Planning Gateway One - Fire safety matters relevant to planning
Assessment matters
In general, the assessment will cover the following broad categories and their impact on land use planning:
- Means of escape
- Fire service access and facilities
- External fire spread
HSE will focus on fire safety design matters that will impact on access, layout of the development, shape and appearance of buildings, landscaping, cycle and car parking provision, and use including space available for residential units.
Where fire safety issues are limited to the internal layout of a building, e.g., the provision of lobbies and internal doors, HSE may identify these matters as supplementary information rather than as concerns. Applicants should not infer from the identification of these matters that a comprehensive review of building regulation matters has been undertaken at Planning Gateway One, and that addressing them will necessarily satisfy the requirements of later regulatory stages. These are matters that have come to our attention at the planning stage based on the information in the planning application, but which are likely to be picked up at the building regulations application stage. However, where the issue, for example, relates to the need for an external access door or an alternative means of escape from an upper storey, this will raise land use planning considerations related to the appearance of the building, possibly landscaping and possibly the space available for residential and other uses.
The following sections describe HSE’s approach to assessing fire safety matters relevant to land use planning considerations.
Means of escape
The way in which residents escape from a fire in a building is of significant interest to HSE and can be material to land use planning considerations. When assessing means of escape HSE are considering whether appropriate means of escape to a place of safety outside the building are proposed, and whether these can be used safely during a fire incident by all occupiers of the building, including those who are visually, cognitively or mobility impaired. This could include the number and dimensions of escape routes and their interaction with other uses, and the location and space available for refuge. The number of escape routes has a bearing on the dimensions of a building. This directly affects land use considerations such as layout, appearance and massing of the building.
The interactions between escape routes and higher fire risk areas such as covered car parks and basement areas will be of particular interest to HSE. Also, the configuration of uses in the building will also affect land use planning considerations, due to the need for separate means of escape for different uses.
The provision of safe escape routes, including stairs, may have consequences for residential amenity in terms of the convenience of connections to ancillary uses such as covered car parks, refuse stores and cycle stores. In turn, this may create a tension with other standards related to disabled access and travel distances for residents to refuse stores. It will be for the LPA to decide what weight to attach to conflicting standards in these situations if they cannot be resolved by a design change. This will affect the appearance of the development but may also have wider implications for the design and layout of the development, including landscaping.
Firefighting operations may also impact on internal and external escape routes. For example, firefighters may wedge open doors with charged hoses potentially exposing escape routes to fire, smoke and heat and so the options available for escape and the protection of escape routes will be of interest to HSE in that context. HSE will assess the potential of conflicting flows of residents and firefighters along an escape route and the potential for obstructions caused by firefighting equipment and vehicles. This has implications for the layout of the development and how escape routes can be used safely during an incident.
The location and proximity of external doors, smoke vents and windows to protected corridors and firefighting shafts should not pose a risk to the means of escape. This is to avoid fire and smoke from a fire in a flat or ancillary area compromising the escape route. This may have an impact on the appearance of the building if a window or external door needs to be moved further away from a window or external door serving the protected corridor or staircase.
If new or expanded water suppression systems are needed to serve a development then this may require new or expanded infrastructure such as pumps and water tanks, which may need additional space in the building, potentially affecting the layout and appearance of the development.
Firefighting access and facilities
A development should include reasonable facilities to assist fire fighters and reasonable provision for fire service vehicles to access a building or buildings within a development. Access arrangements in and around a site are a material planning consideration. Where improved fire appliance access is needed to ensure fast and efficient firefighting operations, this may involve changes to landscaping in the development to allow a fire appliance to park closer to a building, such as new or different routes into or around the development, turning circles for fire appliances and new areas of hardstanding.
Similarly, the need for improved access to water may involve the need for new or relocated hydrants in the surrounding landscape or fire main inlets on the face of a building. Long runs of pipework between the fire main inlet and outlet are detrimental to water pressure levels and are not practical as they often result in extended distances for firefighters to travel. Resolving these issues may result in changes to the appearance of a building and landscaping.
Excessive travel distances for firefighters inside buildings, for instance, the distance between the firefighting shaft door and the furthest flat door on any floor, are likely to be a concern. Excessive travel distances will present onerous conditions for firefighters and can be detrimental to a firefighter’s physiology. For example, buildings that contain a storey with a gross internal floor area over 900 m2 and which is 18 metres or more above the fire service access will require at least two firefighting shafts. Where this is not provided, changes are likely to mean the number and configuration of flats and other uses will be affected to accommodate an additional fire shaft.
External fire spread
HSE will look at the risk of fire spread over external walls and to other buildings. HSE will review the application to ensure separation distances and boundaries have been properly considered by the applicant.
Openings and vents in walls near the boundary and close to other properties will also be of interest in the assessment, to understand how heat, fire and smoke will affect buildings within the development and properties next to it. In this context, ventilation for covered car parks and lightwells into basements are of interest.
HSE will also consider the fire performance of materials to be used in external wall systems, to ensure adequate assessment and consideration of the materials has been undertaken by the applicant. This is so that the materials used adequately resist the spread of fire over the external walls of a building.
Any design changes resulting from concerns about the risk of external fire spread can affect the layout, appearance, cycle and car parking provision and landscaping of a development.