Episode 161 - Preparing for the RIBA Health & Safety Test (Part 2)

This week is Part 2 reviewing the material you should review prior to undertaking the RIBA Health & Safety Test. This episode content meets PC1 - Professionalism & PC3 - Legal Framework & Processes of the Part 3 Criteria.

Resources from today's episode:

Book: RIBA Health & Safety Guide by Dieter Bentley-Gockmann

Thank you for listening! Please follow me on Instagram @part3withme for weekly content and updates or contact me via email me at part3withme@outlook.com or on LinkedIn. 

Join me next week for more Part3 With Me time.

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Transcript

Episode 161:

Hello and Welcome to the Part3 with me podcast. 

The show that helps part 3 students jump-start into their careers as qualified architects and also provides refresher episodes for practising architects. If you would like to show your support for the podcast and help us continue making amazing content, click on the link in the episode notes to sign up to our subscription. I also offer one to one mentoring services to help you with your submissions, exams and interview, head over to our website to learn more or reach out to me on LinkedIn through the Part3 With Me page, or instagram my handle is @part3withme or email me at part3withme@outlook.com. 

I am your host Maria Skoutari and this week is part 2 of running through the material you should review prior to undertaking the RIBA Health & Safety Test. Todays episode meets PC1&3 of the Part 3 Criteria.

Last week we covered Chapters 1-5, this week we will cover Chapters 6-9.

Which includes:

• Chapter 6 - Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 
• Chapter 7 - The Building Safety Act 2022 and Building Safety Regulations
• Chapter 8 - Building Safety Design
• Chapter 9 - Principles of Fire Safety Design 

So continuing with Chapter 6 - Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015:

This chapter provides an overview of the legal duties imposed on designers, principal designers, and other key stakeholders in construction projects under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and how these compare to the duties under the Building Safety Act. 

This chapter focuses on four key sections:

• Regulation 8 - General Duties
• Regulation 9 - Designer Duties
• Regulation 11 - Principal Designer Duties
• CDM Regulations and the Building Safety Act

Looking at Regulation 8 – General Duties firstly in more detail:

The architect has general duties under Regulation 8, which also applies to everyone working on a construction project. CDM imposes different obligations on individual designers and organisations which need to be considered in undertaking their statutory duties.

As a designer under the CDM Regulations means the architect must have the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to address the anticipated risks on the project and to complete the services they have been appointed to provide and demonstrate these to the client. 

An an organisation under the CDM Regulations, the practice must have the organisational capability to perform the role and undertake the tasks for which the practice has been appointed, and again this must be demonstrated to the client by having policies and systems in place to set acceptable health and safety standards within the practice. 

Other duties under regulations 8 include:

• Effective communication, cooperation, and coordination between parties are essential to meet obligations.
• Provide clear, concise information or instructions relating to the design to the team 
• Report dangerous conditions 

Next moving onto the next key section of Chapter 6 which covers Regulation 9 – Designer Duties:

Which sets out the duties that relate to all designers working on construction projects in Great Britain, including designers working overseas and duties that apply to all projects and at all stages. As well as being aware of their own duties as a designers, before commence any design work on the project architects have a duty to satisfy themselves that the client is aware of their duties under the CDM Regulations. The client should be assessed of their level of knowledge and experience of the regulations at the briefing process. 

Then once appointed and the design process commences, the architect has a duty to consider the general principles of prevention as already mentioned and any pre-construction information provided by the client to eliminate, so far as is reasonably practicable, foreseeable risks to health and safety of any person. Where risks cannot be avoided, designers must reduce or control them through design choices and to provide sufficient information about residual risks to contractors and clients.

Next moving onto the next key section of Chapter 6 which covers Regulation 11 – Principal Designer Duties:

If it is reasonably foreseeable that more than one contractor will be working on the project at any time, the client has a duty under the CDM Regulations to appoint a designer to be the principal designer with control over health and safety in the pre-construction phase of the project.The principal designer is responsible for managing health and safety during the pre-construction phase and they must plan, manage, and monitor design work to ensure that risks are identified and controlled.

If the architect is appointed as the principal designer, the appointment should be directly with the client and separate to their design appointment including a separate fee and schedule of services as the statutory duties as principal designer are separate and distinct from an architects statutory duties as a designer. If working on a design and build project and the design appointment is novated to the contractor, the principal designer appointment with the client may need to be terminated to avoid any post-novation conflicts of interest and the client may need to appoint a new Principal Designer. 

A key duty of principal designers is to coordinate with other duty holders and ensure that appropriate information is included in the health and safety file as well as providing the pre-construction information in a convenient form to any designer and contractors working on the project. To fulfil the principal designer duties, the appointed party needs to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, all other designers working on the project comply with their duties under Regulation 9 and that everyone working on the pre-construction phase cooperates with the client, with the principal designer and with each other. Its important to highlight that the principal designer is not responsible for the other designers designs or for advising the other designers on how they should eliminate risks or modify their design. The principal designer is simply responsible for ensuring that together with the other designers foreseeable risks are identified and eliminated or controlled so far as is reasonably practicable in the design and coordinate this information to ensure clear, concise and relevant project specific information regarding significant and unusual residual risks are communicated to the client and principal contractor.

And lastly, looking at the final section of Chapter 6 covering CDM Regulations and the Building Safety Act:

This sections highlights how the duty holder regime under the CDM Regulations although similar with the requirements of the Building Safety Act 2022 are not the same.

The dutyholder regime under the CDM Regulations applies to all construction projects carried out in Great Britain and applies to construction projects as a whole and intended for health and safety. Whereas the dutyholder regime under the BSA applies to all construction projects carried out in England, with enhanced duties in respect of higher-risk buildings. These duties apply to all projects involving construction work that is subject to building control approval and that the work is designer and constructed in accordance with Building Regulations. 

As the scope of the BSA is broader than that of the CDM Regulations so are the competence requirements, depending on the nature of the project. Both CDM and BSA require the architect to have the necessary knowledge and experience to undertake the role as designer. 

So those are the steps an architect should take with regards to Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, now lets move on to Chapter 7 - The Building Safety Act 2022 and Building Safety Regulations:

This chapter provides an overview of the legislative framework introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022, focusing on its implications for architects and designers. 

This chapter focuses on four key sections:

• Overview of the Building Safety Act
• Role of the Building Safety Regulator
• Building control reform for all buildings
• Building control regime for higher-risk buildings

Looking at the Overview of the Building Safety Act firstly in more detail:

The Building Safety Act 2022 was introduced on the 28th April 2022 to improve building safety following incidents such as the Grenfell Tower fire. It has been described as an Act to make provision about the safety of people in or about buildings and the standard of buildings, to amend the Architects Act 1997, and to amend provisions about complaints made to a housing ombudsman.

The Act itself is arranged in six parts and has nine schedules. It is primary legislation that makes provision for further legislation. There are a number of statutory instruments, secondary regulations, enacted under the BSA and collectively referred to in this guide as the building safety regulations. 

Those most relevant to designers include:

• The Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023, which came into force on 06 April 2023.
• The Building (Approved Inspectors etc. and Review of Decisions) (England) Regulations 2023, which came into force on 01 October 2023.
• The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023, which came into force 01 October 2023.
• The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 (HRB Regulations), which came into effect on 01 October 2023.

Together the BSA and the building safety regulations prescribe procedural requirements for the design, construction and building control approval of building projects in England, including refurbishment projects and those that include a change of use. What is new is that the BSA and building safety regulations make it a legal duty to employ management procedures on projects, with additional requirements for higher-risk buildings, to ensure that the design and construction of buildings is planned, managed and monitored appropriately and information regarding the same is available to all those that need it in a suitable format and at the time they need it.

The overarching aim of the new regulatory regime is to ensure that everyone involved in the procurement, design and construction of projects takes responsibility for their part in the project.

Now lets move onto the next key section of Chapter 7 which covers the Role of the Building Safety Regulator in more detail:

The Building Safety Regulator has two statutory objectives in the way that it discharges its building functions, to secure the safety of people in or about buildings in relation to risks arising from buildings and to improve the standard of buildings. The intention is that the Regulator focuses on improving the construction industry to secure safe outcomes on all projects. 

The three statutory building functions of the Regulator are:

• A duty to facilitate building safety for higher-risk buildings,
• A duty to keep the safety of people in or about buildings and the standard of buildings under review,
• Facilitate improvement in the competence of industry and building inspectors 

The Regulator also has the ability to propose new regulations under the BSA and a duty to establish a system for voluntary and mandatory occurrence reporting. 

To assist the Regulator to meet its objectives and fulfil its building functions it has a statutory duty to establish three committees:

• A Building Advisory Committee providing advice and information to the Regulator about matters connected with any of the Regulator’s building functions,
• A committee on industry competence concerned with the competence of people working in the built environment industry 
• A resident’s panel consisting of residents of higher-risk buildings to give the Regulator advice about matters in connection with its building functions and higher-risk buildings.

As well as seeking advice from the committees, the Regulator has the right to request assistance from local authorities and fire and rescue authorities in connection with higher-risk buildings.

To ensure the effective functioning and decision making of the Regulator, the Regulator has enforcement powers under the BSA. This includes the power to authorise suitably qualified people to act as authorised officers to investigate building safety matters on the Regulator’s behalf. As designers, architects have a duty to cooperate with the Regulator and authorised officers.

Now lets move onto the next key section of Chapter 7 which covers Building Control Reform for All Buildings:

The Act introduces reforms to building control processes applicable to all buildings, not just higher-risk ones. This is achieved by amendments to the parts of the Building Act 1984 and Building Regulations 2010 relating to Building Control Authorities and Building Regulations in England. It aims to streamline approval processes and improve oversight during construction.

As such, it introduced general duties and competence for duty holders. The primary duties architects need to be aware of and comply as a designer are the general duty to plan, manage and monitor the design work and the duty to cooperate with others and share information for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the relevant requirements of the Building Regulations. These apply to all projects that are subject to building control approval, and not just higher-risk buildings. Details of which are set out within Part 2A of the Building Regulations. 

When planning for services in connection with designer duties under Part 2A of the Building Regulations, including planning fees and resources, it is important that architects consider the standard of care required under the building safety regulations. An important point to remember regarding the architects statutory design duties under the building safety regulations is that they are and remain responsible for all the design work completed under their control, irrespective of any review, inspection or approval of the design, or the construction work to which it relates, by the relevant building control authority, including the Regulator if designing a higher-risk building. It is the architect/designers responsibility to ensure the design complies with Building Regulations and must be able to demonstrate this to the building control authority. Whilst approval by the relevant building control authority will verify that the design is compliant based on the documentary evidence submitted for building control approval, this does not relieve the designer of the responsibility for any errors or omissions in the design, the building control authority takes no responsibility for the compliance of the design. 

With respect to the role of building control authorities in England, the BSA makes it mandatory for the Regulator to be the building control authority for any design work undertaken on higher-risk buildings, or those that will become higher-risk buildings because of the proposed design. Where the Regulator is not the building control authority for a project the local authority will be the building control authority. In this instance, approval from the relevant authority for the commencement of construction may be sought by either the submission and approval of a building notice or the submission of an application for building control approval. The review may be undertaken by either the Local Authority or by a registered Building Control Approver, in both instances based on advice provided by a registered building inspector.

The amended Building Regulations in England now include enhanced procedural requirements for building control approval. Key provisions include:

• General procedures for construction work, including application processes, notices, and certification.
• Application-specific procedures, allowing building control authorities to set conditions, approve changes, and manage approvals.
• Information and documentation duties, requiring accurate, up-to-date records that meet prescribed standards.
• Occurrence reporting systems, both voluntary and mandatory.
• Standardised documentation, outlining the required form, content, and method for submitting building control applications.
• Inspection and testing provisions, allowing for examination of work, materials, equipment, and services.
• Extended decision periods, enabling authorities to agree on longer timeframes for application review.

In addition to these general procedural provisions, other amendments to the Building Regulations made by the building safety regulations that architects should be familiar with include:

• Automatic lapse of building control approval: Meaning approval will expire if work does not commence within three years of the application date. This applies to each building in a multi-building project. For complex buildings, commencement means completion of the foundations and the lowest floor level. For non-complex buildings, including extensions, commencement includes all foundations, basement (if any), and ground floor structure. For other work, commencement is when 15% of the work is complete. To avoid confusion or automatic lapses, clients should submit formal commencement statements to the building control authority.
• Another procedural factor architects should be familiar with is Compliance and stop notices:
  Building control authorities can issue: Compliance notices for non-safety-related breaches (e.g., issues with accessibility) and Stop notices for safety-related breaches (e.g., poorly designed fire doors). Failure to comply with these notices is a criminal offence, punishable by an unlimited fine and/or up to 2 years in prison.
• And another matter to be aware of is Contraventions of Building Regulations whereby breaches of the regulations are now explicitly criminal offences with the same penalties (unlimited fine and/or two years’ imprisonment) and Authorities can enforce rectification for up to 10 years after project completion.

The intention of these amendments is to ensure that all construction projects in England are designed and constructed to the current functional requirements of the Building Regulations to achieve the intended safe outcomes and have proactive responsibility, not minimum compliance. Professionals must ensure their designs meet all safety standards from the start, coordinating closely with all stakeholders to prevent issues, rather than relying on building control authorities to identify or correct problems.

And lastly, looking at the final section of Chapter 7 covering Building Control Regime for Higher-Risk Building:

As you are aware higher risk buildings are buildings that are at least 18m in height or have at least 7 storeys, and contain at least two residential units, a care home, or a hospital.

Under the BSA, higher-risk buildings are subject to a stricter building control regime, whereby they are overseen by the Building Safety Regulator. Although as mentioned, for all other buildings the building control body tends to be the Local Authority, the client can choose to have the Regulator as their building control authority for a non-higher risk building, subject to the client gaining the Regulator’s agreement and submitting a Regulator’s notice to the local authority. This will likely be appropriate  where its a mixed development of higher risk and non-high risk buildings in one development to have the same body reviewing all buildings. 

Now as you are probably aware, higher-risk buildings are subject to the "gateway approval" processes at key project stages.

• Gateway One: Pre-planning stage approval to ensure safety considerations are integrated early.
• Gateway Two: Building control approval for HRB work must be granted by the Regulator before any HRB work. A building control approval application needs to be submitted electronically either by the client or another person acting on the clients behalf. The information needs to include the design, specification, competence declaration, construction control plan, a change control plan , a mandatory occurrence reporting plan, a Building Regulation compliance statement, a free and emergency file, a partial completion strategy, the procurement process and programming of the works. The upon receipt of the information the Regulator has 12 weeks to determine whether to approve or reject. If they need more time they must ask for an extension with the client. This regime ensures that work not subject to appropriate regulatory oversight is not approved by default and enforces the ‘hard stop’ at Gateway 2 preventing construction starting prior to approval by the Regulator. If the Regulator does approve it, however, they can impose pre-commencement conditions, including providing additional information for approval. Then, not more than five working days after the day on which the HRB work has commenced the client must give notice to the Regulator.
• Gateway Three: Following completion of any HRB work, the client must submit a completion certificate application to the Regulator for approval. A completion certificate application must include a prescribed list of information regarding the client, the principal dutyholders and a description of the HRB work, including as-built information. This must include a statement from the client confirming that to the best of their knowledge the higher-risk building, as built and including all controlled changes, complies with all applicable requirements of the Building Regulations and that a copy of the golden thread information has been provided to your client’s principal accountable person. The Regulator must then determine a completion certificate application within eight weeks. If the client intends to occupy their building before all of the HRB work is complete on that building, they need to submit a partial completion certificate application to the Regulator which is a similar process to the completion certification application and again the Regulator requires eight weeks to determine the application. If the Regulator is satisfied that the HRB work is complete and complies with all applicable requirements of the Building Regulations, the Regulator will issue a completion certificate. If they do not agree, then the Regulator will issue a rejection notice. No part of a completed higher-risk building may be legally occupied unless or until the building has been registered with the Regulator.

In addition to the gateways, duty holders must maintain a "golden thread" of information—accurate and up-to-date records about building safety—throughout the building's lifecycle. This is the legal duty of the client to make arrangements for an electronic record to be created and maintained by them or someone acting on their behalf. As a designer of HRB work architects have a legal duty to provide copies of any design they are responsible for preparing as part of the building control approval application for inclusion in the golden thread information. 

Under the HRB Regulations, the principal dutyholders must establish a system that enables, as far as is reasonably practicable, the prompt reporting of every safety occurrence to the dutyholders by any designer, any contractor and any other person who is a periodic visitor to the site of HRB work.

This chapter underscores the importance of understanding and adhering to the Building Safety Act 2022 for ensuring safe design practices, particularly for higher-risk buildings. It highlights architects' responsibilities in collaborating with regulators and maintaining comprehensive safety documentation.

So those are the steps an architect should take with regards to The Building Safety Act 2022 and Building Safety Regulations, now lets move on to Chapter 8 - Building Safety Design:

This chapter focuses on key safety considerations that architects and designers must integrate into their projects to ensure safe construction, use, maintenance, and demolition of buildings. 

This chapter focuses on four key sections:

• Fire and Life Safety
• Structural safety in buildings
• Public health and public safety in buildings
• Construction products and safety critical products

Looking at Fire and Life Safety firstly in more detail:

To be competent in designing for fire and life safety, a designer must:

• Understand current fire safety legislation and how it applies to the project during design and construction.
• Be familiar with fire safety management practices, including passive (e.g., fire-resistant materials) and active(e.g., alarms, sprinklers) protection systems.
• Know the scope of their design responsibilities, how they fit into the overall fire strategy, and how to collaborate with other professionals.
• Engage early in defining the fire strategy and clarify their role in coordination with clients, residents, fire safety specialists, regulators, and dutyholders under CDM and related regulations.
• Apply knowledge of fire behaviour, spread, protection systems, evacuation, and firefighting principles during design development.

Overall, effective fire safety design requires a proactive, informed, and collaborative approach throughout the project lifecycle.

Now lets move onto the next key section of Chapter 8, Structural Safety in Buildings which focuses on:

The importance of robust structural design to prevent collapse or failure and understanding the interrelationship of the architectural and structural design of a project. In order to do so, designers need to grasp the principles of structural behaviour under load and in fire, the importance of structural fixings, and maintenance needs across the building’s lifecycle as well as adopting the relevant requirements of the Building Regulations. They should then engage with a competent structural engineer to ensure design elements support safety and avoid failures that could endanger lives.

Designers should understand and help mitigate risks from temporary works, environmental factors, and material or construction issues that could lead to failures some of which include:

• Fire
• Corrosion or decay
• Vehicle impact
• Overloading due to poor drainage
• Inadequate fixings or support and so on

Structural failures tend to be well recorder, their main causes are typically due to:

• Design flaws or weak fabrication
• Poor construction or supervision
• Use of defective/substituted materials
• Environmental deterioration
• Inadequate robustness for rare but real-world events

As such, designers must anticipate and plan for emergencies to ensure the structure remains stable long enough for safe evacuation and response. Which is why structural design should be integrated with safety planning, especially for exposed or load-critical elements like cladding, windows, and balustrades.

Generally, achieving structural safety is a collaborative, informed process that involves proactive design decisions, risk mitigation, and ongoing coordination with specialists throughout the project to help ensure the project safety outcomes are achieved.

Now lets move onto the next key section of Chapter 8, Public Health and Public Safety in Buildings:

Whilst fire and structural safety risks are the most likely risks to result in catastrophic failure, public health and public safety risks have the potential to cause serious longer-term harm to the occupants of the project. Building Regulations and British Standards provide useful guidance that assists architects to identify and develop a design solution to mitigate public health and safety risks. 

The most common public health and safety risks architects should be aware of include:

• Site contaminants, which may be solid, liquid or gaseous contaminants
• Asbestos 
• Ventilation, damp and moisture, which if not managed properly will have a detrimental impact on the indoor air quality of the project.
• Overheating and heating failure, which poses serious public health risks if occupants are exposed to  excessive or prolonged periods of high or low temperatures
• Water supply, hot water storage, drainage systems and waste 
• Gas supply, combustion devices and carbon monoxide 
• Electrical safety and lightning protection 
• Guarding, balustrades, staircases and glazing safety which can pose risks to slip and trips and falls from height 

The design of systems to address such safety issues requires careful coordination to ensure that all the specified systems work together and do not compromise one another, or the structural and fire safety measures designed into the building. As a designer, architect have a duty to provide information regarding the management, maintenance, installation or replacement of any construction products or systems to ensure the ongoing maintenance and integrity of building safety systems.

And lastly, looking at the final section of Chapter 8 covering Construction Products and Safety-Critical Products:

As a designer, especially if acting as lead or principal designer, architects have a duty to coordinate closely with the wider design team and the client to take a holistic approach to building safety.

This means understanding the materials, products, and systems specified, not just how they work individually, but how they interact as part of a complete building system. As such, architects need to review technical literature from manufacturers, particularly testing, assessment, and maintenance information, and flag any gaps or inconsistencies that could affect safety over the building’s life.

When considering materials, products and systems as part of design development, architects need to think of their appropriateness for their intended use and that they will function individually but also collectively. Considering interfaces between details and between consultants designs ensuring they work together and do no compromise performance, integrity and durability. 

To satisfy themselves that their selection and specification of materials, products and systems are correct, architects will need to obtain relevant information regarding their performance characteristics, including their durability, in the context of the project. As such, when choosing products, architects shouldn’t rely solely on CE or UKCA marks as they show a product was tested but not necessarily that it meets specific requirements. They should, therefore, look for independent, third-party certification and ensure the field of application for any product testing aligns with how its planned to be used.

Under measures introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA), the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) now has responsibility to provide oversight and national regulation of the construction products market in Great Britain. If a product is found to be unsafe, especially safety critical products, they can be recalled, and non-compliant manufacturers may face criminal charges.

If a product doesn’t quite match the test criteria, architects  may need to: 

• Adapt their design,
• Choose an alternative product,
• Seek expert advice,
• Or commission new testing specific to the project.

To avoid delays, wherever possible, architects should encourage manufacturers to test their products in realistic conditions that match the scenarios designing for. In short, it’s the designers responsibility to ensure their specifications are safe, appropriate, and coordinated to deliver safe, durable buildings.

So those are the steps an architect should take with regards to Building Safety Design, now lets move on to the final chapter within the Health and Safety Guide, Chapter 9 - Principles of Fire Safety Design:

This chapter provides a comprehensive exploration of fire safety principles for architects and designers to ensure their design risk management with respect to fire safety design is effective and their understand the basic principles of fire science and how construction materials perform in the event of a fire. 

This chapter focuses on three key sections:

• Ignition, development and spread of fire
• Fire performance of construction materials
• Design for fire safety

Looking at Ignition, development and spread of fire firstly in more detail:

Fires typically progress through stages of ignition, growth, flashover phase, fully developed phase, and decay. Many factors can cause ignition on construction sites, some of which include electrical faults, uncontrolled hot works, discarded cigarettes, and arson.

Factors influencing fire spread include convection, which occurs in fluids and gases, conduction, which occurs when heat from the fire is transferred between two materials that are in direct contact and radiation, which occurs when heat from the fire is transferred by electromagnetic waves. Hence the importance of compartmentalisation to limit fire spread by dividing buildings into sections with fire-resistant barriers.

Next moving onto the next key section of Chapter 9, Fire Performance of Construction Materials:

The materials specified in a building’s design play a significant role in its fire safety and as such are classified by two characteristics, their reaction to fire and their fire resistance.

Their reaction to fire is essentially their combustibility which can be tested, assessed and classified on accordance with BS EN 13501-1. These test results provide a classification from A1 (highest performance i.e. non-combustible) to F (lowest performance i.e. highly combustible). Untested materials cannot be classified. Materials, products and systems assessed by the standard determines their potential to produce smoke or create flaming droplets. The sub-classifications for smoke production are: s1, s2 or s3, with s1 indicating the lowest production and s3 indicating no limit on smoke production.

In terms of their fire resistance, this is the ability of materials to withstand exposure to fire without losing structural integrity. Meaning their resistance to collapse, fire penetration and transfer of excessive heat. 

As mentioned tests and certifications are critical in helping designers understand the reaction of fire and fire resistance of any material, product or system specified. Appropriate testing information that should be obtained from the manufacturer or supplier prior to specifying a material, product or system should include third-party certification produced following an independent test and assessment by a UKAS accredited testing and certification body. Where it is not possible to obtain third-party certification, an assessment or technical evaluation produced by an accredited fire test laboratory or qualified fire consultant may be used.

When selecting materials, products or systems for use in the construction of an external wall for a relevant building, designer will need to demonstrate that they meet the functional requirements of Building Regulations Part B4. There are four ways this can be done, which are referred to as routes to compliance, these include: 

• Only specifying materials that have had their fire performance tested and certified with a European Class rating,
• Procuring an independent third-party, full-scale fire test to demonstrate that the proposed wall construction meets the performance criteria,
• Where it is impractical or not feasible to carry out a full-scale test, procuring an assessment in lieu of a test in accordance with BS EN 9414 – Fire performance of external cladding systems based on the application of results from BS 8414-1 and BS 8414-2 tests or BS EN 15725 – Extended application reports on the fire performance of construction products and building elements,
• Specifying products that are classified as belonging to Classes A.

And lastly, looking at the final section of Chapter 9 covering, Design for Fire Safety:

Effective fire safety design involves incorporating strategies that address both active and passive fire protection measures:

Passive fire protection refers to static systems that are part of a building’s construction and active fire protection refers to systems that require a command signal or positive action to activate them in the event of a fire.

Passive and active fire protection systems address different aspects of fire protection and are co-dependent, often working together to provide an effective fire protection strategy. For example, fire-rated construction will prevent fire spread whilst an automatic suppression system will limit fire growth.

Evacuation strategies play a fundamental part to the fire safety strategy. Designers should ensure their fire safety strategy considers:

• Delayed evacuation, whereby users or residents remain in place whilst the fire is tackled by the fire service. This strategy relies on adequate fire and smoke compartmentation and requires a suitable alternative evacuation plan in case a full evacuation becomes necessary
• Phased Evacuation, whereby occupants are evacuated in phases. When this approach is used for high-rise residential buildings, the residents most at risk from a fire are evacuated first. 
• Progressive evacuation, this approach is adopted when its not possible for occupants to evacuate the building simultaneously. There are two managed strategies under this evacuation process, the progressive horizontal evacuation and the zoned evacuation. The strategy involves moving occupants to temporary places of safety within the building where they can remain until they can be evacuated safely.
• Simultaneous evacuation, this approach is adopted when the effects of a fire render it unsafe for occupants to remain in the building. This is usually tackled through a single-staged evacuation or two-stage evacuation. 

In some instances or project a personal emergency evacuation plan is put together as a bespoke evacuation strategy for an individual who may not be able to reach an ultimate place of safety unaided or within a satisfactory period of time in the event of any emergency. In other instances a generic emergency evacuation plan is used which provides a similar form of evacuation strategy for a visitor to a building who may require assistance to evacuate the building.

Provision for firefighting is also crucial regarding fire safety and is also a requirement of the Building Regulations which sets a requirement to provide reasonable facilities to assist firefighters, as well as reasonable provision to enable firefighters to gain access to the building.

To conclude, this chapter encouraging architects and designers to adopt a holistic approach to fire safety. This includes collaborating with fire engineers, staying informed about advancements in fire-resistant technologies, and considering the entire lifecycle of the building when making design decisions. This chapter serves as a reminder that fire safety is not just about compliance but about designing environments where people feel safe and protected. By understanding the principles outlined here, architects can create buildings that prioritise life safety without compromising on design quality or functionality.

To sum up what I discussed today:

Last week we covered the first five chapters, this week we looked at the remaining four chapters of the RIBA Health & Safety Guide.

• Chapter 6 - Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 - The CDM Regulations outline legal duties for architects as designers and principal designers to identify risks early in the project lifecycle and communicate residual risks effectively.
• Chapter 7 - The Building Safety Act 2022 and Building Safety Regulations - The Building Safety Act introduces stricter building control processes for higher-risk buildings, requiring architects to maintain a "golden thread" of accurate safety information throughout the building’s lifecycle.
• Chapter 8 - Building Safety Design - Architects must embed fire safety strategies, structural stability measures, public health considerations, and safe material specifications into their designs to protect occupants and users.
• Chapter 9 - Principles of Fire Safety Design - Fire safety design focuses on understanding fire behaviour, specifying fire-resistant materials, ensuring safe evacuation routes, and complying with regulations to mitigate fire risks effectively.