The Royal Institute
of British Architects has renewed its call for a cultural change within the
industry following the release of the first phase inquiry report into the
Grenfell Tower fire.
Inquiry chair Sir
Martin Moore-Bick has called for new fire guidelines
which would mark shift away from the stay put advice advice
given currently for high rise incidents.
He told ministers to
develop national guidelines for total or partial evacuation of towers and to
make it illegal for owners and managers of high-rise buildings not to draw up
evacuation plans.
There was no
contingency plan to evacuate Grenfell, and when the order finally came it was
too late for many people who subsequently died. There was no alarm or PA system
to broadcast an evacuation instruction to residents, and firefighters had to
lend their breathing apparatus kits to fleeing residents because they did not
have specialist evacuation equipment such as smoke hoods.
He said new
guidelines were needed, which should include ways to protect fire exit routes
and procedures for evacuating people who are unable to use the stairs or may
require assistance, such as disabled people, older people and young children.
Chair of the RIBA’s
Expert Advisory Group on Fire Safety, Jane Duncan, said: “This first detailed
report from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry makes for difficult reading. Significant
cultural change is needed by the whole of the UK construction industry to address
fire and life safety in the design and construction of buildings.
"The
frightening truth remains that England’s fire safety regulations lag behind
other countries including Wales, Scotland, the USA and UAE. Aside from the
combustible cladding ban on new build housing over 18 metres, the Government
has still not yet committed to the simple regulatory changes that are so
desperately needed to ensure our buildings are safe.
"Since the
night of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, there have been several other residential
fires, and of the 435 existing buildings identified with cladding systems
similar to Grenfell, only 114 have had this successfully removed and replace.
"For
over two years, the RIBA has been calling for new regulations on cladding,
sprinklers and means of warning and escape because our buildings are not safe.
Action is needed now.”
Lord Porter, the
LGA's building safety spokesman, said the tragedy that unfolded at Grenfell
Tower and claimed at least 72 lives in such an unimaginable and heart-breaking
way, must never be allowed to happen again.
“There are
undoubtedly lessons that can be learned about how the fire service responded on
that tragic night as it faced the worst fire in this country for more than half
a century," he said. "However, the inquiry has made a fundamental
error by examining the response to the fire before examining its causes. The
consequence of this is to scapegoat the fire service while those responsible
for the fire have yet to be exposed or held to account.
“It is clear that
the fire was caused by a catastrophic failure of the building safety system in
England. This has been proven by the number of public and private buildings
with flammable material and the number of modern buildings which are behaving
in unexpectedly dangerous ways when they catch fire. Reform of this broken
system cannot come soon enough.
“Government has to
ensure any new regulatory system not only covers high-rise residential
buildings, but extends to any building where vulnerable people sleep like
hospitals, care homes and residential schools. Those who live in, work and
visit high-rise and high-risk buildings must be safe. We look forward to
continuing to work with the Government at pace to deliver the much-needed
reform to ensure residents are safe and feel safe.”
