Government Consulting On Fire Safety Design For Schools

The Department for Education has published a revised version of Building Bulletin 100 and is now consulting on updated and expanded guidance that sees school boarding accommodation included for the first time.

BB 100 is non-statutory guidance that advises how to minimize the spread of fire within a school and how to ensure the building structure is adequately resistant to the effects of fire. It also sets out the requirements for fire and rescue services to access schools in the event of a fire.

The draft guidance now out for consultation is 119 pages long and is divided into four substantial parts.

• Detailed design guidance for a fire strategy for a school design that will satisfy building regulations.
• School-specific design considerations for fire safety.
• Property protection, with a major emphasis on sprinklers.
• Fire safety management.

First substantial update

In the first substantial update since 2007, the guidance has been simplified based on a call for evidence launched in 2019. As a result, the new draft:

• Sets minimum levels of automatic fire detection and alarm systems provision.
• Recommends those single escape stairs should not be allowed in new construction and that lifts in multi-storey schools should be evacuation level standard.
• Increases the allowable fire compartment sizes to match the general levels for educational buildings set by MHCLG.
• Raises the standards required for external wall cladding.
• Places further restrictions on the provision of noticeboards in teaching spaces.

Draft guidance

The draft guidance includes provisions for sprinklers and recommends that they are installed in all new school buildings 11m and above, in new special schools and in new boarding accommodations.

The Department for Education is asking for consultation responses in eight topic areas:

• Fire Suppression Systems
• Fire detection and alarms systems
• Vertical means of escape
• Compartmentation
• Inclusive Design for special schools
• Boarding Accommodation
• Cladding
• Fire Safety Management

The consultation exercise runs from 27 May to 18 August 2021.