Materials barred from high-risk buildings over 11 metres
Legislation to improve fire safety and boost Scotland’s Net Zero ambitions has been laid before the Scottish Parliament.
Under the legislation, developers will be banned from using combustible cladding on high-rise buildings. Since 2005, new cladding systems on high rise blocks of flats have either had to use non-combustible materials or pass a large-scale fire test.
The building standards legislation removes the option of a fire test, completely prohibiting such materials from use on domestic and other high-risk buildings, such as care homes and hospitals, above 11m.
The highest risk metal composite cladding material will be banned from any new building of any height, with replacement cladding also required to meet the new standards.
The legislation also includes improvements to energy performance standards, aiming to make buildings easier to heat while ensuring they are well ventilated and comfortable to live in.
Building Standards Minister Patrick Harvie said: “This is the third set of changes made to fire safety standards for cladding in Scotland since the tragic Grenfell Tower Fire, requiring any cladding on domestic or other high risk buildings above 11m to be strictly non-combustible.
“Taken together with our new fire alarms regulations, covering all homes in Scotland regardless of ownership, this is yet another step on the Scottish Government’s mission to minimise the risk of deaths and injuries from fire.
“The energy improvements will deliver another important step toward improved energy and emission performance of our buildings, and we’ll be going further on this in 2024 with regulations requiring new buildings to use zero-emissions heating systems.”
The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)
Changes to requirements on fire safety of cladding systems will be introduced on 1 June 2022, while improvements to energy and environmental standards will apply from 1 October 2022.
The changes have been brought in following public consultations in 2021 on the fire safety of cladding systems and on energy and environmental standards.
Supporting Technical Handbooks, which set out the full detail of changes, will be published from the start of May.
The combustible cladding ban will apply to all buildings with a storey 11m or more above the ground, and which contain:
- a dwelling
- a building used as a place of assembly
- or as a place of entertainment or recreation
- a hospital
- a residential care building or sheltered housing complex or a shared multi-occupancy residential building.
MPs back TUC’s calls for asbestos removal from public buildings
On Thursday, MPs backed calls from the TUC for all asbestos to be removed from public and commercial buildings.
Westminster’s Work and Pensions Select Committee published a report from its inquiry into asbestos management in which it cites TUC calls for stronger asbestos removal.
Asbestos remains the biggest cause of work-related deaths in the UK according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), with 5,000 deaths recorded in 2019. And Britain has the highest rates of mesothelioma cases in the world.
Asbestos is classed as carcinogenic, which means it can cause cancer and other serious lung conditions when fibres are inhaled.
According to figures from the HSE asbestos is still found in around 300,000 non-domestic buildings despite a ban on the use of the substance in new buildings in 1999.
Committee report
The new report by MPs cites concerns that the likely dramatic increase in retrofitting of buildings in response to net zero ambitions means that more asbestos-containing material will be disturbed in the coming decades.
The TUC says current asbestos management is not fit for purpose and has long called for new legislation requiring removal of all asbestos from public buildings.
Today MPs have called for a 40-year deadline to remove all asbestos from public and commercial buildings. The TUC welcomes the news but says a 40-year deadline is not ambitious enough.
The report also calls for more funding for the HSE to support this increased programme of work.
Asbestos dangers
There is no safe threshold of exposure to asbestos fibres – inhalation even of small quantities can lead to mesothelioma decades after exposure.
This means that where asbestos is still present, it is not safe to assume there will be no disturbances that put working people in danger.
The only way we will eradicate mesothelioma in Britain is with a legal duty to safely remove asbestos, and a clear timetable for its eradication. Only then can we ensure that future generations will not have to experience the same deadly epidemic from asbestos-related diseases that we suffer today.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Everyone should be safe at work. Asbestos exposure at work continues to cause thousands of deaths every year. Asbestos is still with us in workplaces and public buildings across the country. As a result, more than 22 years after the use of asbestos was banned, hundreds of thousands of workers are still put at risk of exposure every day.
“The only way to protect today’s workers and future generations is through the safe removal of asbestos from all workplaces and public buildings.
“Today’s report by MPs is welcome, but a 40-year deadline isn’t ambitious enough: hundreds of thousands of workers risk dangerous exposure in that time. Ministers must commit to removing all asbestos to keep future generations safe.”