It’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the terms often used when discussing building and fire safety, so you know what they mean and how they may impact you.
The Building Safety Act 2022 introduces an Accountable Person. This is the person or organisation that owns or has responsibility over the building.
This person or organisation must take all reasonable steps to:
Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) is a type of MCM cladding material often found on residential buildings. It consists of a thin, three-layer sandwich panel made up of two pre-coated aluminium sheets bonded to a structural core that is often made out of a plastic material called polyethylene (PE).
Automatic Opening Vents (AOVs) are ventilation systems designed to automatically open in the event of a fire. They are commonly installed in buildings – particularly in stairwells, corridors, and other common areas – to allow smoke and hot gases to escape and prevent the build-up of toxic fumes and heat.
The UK Building Safety Fund is a government program that provides financial assistance to eligible building owners for the remediation of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding systems.
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent body established by the Building Safety Act 2022, and is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). BSR is responsible for raising building safety and performance standards and overseeing a new stringent regime for high-rise residential buildings, as well as overseeing the wider system for regulating safety and performance of all buildings and increasing the competence of relevant regulators and industry professionals.
Cavity barriers are non-combustible or limited combustibility materials, which means they have a low risk of catching fire or spreading an existing fire. They are fitted along the wall lines between flats to prevent fire from spreading from one home to another.
Cavity barriers should run along the horizontal and vertical separation between flats i.e. along the wall separating your home from the home next door and along the ceiling/floor line separating the flats above/below, as well as from the common areas. They should be present within the cavity of the external wall itself and the cavity found between the cladding and the external wall.
In some buildings, these barriers have been poorly installed, meaning that they cannot do the job they are meant to do. There is also some evidence that the barriers are not in place in some areas, which adds to the perceived risk.
External rendering and cladding are two types of exterior finishes to improve the weather resistance, insulation and appearance of buildings. External rendering involves the application of layers of mortar, plaster or other materials to create a finish.
External cladding involves the use of timber, metal or PVC to cover the exterior walls. In some cases, combustible materials have been used within or behind the rendering or cladding which poses a risk in the event of a fire, as fire could effectively spread both vertically and horizontally via the exterior of a building.
A Section 20 dispensation application refers to a legal process in respect of consultation requirements that landlords must follow when carrying out major works or entering into long-term agreements that could result in leaseholders being required to contribute to the costs. There are situations where a landlord may apply for a dispensation from the consultation requirements set out in Section 20, including cases where urgent work is required, or where it is impractical or impossible to consult affected leaseholders.
An EWS1 form is a set way for a building owner to confirm to valuers and lenders that an external wall system, including any cladding, has been assessed by a suitable expert - and whether any works are required to meet fire safety standards. It can only be completed by a qualified fire engineer.
The EWS1 form is not a building safety certificate or a legal requirement. The form has been endorsed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), UK Finance and the Building Societies Association.
You only need the EWS1 form if you want to buy, sell or re-mortgage and your valuer or lender requires one. In April 2021 the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) changed their guidance about the type of buildings that need an external wall system (EWS1) form.
If you are unsure whether you need the EWS1 form for your building, please read the guidance from RICS.
The external wall system is the build-up of component parts of the outside wall of a residential building, including wood, brick, metal, tiles and other types of cladding that you can see, as well as insulation, firebreak systems and cavity barriers out of sight.
Fire doors are specialised doors that are designed to help prevent the spread of fire within a building. They are an important part of a building's passive fire protection system, which is designed to contain and limit the spread of fire, smoke, and heat. In the event of a fire, fire doors act as a barrier that helps to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas of the building.
Fire doors are usually provided as sets, made up of several parts, all working together to provide a fire barrier, i.e., hinges, a closing device and smoke seals. When one of these parts doesn’t work, it can have a big impact on the performance of the entire door.
The purpose of an FRAEW is to assess the risk to occupants from a fire spreading over or within the external walls of the building, and decide whether, in the specific circumstances of the building, remediation or other mitigating measures to address the risk are considered necessary.
A suitable and sufficient review undertaken of a building to assess it for fire risk, and, where necessary, provide recommendations to make it safer.
The practice of creating barriers within buildings to prevent the spread of fire and smoke through the gaps and openings that exist within the building's construction. These gaps and openings are often created for various purposes, such as ventilation, plumbing, electrical wiring, and structural components. However, they can also provide a pathway for fire and smoke to travel from one area of the building to another. Fire stopping involves installing materials, such as fire-resistant sealants, sprays, and boards, to fill gaps and openings in the building's walls, floors, and ceilings. These materials are designed to prevent fire and smoke from passing through and can help to contain a fire within a single compartment or room, reducing the risk of fire spreading to other areas of the building.
The First-Tier Tribunal in the UK is a judicial body that hears a wide range of cases and disputes across different areas of law.
Spandrel glass is opaque glass that conceals structural building components such as columns, floors, HVAC systems, vents, electrical wiring and plumbing, preventing these from being visible from the exterior of the building.
The Building Safety Fund Grant Funding Agreement in the UK is an agreement between the government and the building owner or manager who has been awarded funding from the Building Safety Fund. The Building Safety Fund is a government program that provides financial assistance to eligible building owners for the remediation of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding systems.
Homes England is a UK government agency responsible for supporting and administering Building Safety Fund applications.
High-Pressure Laminate (HPL) is a type of cladding typically manufactured by layering sheets of wood or paper fibre with resin and bonding them under heat and pressure.
Compartmentation is a fire safety strategy used in building design and construction to limit the spread of fire and smoke within a building. It involves dividing a building into smaller, self-contained compartments, separated by fire-resistant walls, floors, and ceilings. Each compartment is designed to contain a fire for a specified period of time. The walls, floors, and ceilings that separate the compartments are made of materials that are resistant to fire, such as concrete, masonry, or fire-rated drywall partitioning. Compartmentation can buy time for occupants to evacuate the building safely and for firefighters to contain and extinguish the fire.
An intrusive inspection is usually carried out on the outside of the building. This involves opening various sections of the building to understand the internal makeup, for example, removing cladding, removing a section of brickwork or drilling holes into materials to take samples.
None of these intrusive inspections should interfere with your home, cause structural integrity or increase your building's fire risk.
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces.
Metal Composite Material (MCM) is a thin, typically 3-5mm, three-layer panel consisting of two pre-coated metal sheets fixed to a structural core that is usually plastic or mineral in nature. The metal is often made of a metal such as copper or zinc.
One of the better-known types of cladding, ACM, is a form of MCM.
A non-qualifying leaseholder is anyone who has a lease which, on 14 February 2022 related to a property which was owned by someone with three or more properties and who did not live in the affected flat as their primary residence.
A Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) is an individual plan created for those who require assistance or special arrangements in order to safely evacuate a building in an emergency, such as a fire.