The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has published their response to the consultation on a review of Approved Document B
Approved Document B outlines the minimum fire safety standards for the design, construction, and alteration of buildings in England and Wales.
The fire safety consultation proposes updates to external wall guidance and new provisions of evacuation lifts.
The fire safety consultation proposes many changes
The full list of proposed changes is as follows:
- Implement important clarifications and technical changes to the guidance
- Consolidate guidance for designing building work on existing buildings
- Introduce a threshold on the use of combustible elements of structure, over which Approved Document B guidance should not be applied
- Revise and update guidance on external wall systems and balconies and review the scope of the ban on combustible materials in, and on, external walls and specified attachments
- Recommend providing evacuation lifts in residential buildings above 18m and clarify the guidance for non-residential buildings
- Update terminology on ‘sheltered housing’, introducing the new term ‘specialised housing’ in its place and including provisions for extended alarm coverage in these premises
- Introduce updated guidance on roofs, including new provisions for incorporating solar photovoltaic (PV) panels
- Increase the structural fire resistance rating of open-sided car parks
The consultation ran from 25 March to 1 July 2026, and is now in the process of reviewing feedback.
The CIH has published their response
The Chartered Institute of Housing’s response focuses on key themes, including:
- Compliance requires culture change: For all parties to be compliant with keeping residents safe in their homes, organisations and representatives must examine their culture, processes, and training.
- Resident engagement is crucial: Listening to the resident voice must be genuine and effective, influencing service delivery and decision-making processes. This includes being inclusive in all design and management plans to ensure that all residents are valued, heard, and planned for regarding evacuation policies. More guidance is needed within Approved Document B on resident engagement and communication.
- Keeping residents safe is essential and fundamental for housing organisations: There must be clarity and understanding of the potentially overlapping obligations for the sector with regard to building safety, to ensure that requirements can be met and do not create overly complicated systems where future issues may arise.
In their response, they say: “Overall, we support the direction of travel in the proposals to ensure residents are kept safe and informed throughout changes to the building safety system. In particular, the changes on evacuation lifts and specialised housing provision are meaningful progress and will make a difference for residents with specific needs.
“Our main recommendation outlined throughout our response is that better guidance is required. The guidance in the proposals is not sufficient for both provider understanding and communication with residents, and we believe this should be strengthened for the proposals to be effective.”
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