With major fire safety changes becoming mandatory for residential buildings over 18m in height in England in 2026, we caught up with Ellen Smith and Polly Clifton from our Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) team to get their insight into how the proposals could impact your upcoming schemes.
Back in July 2023, the UK Government announced its intention to mandate second staircases in all new residential buildings above 18 metres in height. In October 2023, they then released further guidance by elaborating on the intended transitional arrangements, allowing a period of 30 months from the date of publication of the updated Building Regulations before the changes will need to be adhered to. In March 2024, the UK Government published its technical guidance setting out amendments to Approved Document B (Fire Safety), making second staircases mandatory in all new residential buildings over 18m in England from 30 September 2026. Developers whose schemes are already consented will be allowed 18 months for their schemes to progress, after which they will be required to submit a fresh application under the updated Building Regulations.
Implications for developers
Whilst generally welcomed from a building safety standpoint, the planned changes have implications for the amount of saleable or rentable floorspace within schemes, challenging their viability. Developers with schemes that are in the latter stages of design, as well as those for which planning applications have already been submitted and/or consented, will need to decide whether to proceed with the designs in their existing form, or submit applications which make provision for a second staircase in light of the transitional arrangements and their timescales. The latter will typically require developers to either increase the height, scale or massing of applicable buildings to account for the loss of floorspace, or change the sizes or overall mix of housing provision and tenure split. For schemes that have been approved but have not yet been implemented, there is also the question of whether the proposed changes amount to a non-material or material change and, therefore, whether they can be agreed through a S96a or S73 application, or whether an entirely new application is required. This is for discussion with the Local Planning Authority (LPA).
Planning and design considerations
Where schemes are ‘EIA Development’, the nature of the changes and planning strategy will determine the way that environmental information is presented, whether it is by way of a Statement of Conformity (SoC), an Addendum to the original Environmental Statement (ES) or an entirely new ES. Typically, design changes are required to accommodate new second staircases within the design. The impact of accommodating a second staircase may affect key characteristics such as the size or number of units, building footprint, massing, external appearance, entrances, and balcony locations.
Impacts on EIA
The EIA technical topics that are most likely to need further consideration are those which are affected by height, massing and floorspace. The following EIA topics may be affected, and the following questions should be raised during the review process:
- Socio-economics: Do the design changes impact the accommodation schedule? Has the number of units changed? Does this impact child yield or population calculations in the original ES? Are any commercial areas affected? If so, do the job creation calculations require revision?
- Townscape: Is the facade detail or massing affected by the design changes?
- Daylight/sunlight/overshadowing: Are there any changes to windows previously assessed? Has massing been impacted as a result of the design changes?
- Wind microclimate: Is the massing affected by the proposed design changes? Does the new stair core introduce any new entrances or changes to balcony locations?
In addition to these key considerations, it is important to establish if there have been any changes to policy and guidance, or if the previous baseline of the EIA is still valid to establish the significant environmental impacts of the revised scheme. Topics such as ground conditions, flood risk, ecology and archaeology are typically less affected.
Applying this to your projects
Owing to the individual characteristics of sites and proposals, there is no ‘rule of thumb’ where quantitative remodelling is required or whether a statement of professional judgement will suffice. As a result, it is important to seek agreement on the approach with the LPA, either formally or informally, ahead of submitting any additional information to ensure the effort, time and costs are proportionate. The level of information required will also differ depending on the amount of flexibility that has been built into the parameters for outline/hybrid planning applications.
Since the Government announcement in 2023, our team has been regularly advising clients on the potential EIA implications of second staircases for projects at all stages of planning. If this issue is affecting your development, contact Polly Clifton (polly.clifton@watermangroup.com) or Ellen Smith (ellen.smith@watermangroup.com) in our EIA team to discuss the best approach to suit your specific circumstances.
