Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022:

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (GOV.UK) have been introduced. The Regulations that apply to England only are being introduced under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) and will come into force on 23 January 2023.

The new regulations under article 24 are an important step forward in the implementation of the recommendations made in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report which require a change in the law.

Buildings affected by the regulations

The regulations under Article 24 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) apply to the following buildings in England.

• High-rise residential buildings.
• Residential buildings with storeys over 11 metres in height.
• All multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises.

High-rise residential buildings

These regulations will make it a requirement in law for responsible persons of high-rise blocks of flats to provide information to Fire and Rescue Services to assist them to plan and, if needed, provide an effective operational response.

In high-rise residential buildings, responsible persons will be required to:

• Provide electronic building plans and details of external wall systems to their local fire rescue service.
• Install secure information boxes for hard copies of plans.
• Install wayfinding signage for firefighters
• Undertake monthly checks of firefighting lifts and other firefighting equipment.
• Report any defective lifts or firefighting equipment to us.

Supplying plans and reports

Find out more about the information you need to provide and how you can provide it to us and how to report defective lifts or equipment to us.

Residential buildings with storeys over 11 metres

Responsible persons in multi-occupied residential buildings which are above 11 metres in height, and in high-rise buildings need to provide additional safety measures.

In residential buildings with storeys over 11 metres in height, responsible persons will be required to:

• Undertake annual checks of flat entrance doors and quarterly checks of all fire doors in the common parts.

Fire doors fact sheet (GOV.UK)

Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance (GOV.UK)

All multi-occupied residential buildings

Responsible persons for all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises including high-rise residential buildings are required to:

• Provide residents with information relating to the importance of fire doors in fire safety.
• Provide relevant fire safety instructions to their residents, which will include instructions on how to report a fire and any other instruction which sets out what a resident must do once a fire has occurred, based on the evacuation strategy for the building.

Information to residents fact sheet (GOV.UK)
Wayfinding signage fact sheet (GOV.UK)