PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention (23 January 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether Approved Document B allows for combustible material to be used in the cladding of a building with a storey of 18 metres or more above ground level.

Asked by:
Mr Clive Betts (Labour)

Requirement B4 (1) of the Building Regulations 2010 states that “The external walls of the building shall adequately resist the spread of fire over the walls and from one building to another, having regard to the height, use and position of the building”. Paragraphs 12.5 to 12.9 of Approved Document B give guidance on how to meet this requirement. The guidance identifies the use of combustible materials in a cladding system, such as insulation product and filler materials, as a risk to tall buildings over 18 metres in height.

The guidance provides two options. The first is for each individual component of the wall to be of limited combustibility. The second is to ensure that all the combined elements of a wall adequately resist the spread of fire when tested as a whole installed system, in accordance with British Standard BS 8414.

Answered by:
Dominic Raab (Conservative)
5 February 2018