Committee urges government to expand ban to also include high-risk buildings such as hospitals, hotels, and student accommodations.
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee today issued its report on building regulations and fire safety. Having taken evidence from industry and fire safety experts, including ROCKWOOL Group Senior Vice President Mirella Vitale, the Committee endorses the UK government’s intention to ban the use of combustible materials in the external walls of high-rise residential buildings in England and urges the government to go further.
The Committee says the ban on combustible materials must also apply to existing as well as new buildings and to high-risk buildings such as residential homes, hospitals, hotels, and student accommodations. If adopted, these recommendations would significantly strengthen fire safety in a wider range of buildings than is currently envisioned in the government’s proposed ban.
ROCKWOOL’s Mirella Vitale comments, “We have long advocated for the government to require the use of non-combustible insulation and cladding on high-rise and high-risk buildings. The government’s proposed ban on combustible materials for high-rise residential buildings would go a long way toward achieving that objective, and we are extremely encouraged by the Committee’s recommendation to go further by covering a wider range of high-rise and high-risk buildings”.
Mirella Vitale comments further, “These are crucial steps in ensuring public safety, and we urge the government to adopt the Committee’s recommendations without delay”.
ROCKWOOL also welcomes the Committee’s proposal on funding remedial work to make existing public as well as private sector buildings safe.
