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New guidance for managing shopping centres under the Fire Safety Order has been published by the British Council of Shopping Centres. The document builds on the specific risk assessment guidance for shops and offices from the Communities and Local Government department.
The document – drawn up for the BCCS by Jeremy Gardner Associates -recognises that although it was the government’s intention that a fire risk assessment could be carried out by a non-specialist, in shopping centres with complex fire strategies and systems, specialist advice may be needed.
The guidance covers the duties of the responsible person, implications for designers, building management and tenants, fire risk assessments, and the interface between shopping centre management and individual shop tenants. It also gives information on fire safety arrangements and information, and on the powers of fire and rescue authorities.
In bringing together the relationship between shopping centre design and management, it warns against unnecessarily complicated or over-engineered fire safety solutions – as these can make a building more complex and expensive to manage on a day-to-day basis.
Responding to one of the specific features of shopping centres, there is a section on the relative duties and responsibilities of shopping centre management and tenants. The guidance acknowledges that the dividing lines are not always clear: “The line of responsibility is not always as straightforward as it may seem. In shopping centres, there are a number of interfaces (such as sprinklers and fire alarm interfaces) where the landlord’s fire safety measures are reliant on the tenant.” Another example is that the landlord may be responsible for providing a fire curtain or shutter behind a glazed front of a unit, but the tenant would be responsible for ensuring it can descend properly in the event of a fire.
“The new legislation represents a significant change in emphasis on how fire safety in buildings will be managed and maintained, with responsibility for this resting entirely on the owner/occupier,” the guidance concludes. “It provides a more flexible framework for shopping centre owners, managers and tenants to manage fire safety within their premises, as it does not require strict adherence to prescriptive standards set down in a fire certificate.”
Guidance Note 59 – Fire Safety Order: What it means for shopping centres, is available only to members of the BCSC.
British Council of Shopping Centres
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