Following the announcement by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, of changes to the Approved Document B to extend the provision of sprinklers in new residential buildings over 11m in height, James Dalton, Director of General Insurance Policy, commented;
"We welcome the Government’s update to Approved Document B, to require sprinklers in residential blocks over 11 metres in height. The industry has long been calling for an extension of the requirement to install sprinklers and this announcement will lead to improvements in fire safety.
We continue to call for the installation of sprinklers in other high risk buildings of any height with vulnerable occupants such as student accommodation, schools, care homes and hospitals.”
The statement from MHCLG, also announced a £1 billion Building Safety Fund for the remediation of non-ACM cladding, which the ABI has welcomed, and has urged the Government to progress with remediation as quickly as possible.