The Housing Forum welcomes the long-awaited technical guidance on second staircases in tall buildings. The consultation on this guidance was released in December 2022, and the delay in publishing the response and technical guidance has led to uncertainty across the housing sector. We have been aware of many sites that have stalled because of the lack of information around what exactly is required (such as the maximum distance permitted between flat entrances and the staircases) . We raised these concerns previously on behalf of our members across the housing sector.
Publication of the technical details on Good Friday was therefore extremely welcome and will allow many stalled sites to resume – following redesign. Clarity over the purpose of the second staircase and explicit statement from government that there may be situations when the ‘Stay put’ advice may need to be over-ridden is very helpful.
The transitional arrangements in theory allow buildings to be built to the current single-staircase requirements until September 2026. However, in practice this is unlikely to happen as planning permission is not being granted on single staircase buildings.
Anna Clarke, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at The Housing Forum said:
The Fire Service has been objecting to planning applications that do not include a second staircase ever since the consultation was launched back in December 2022. In the absence of technical guidance, this has meant that many tall buildings recently have been designed to a more stringent specification than is in fact going to be required. We don’t expect to see many – if any – single staircase buildings starting to be built during the 30-month transitional period.
Improved safety of residents in tall buildings is extremely welcome, However, we would like to see the Government do more to mitigate the costs of the second staircases particularly for the affordable housing sector. The additional build costs and loss of floorspace have created viability problems on some sites, and a loss of affordable housing on others. Funding is needed for the social housing sector to offset these costs. We would also like to see local planning authorities encouraged to be flexible over redesign and changes in height in order to accommodate a second staircase in all tall buildings without reducing the number of new homes provided.
For comments please contact: Anna Clarke, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, 07442 405513 or anna.clarke@housingforum.org.uk.
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