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On the 2nd of September the government issued three amendment documents that make changes to the fire safety guidance in Approved Document B.
First Document
Second Document
Third Document
The publication of these amendments followed a written ministerial statement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
Following a consultation, the government decided to extend the provision of sprinklers in Approved Document B to all new care homes irrespective of height. The changes to the guidance also removed previous allowances associated with the provision of sprinklers in care homes. New care homes will be expected to limit compartment sizes to 10 beds while ensuring self-closing devices are fitted to doors.
Currently, Approved Document B operates a dual system for reaction to fire and roofs and fire resistance testing and classification for construction products. The guidance references both the National Classes (BS 476) and the European Classes (BS EN 13501 series, e.g, BS EN 13501-1 for classifications using data from reaction to fire tests and 13501-5 for classifications using data from external fire exposure to roofs tests). The government considered that the National Classes were seldom used by industries that require classifications for reaction to fire or for roofs, but recognised that certain sectors, such as manufacturers of fire doors, still rely on national (BS 476) fire resistance tests for their products. In recognition of the specific needs for these parts of industry, the government is implementing the changes to the guidance in two stages – first removing references to BS 476 associated with reaction to fire and roofs in the March 2025 amendments then removing references to BS 476 associated with fire resistance in the September 2029 amendments.
The March 2025 update to guidance removes the national classification system (BS476) for reaction to fire and roofs from Approved Document B. The European Standard (BS EN), which is more current than the National standard (BS 476), will be the sole route of specification within Approved Document B for reaction to fire and roofs classifications.
Fire doors are not classified for their reaction to fire performance and so the changes in the first amendment document do not affect fire door producers other than to ensure that they provide the fire safety information required by section 17 of Approved Document B. The second amendment relates to stairs and there are no changes that affect fire doors other than in protecting the additional escape routes and stairway. The changes in the third amendment document, however, will have a significant impact on the fire door sector where the majority of products are certified to the National System, e.g. FD30 and FD30S.
Moving to the European System will require manufacturers to develop a portfolio of European testing which must meet the requirements for sampling and follow the rules based system for any extension to scope. As timber fire doors have an extensive set of extended application rules in BS EN 15269-3, i.e. there is a specific standard for extended application, the guidance given in clauses B1 to B5 of Approved Document B prevents the use of expert judgement. Due to the “systems” approach to fire door manufacture the burden of testing will rest on a relatively few door leaf and blank manufacturers. There is an enormous amount of work to be done between now and September 2029 and this needs to be done against a background of uncertainty regarding the regulation of construction products and the capacity and functional issues identified within the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report and the Independent Review of the Construction Product Testing Regime.
