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The inquiry Phase 2 Report seeked to answer the question. 

‘How was it possible in 21st century London for a reinforced concrete building, itself structurally impervious to fire, to be turned into a death trap that would enable fire to sweep through it in an uncontrollable way in a matter of a few hours despite what were thought to be effective regulations designed to prevent just such an event?’

At the heart of this much of the blame was pointed in the direction of the Architects – Studio E. The report highlighted the practices lack of understanding and preparation of building regulations compliance documents. Throughout, the report criticises the architect’s lack of familiarity with and understanding of the significance of building regulations, leading to ignorance of how compliance with fire-safety requirements could be achieved, with a tendency to rely on past practice. 

Therefore it is inevitable the industry has had to change to prevent this from happening again hence why the RIBA are in the process of creating a health and life safety Continual professional Development (CPD). Introducing a health and safety test and the launch of a Principal Designer Register that are annually reviewed. 

Working on listed buildings we feel its important to ensure that matters relating to building regulations are met. Recently we were approached by a building owner in the market town of Newark that owned a parade of shops with accommodation above. As part of the change of use planning application technical details had to be provided to ensure adequate fire separation between floors. Fire separation within floors is a key component of achieving the performance required to allow the evacuation of a building during a fire, this is expressed as a time in minutes and is typically 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes.