.
Fire safety experts have been calling for the regulations to be updated for years. In March experts told Inside Housing that the delay in reviewing building regulations was putting tower blocks at risk.
