The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025

Meaning of “specified residential building”

3.—(1) A “ specified residential building” means a building which contains two or more sets of domestic premises and which—

(a) is at least 18 metres in height above ground level,

(b) has at least seven storeys, or

(c) is more than 11 metres in height above ground level and has a simultaneous evacuation strategy.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)—

(a) the height of a building is to be measured to the height of the top storey in accordance with Appendix D to Approved Document B;

(b) when determining the number of storeys a building has—

(i) any storey which is below ground level is to be ignored,

(ii) any mezzanine floor is a storey if its internal floor area is at least 50% of the internal floor area of the largest storey in the building which is not below ground level, and

(iii) a storey is treated as below ground level if any part of the finished surface of the ceiling of the storey is below the ground level immediately adjacent to that part of the building.

(3) In this regulation—

“Approved Document B” means Document B (Fire safety), supporting requirements B1 to B5 of Part B of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010(1);

“simultaneous evacuation strategy” means a strategy for evacuation whereby the responsible person in relation to the specified residential building(2) has determined that all persons in the building should leave the building immediately in the event of a fire.

(1)

S.I. 2010/2214. Approved Document B can be accessed at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-approved-document-b. A hard copy may be inspected free of charge by contacting MHCLG at 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.

(2)

See article 3(b) of the 2005 Order for the meaning of “responsible person” in relation to specified residential buildings (as defined in these Regulations).