THE SMOKE REPORT
20Pages

How the smoke opacity declarations of building products can help guide us through the building

Executive Summary

Executive summary The smoke opacity (the thickness of smoke) of building products when they are exposed to fire is crucial information needed to estimate the time available for people to escape, and for fire fighters to do their job. This information will be available from July 2013 when the EU’s Construction Product Regulation comes into force in the UK putting a legal requirement on building products to include a reaction to fire and smoke classification (CE Mark) as a label on the product. However, while government regulators specify certain reaction to fire properties (in Approved...

This situation is a result of dramatic changes in the property and construction industry. The increasing focus on changing the use of existing buildings, the introduction of new building materials and techniques, and a shortage of Government guidance on how to deal with these changes, has placed a huge burden on building control officers. The last major review of fire safety building regulations, which were finally published in 2005, predates these changes. Recently, ferocious fires and increasing dangers from smoke have sparked debate about the suitability of current safety guidance....

Acknowledgements Rockwool would like to thank representatives of the following organisations for their help with this report: the Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service; Brent Housing Partnership; Kent County Council; the National Association of Estate Agents; the Federation of British Fire Organisations; the Fire Protection Association; Local Authority Building Control; Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service; the Institute of Directors; and other individuals who shared their insights and expertise. The use of Rockwool can not only help protect the planet, but also provides safe and comfortable...

Methodology We commissioned an independent political research company to conduct 26 in-depth qualitative interviews with key stakeholders connected to fire safety issues in commercial and residential properties. Interviews were conducted by telephone or face-to-face between 20th February and 30th March 2012. We were careful to select a wide range of stakeholders who could share different views of the current building regulations system. We interviewed 10 people from the property industry (including architects, estate agents, people from construction companies and housing associations), 5...

Part One: Building on Success In Part One, we examine how clarification of fire safety building regulations could promote the economic recovery. Every senior stakeholder we spoke to agreed that building regulations designed to improve fire safety are ‘a good thing’. However, there is a desire to use regulations to encourage investment in new developments and in the construction industry generally. Misunderstandings about the current regulatory system can add significant costs before, during and after the construction process, and clarification of how building materials perform during fires...

The system drives up costs because planners, builders and control officers effectively have to ‘start from scratch every time’ to stay on top of unpredictable local variations in interpreting the regulations. Worse, mortgage lenders described to us how these costs are effectively closing another door to people like first time buyers. We were told that it would be far better and cheaper to meet the requirements of different inspectors and authorities by using building materials that uniformly meet minimum standards, rather than having to change the way buildings are designed and created on a...

This kind of confusion about building regulations can influence businesses’ investment decisions. Corin Taylor, a Senior Policy Adviser at the Institute of Directors, says simply that “complicated regulations can discourage business” and that “a simplification of the building regulations would be broadly welcome and it is important to look at how regulations link in with the planning system”. Consistent use of building materials that are recognised for meeting minimum fire safety standards on smoke opacity and toxicity measures would help remove these costs and make the construction process...

Part Two: All Change In Part Two, we discuss how application of the current regulations should be in tune with our changing uses of existing buildings. Fire safety regulations can struggle to cope with a change in the use of an existing building. This is a vital issue as more buildings are extended, altered or converted from their original intended use or design. Efforts to bring disused commercial properties into the residential market, or to reinvigorate local economies by changing abandoned houses into shops and factories, hinge on our ability to facilitate changes in building use. One...

smoke, it would be possible for the Government to aid growth in the converted property market as the cost of altering a building to meet new requirements based on its type of use would be dramatically reduced in the future. "Planning laws can make it difficult to change the permitted use of an existing building” Corin Taylor, Senior Policy Analyst, Institute of Directors Private sector stakeholders are often in complete agreement with their public sector colleagues on the benefits of using materials that produce less toxic smoke in the event of a fire and that can meet changing fire safety...

Part Three: Playing by the Rules In Part Three, we examine how building control officers can be better supported by the building regulations regime to encourage growth in the construction industry. every little corner of every building”, which Turner points out is simply not practicable. There is sympathy for building control officers from every kind of stakeholder linked to the property industry and fire safety sector. One of the biggest challenges facing building control officers is that “building regs and fire regs just don’t match up – an officer has to meet airflow requirements on the...