The Responsible Person(s) for any high-rise residential building (at least 18m or seven storeys in height) must meet the following requirements, in addition to those set out for all multi-occupied residential buildings, of two or more sets of domestic premises, and all multi-occupied residential buildings of over 11m in height.
See the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 section of this website to see full details of what the Responsible Person must do. There are also quick links below to the three main areas:
- Building plans: provide their local FRS with up-to-date building floor plans by electronic means and to place a hard copy of these plans, alongside a single page building plan which identifies key firefighting equipment, in a secure information box on site.
- External wall systems: provide to their local FRS information about the design and materials of a high-rise building’s external wall system and to inform the FRS of any material changes to these walls. Also, they will be required to provide information in relation to the level of risk that the design and materials of the external wall structure gives rise to and any mitigating steps taken.
- Lifts and other key firefighting equipment: undertake monthly checks on the operation of lifts intended for use by firefighters, and evacuation lifts in their building and check the functionality of other key pieces of firefighting equipment. They will also be required to report any defective lifts or equipment to their local FRS as soon as possible after detection, if the fault cannot be fixed within 24 hours, and to record the outcome of checks and make them available to residents.
- Secure information boxes: install and maintain a secure information box in their building. This box must contain the name and contact details of the Responsible Person and hard copies of the building floor plans.
- Wayfinding signage: install signage visible in low light or smoky conditions that identifies flat and floor numbers in the stairwells of relevant buildings.
Fact sheets in support of the above have been produced by the Government and can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-england-regulations-2022