Technical Taskforce

Information Sheet 2010 04

Part B, BS 9999 and BS 7974

Introduction
Fire safety of buildings has come a long way since the regulations imposed after the
Great Fire of London in 1666, but the issues remain the same - how to get people
safely out of the building, and how to prevent the spread of the fire. The diarist and
eyewitness Samuel Pepys recorded that fewer than ten people were known to have
died in the Great Fire - in part at least because people were able to evacuate the
small buildings quickly. But there was massive destruction.
Nowadays, around 450 people die each year in the UK as a result of the 327,000
fires attended by rescue teams (source: Fire Statistics Monitor Quarter 4: 1 January
2008 - 31 December 2008, Communities and Local Government). These totals are
rather less than those for road traffic accidents, which account for around 2,538
deaths a year (source: Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2008 - Annual
Report, Department for Transport, 2008). But this does not mean that there is no
need for further improvements to fire safety precautions, particularly measures that
can help protect fire fighters and make it easier for people with disabilities to leave
the building. And of course reduction of fire spread and the stability of buildings is as
much an issue now as it was in Pepys day.
The introduction of the current Part B and supporting Approved Document B (2006)
was billed as one of the biggest shake-ups of fire regulations for 30 years. The
changes came into force on 6 April 2007, and cover all building work in England and
Wales, including the erection, extension or material alteration of a building, and how
fire safety is designed into a building. The Approved Document is now planned for
update (in 2016), not least due to the introduction of BS 9999:2008.
Approved Document B (AD B)
This is now split into two: AD B Volume 1 Dwellinghouses, and AD B Volume 2
Buildings other than dwellinghouses.
The rationale for this split is that AD B Volume 1 will be more accessible for small
firms specialising in domestic work, while AD B Volume 2 brings together in one
document all the more complex buildings and those covered by The Regulatory
Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Fire Safety Order - FSO) which came into force
on 1 October 2006.
However, it is important to remember that this sub-division is not the same as that
applied to Part L (Conservation of fuel and power): in Part B, blocks of flats are NOT

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a form of dwellinghouse, whereas in Part L all types of dwellings, including flats, are
dealt with together in Volume 1.
AD B Volume 1 Dwellinghouses
AD B Volume 1 defines a dwellinghouse as:
A unit of residential accommodation occupied (whether or not as a sole or main
residence):
a.
by a single person or by people living together as a family
b.
by not more than six residents living together as a single household, including a
household where care is provided for residents.
And it clarifies the definition by adding that a dwellinghouse does not include a flat
or a building containing a flat.
As intended, AD B Volume 1 is now an easier read than former guidance, and the
first few pages summarise the differences between the old and new versions in full.
The key changes cover:

domestic sprinklers;

smoke alarms;

escape windows;

locks and child-resistant safety stays;

replacement windows;

self-closing devices;

integral garages.
Understandably, considerable attention is given to loft conversions where effectively
a three storey building is formed. They present the most complex fire safety
challenge in simple dwellings. Fitting a fire door and providing an escape window to
the loft room only is no longer acceptable. Instead, there are three options:

provide a protected stairway with new fire resistant doors;

as above, but upgrading existing doors to provide the same level of resistance;
and

if the ground floor is open plan, a more comprehensive package of measures is

suggested, including a residential sprinkler system on the ground floor and an
escape window on the first floor.
Also, worthy of note is the fact that automatic door closers are not a requirement in
dwellinghouses, in part due to the risk of small children getting their fingers trapped.
AD B Volume 2 Buildings other than dwellinghouses
AD B Volume 2, by contrast, is necessarily more complex. A significant matter from
the designers point of view is the aim to ensure that the eventual owner, occupier or
employer has enough information to conduct the Fire Safety Risk Assessment
required by the FSO. To achieve this, designers are encouraged to produce a
preliminary fire risk assessment as part of the design process, ensure that sufficient
information is recorded to assist the eventual owner/occupier/employer to meet their
statutory duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and that they
are submitted to Building Control and the Fire Authority. It is important that designers
are aware that the issue of a completion certificate by the relevant building control
authority does not demonstrate that all of the obligations placed on the responsible
person under the FSO will have been met. Designers should be mindful of the FSO
order and risk assessment process and ensure that a feature of the building design
does not inhibit the appropriate management of the fire risks.
Despite the split into two volumes, AD B Volume 2 still covers some domestic
buildings - namely blocks of flats and houses that are converted into flats. So

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sprinklers, door closers, locks and child resistant safety stays are discussed again,
but this time with respect to blocks of flats. In addition, however, there is guidance to
ensure that air circulation systems within individual flats do not allow fire or smoke to
spread from a room into a fire protected corridor.
Under the AD B Volume 2, there are several possible solutions and, as with all
Approved Documents, it is possible for designers to propose tailored solutions. See
also BS 9999 and BS 7974 further on.
The thinking behind design issues in AD B Volume 2 is clear-cut; for example, the
requirement for evacuation routes to give consideration to the interaction between
people leaving the building and fire fighters trying to enter. This is a direct result of
lessons learned from major incidents in tall buildings such as the World Trade Center
in New York.
AD B Volume 2 also contains new guidance on:

the provision of sprinklers in tall (>30m) blocks of flats;

the provision of sprinklers or free swing devices in residential care homes;

inclusive design and the means of escape for disabled people;

a maximum compartment size for unsprinklered single-storey storage buildings.

But not all eventualities are discussed. For example, AD B refers to designs of
hospitals and schools where standards should meet the expectations of the
Department of Healths Health Technical Memorandum 05-02 and DfES Building
Bulletin 100 respectively, and reference is still made to the now (mostly) withdrawn
BS 5588.
BS 9999:2008 Code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and
use of buildings
AD B is clear in its intent and clear in its operation. Where there are limitations the
new BS 9999 comes into its own. This is an alternative to the use of Approved
Document B (England and Wales).
BS 9999:2008 has now superseded BS 5588 series (save for Part 1 of BS 5588:
Code of practice for residential buildings). It is now a recognised alternative to the
slightly simplistic approach of the guidance in Approved Document B (England and
Wales), Technical Booklet E (Northern Ireland), Technical Handbook Section 2
(Scotland), and Technical Guidance Document B (Ireland).
There are significant changes under BS 9999:2008. It derives benefit from fire
engineering principles and data to achieve longer escape distances and reduced
escape widths, compared with AD B (England and Wales), when additional safety
features are added in. The principles are applied through the use of tables and
factors, and achieve travel distances and escape widths that can be quite
advantageous to designers and their clients.
There are many nuances; for example, occupancy densities (risk profile and
occupancy characteristics) and management principles (for example proactive or
reactive management) which do not give the same answers as simply applying the
Purpose Group rule required under AD B (England and Wales). This means that the
building will be efficiently and safely designed under BS 9999 for the specific client
profile. It would not necessarily comply for another user within the same Purpose
Group as would be the case under AD B (England and Wales).

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Management is one key area of the new guidance. Designers and their clients must
ensure that the chosen management principles can be implemented.
So the great strength of BS 9999:2008 is also its great weakness: it will produce an
efficient, bespoke and safe design for the specific client, but could the client sell (or
obtain funding for) the efficiently designed building? The building may not comply for
another user. Would he rather pay more and have the extra staircase, or the
increased door widths / number of exits than is specifically required for his building
under the BS? Such extras may suit another operator in the same Purpose Group
and therefore may be invaluable to the clients future sale or lease prospects. These
are matters that the designer must establish clearly with his client.
The designer must ensure that his client understands the implications of choices to
be made in the standard of design required.
BS 7974:2001 Application of fire safety engineering principles to the design of
buildings. Code of practice
This is another, more complex, alternative to the use of Approved Document B
Guidance (England and Wales). AD B recognises fire safety engineering and a
means of providing an alternative approach to fire safety. In some types of large or
complex buildings and in buildings with a number of different uses, e.g. airport
terminals, fire safety engineering may be the only practical way to achieve an
appropriate standard of fire safety.
Fire safety engineering is defined as the application of scientific and engineering
principles, rules (codes), and expert judgement, based on an understanding of the
phenomena and effects of fire, and the reaction and behaviour of people to fire, to
protect people, property and the environment from the destructive effects of fire.
Fire Safety Engineering offers the opportunity for innovative and creative architecture
and for greater cost-effectiveness in design, whilst maintaining an acceptable level of
safety. British Standard BS 7974:2001 (Application of fire safety engineering
principles to the design of buildings. Code of practice) and its eight supporting
published documents (PDs) provide a methodology and design guidance for fire
safety measures in buildings. BS 7974 is intended to enable designers and Building
Control Bodies to understand the relevant fire safety issues and the need to consider
the overall fire safety system by following a structured analytical methodology. The
designer needs to consider the probability that a fire will occur, its rate of growth and
anticipated severity, the ability of the structure to resist the fire and the spread of
smoke, and the danger to people in and around the building that will result. It follows
that there are a wide variety of different preventative, protective and/or procedural
(management/planning) measures that can be considered.
BS 7974:2001 provides a methodology for life safety and property protection by a coordinated interaction of a number of sub-systems which start with the initiation and
development of fire and go on to consider the spread of smoke and toxic gases, fire
spread, the means of detection and activation of fire protection measures such as
smoke extract systems, suppression systems, alarm systems and fire barriers, fire
service intervention (rescue and fire fighting), evacuation and management. The
published documents start with PD 7974-0:2002, Application of fire safety
engineering principles to fire safety design of buildings. Guide to design framework
and fire safety engineering procedures. Subsequent published documents reflect the
sub-systems, starting with Sub-system 1 (PD 7974-1:2003, Application of fire safety
engineering principles to the design of buildings. Initiation and development of fire
within the enclosure of origin) through to Sub-system 6 (PD 7974-6:2004, The

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application of fire safety engineering principles to fire safety design of buildings.

Human factors. Life safety strategies. Occupant evacuation, behaviour and
condition). Part 7 is on probabilistic risk assessment.
Typical variations in a building designed using fire safety engineering principles
include:

provision of sprinklers / absence of sprinklers;

provision of a smoke control and/or pressurisation system;

extended travel distances;

reduced levels of fire resistance to structure and/or compartmentation;

absent cavity barriers;

reduced number of emergency stairs;

large volumes;

restricted access for fire service;

greater level of building/property protection / lower level of building/property

protection;

greater dependence on good management;

greater dependence on quality construction.

For the designer there are new challenges, since it follows that, for a fire safety
engineered design, the effectiveness, performance and reliability of the passive,
active and procedural fire safety systems being introduced into buildings must be
assured if lives are to be adequately protected from a fire and the other objectives of
the fire engineering design are to be achieved. For projects where the application of
BS 7974 is appropriate, the designer should consider utilising the services of a
qualified fire safety engineer.
Further sources of information
http://www.bre.co.uk/page.jsp?id=1725
http://www.bre.co.uk/page.jsp?id=1855
http://www.ife.org.uk/
http://www.communities.gov.uk/buildingregs
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk
http://www.bsigroup.com

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