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C S. Todd & Associates Ltd Report for The Grenfell Tower Inquiry LEGISLATION, GUIDANCE AND ENFORCING AUTHORITIES RELEVANT TO FIRE SAFETY MEASURES AT GRENFELL TOWER C S. TODD & ASSOCIATES LTD l m- \ifcn Consuhmu March 2018 CTAR0000000CTAR00000001/11 0001 LEGISLATION, GUIDANCE AND ENFORCING AUTHORITIES RELEVANT TO FIRE SAFETY MEASURES AT GRENFELL TOWER Report by: Reviewed by: Colin Todd MSc, FIFireE, MIRM, MSFPE. Steven Daws BSC, MSc, CEng, FIFireE, C.Build E, FCABE CPhys, FInstP, C.Build E, FCABE, CEng, FIET Technical Director Managing Director Stephen Robinson BEng, MSc, CEng, MIFireE C.S. Todd & Associates Ltd Associate Director and Head of Fire Engineering Hutton Roof Egiinton Road Rushmoor Farnham Surrey GU10 2DH Malcolm Hoare, MIFireE Tel: 01252 792088 Associate Director and Head of Specialist Training Fax: 01252 794165 E-maii: [email protected] Website: www.cstodd.co.uk March 2018 CTAR0000000CTAR00000001/21 0002 CONTENTS Page 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 3. THE TWO BRANCHES OF FIRE SAFETY LEGISLATION 20 PART 1: BUILDING LEGISLATION 22 4. LONDON BUILDING LEGISLATION 23 5. NATIONAL BUILDING REGULATIONS 36 PART 2: FIRE SAFETY AND HOUSING LEGISLATION 80 6. THE FIRE PRECAUTIONS ACT 1971 81 7. SECTION 72 OF THE BUILDING ACT 1984 84 8. THE WORKPLACE FIRE PRECAUTIONS LEGISLATION 85 9. REGULATORY REFORM (FIRE SAFETY) ORDER 2005 92 10. HOUSING ACT 2004 113 11. THE SMOKE & CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM (ENGLAND) 115 REGULATIONS 2015 PART 3: VULNERABLE PEOPLE 116 12. EVACUATION OR RESCUE OF VULNERABLE PEOPLE 117 ANNEX A - Relevant chronology of Grenfell Tower ANNEX B - Timeline Summary ANNEX C - References and Bibliography ANNEX D - Bodies to which this report refers ANNEX E - Relevant qualifications and experience of the author CTAR0000000CTAR00000001/31 0003 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 I have prepared this report on the instructions of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry ("the Inquiry"). My instructions were set out in a letter, dated 13 November 2017 and signed by Ms Cathy Kennedy, Deputy Solicitor to the Inquiry. 1.2 My instructions require that, to assist in Phase 1 of the Inquiry, I prepare a report that addresses the following issues namely: i. ) Relevant statutory and regulatory requirements in force at the different stages ofthe design, construction and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, with a view to creating a regulatory framework which can be relied upon by all of the Inquiry's expert witnesses. ii. ) How the needs of vulnerable persons must be considered and met in accordance with the 15 duties imposed by Articles 8-22 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 ("the Fire Safety Order"). 1.3 Grenfell Tower is a high-rise residential tower block of 24 floors and so a height (to the topmost storey) of around 63m. The upper surface of the plant room is approximately 70m above ground. At the time of the fire on 14 June 2017, the building incorporated 129 one and two-bedroom flats, the majority of which were tenanted, but around 15 of which were leasehold flats; some leasehold flats may have been sub-tenanted. Flat entrance doors open into lobbies, which are separated from the stairway by a fire-resisting door. 1.4 On each floor, there is a refuse chute room, which is separated from the adjacent flat lobby area by a substantial door. In addition, there are various plant rooms, typically found in a block of flats, including a basement boiler room and roof level lift motor room. At ground floor level, there is an electrical sub-station and bin room, both of which are accessed from open air. 1.5 In common with many similar tower blocks, the building was served by a single stairway, which provided the means of escape from upper floors in the event of fire. Upper floors could be accessed by means of two lifts. As is normally the case in modern, high-rise blocks of flats, there was no communal fire alarm system, but smoke detectors were provided in the communal flat lobbies as part of the building's smoke control system. Hardwired domestic smoke and heat alarms (smoke alarms in entrance hallways and heat alarms in kitchens) were provided within flats to provide a warning to each resident in the event of a fire within their own flat. 1.6 The building was constructed in the early 1970s, but was subject to various alterations or refurbishments, the latest of which was completed in 2016 and included overcladding with proprietary thermal insulation and rainscreen cladding. As part of the refurbishment, nine of the 129 flats were incorporated, and accommodation was provided for a boxing club and a nursery, the latter of which was accessed externally, while access to the boxing club was located in the ground floor hallway. 1 CTAR0000000CTAR00000001/41 0004 1.7 For the purpose of this report, I have interpreted the need for advice on relevant legislation to extend to the relevant guidance produced, or used by enforcing authorities, in support of the legislation, and to the authorities responsible for application of and/or enforcement of the legislation ("enforcing authorities"). 1.8 Over the life of Grenfell Tower, the relevant legislation and guidance was subject to periodic change. In this connection, there is a lack of clarity as to the date on which approval for the original design of the building was granted under relevant building legislation. Given that changes occurred in the relevant guidance around the time of construction of Grenfell Tower, this does create some ambiguity in relation to the requirements that would have been imposed under building legislation. 1.9 In this connection, I reproduce, as Annex A to this report, the relevant chronology provided to me by Ms Cathy Kennedy, which I understand was prepared by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea ("RBKC"). It will be noted from this chronology that the building is said to have been designed in 1967, and that construction took place between 1972-1974. This would be consistent with my understanding that approval under building legislation was granted around 1971. 1.10 In preparing the advice contained in this report, I do not hold myself out as qualified in the field of law. My advice is based on my practical experience of the relevant legislation and my long-standing working relationships with both regulators (by which I refer to the relevant Government Departments) and enforcing authorities, particularly fire and rescue authorities. 1.11 The following section of this report contains a short summary of the report. In Section 3, I describe the two branches of legislation under which fire safety is controlled. Thereafter, my report is divided into three parts; Part 1 is concerned with the first of the two branches of legislation, namely building legislation, which applies when a building is designed and built or subsequently altered, while Part 2 is concerned with the second branch, namely fire safety and housing legislation, under which there is ongoing control of fire safety after the building is in use. In Part 3, I consider the needs of vulnerable persons in relation to the duties imposed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 ("the Fire Safety Order"). 1.12 Part 1, Section 4 of this report is concerned with London building legislation, which was applicable to building work carried out at Grenfell Tower until 1986 and, to some extent, until 2013. Section 5 addresses the Building Regulations in England and Wales, which applied to building work carried out at Grenfell Tower from 1986 until the time of the fire. In both sections, I discuss the relevant guidance produced in support of the legislation; in practice, it was the recommendations of guidance, rather than the legislation itself, that would have influenced the design of fire safety measures at Grenfell Tower. 2 CTAR0000000CTAR00000001/51 0005 1.13 In Part 2, I have endeavoured to include all legislation that had the potential to impact on fire safety at Grenfell Tower, as an occupied building, after the time of construction, other than in relation to new building work, which was a matter for the legislation described in Part 1. Within Part 2, I have included legislation that had only the most minimal of impact on fire safety at Grenfell Tower, lest reference be made to such legislation during the course of the Inquiry. As in Part 1, I discuss recommendations of the relevant guidance produced in support of the legislation. 1.14 In Section 6, I discuss the (now repealed) Fire Precautions Act 1971. In Section 7, I discuss section 72 ofthe Building Act 1984. In Section 8, I discuss the Workplace Fire Precautions Legislation, which is the name formally given to a combination of the (now revoked) Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (as amended) and certain (now revoked) requirements within the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999. 1.15 In Section 9, I discuss the Fire Safety Order, while, in Section 10, I discuss the Housing Act 2004. In practice, it was the Fire Safety Order and the Housing Act that had the greatest relevance to ongoing control over fire safety at Grenfell Tower at the time of the fire (after control of any material alterations under the Building Regulations). 1.16 In Section 11, I discuss the Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015. These Regulations did not apply to RBKC, but did impose requirements on any private sector landlord of any flat(s) in Grenfell Tower. 1.17 In Part 3, Section 12 is concerned with the evacuation and rescue of vulnerable people. 1.18 As noted above, in Annex A, I set out the relevant chronology of Grenfell Tower. In Annex B, I summarize, in the form of a timeline, the legislation that applied at the time of various milestone events in the construction, alteration and use of the building.
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