The Passive Fire Protection Federation has given a cool reception to some of the new provisions in the revised Building Regulations Approved Document B, published at the end of 2006. While generally welcoming the revision of the guidance, the PFPF gives the regulations a rating of just six out of ten.
While welcoming the document’s recommendation to use products and services which have been assessed under independent third party certification schemes, the federation criticises the lack of guidance given on the value of individual certification schemes. The guidance also leaves open the question of who validates the ‘experts’ whose job it is to judge theses schemes, says the PFPF.
But the federation reserves its biggest criticism for the lack of specific guidance on the design of tall and multi-functional buildings. It says these buildings have become such an integral part of our modern built environment that consideration of their inherent and particular fire safety requirements is now long overdue. It is therefore no longer satisfactory for the regulations to stop at buildings over 30m, says the PFPF, as the urban environment has changed dramatically since the inception of Approved Document B, which was founded on technical work carried out in the 1960s.
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