On 6 April changes to Part B - Fire Safety of the Building Regulations and the guidance in Approved Document B come into force in England and Wales.

The aim of the changes is to improve the overall level of fire safety in buildings by reducing the occurrence and size of fires through preventive measures.

It's been almost seven years since the last technical review and in that time there have been changes in construction methods and trends, together with the publication of new or amended standards and changes to other policies and legislation which impact on the fire safety of buildings.

To make the guidance clearer to understand and apply, and to reflect how different buildings are procured and constructed, the document has been split into two volumes. Volume one deals with so-called dwelling houses and volume two with buildings other than dwelling houses – but including blocks of flats.

It is important to note that while Approved Document B provides practical guidance on implementing the functional requirements of Part B (Fire Safety) which has been approved by the Secretary of State, that is not to say other methods may not be used, provided it is demonstrated that they satisfy the functional requirements. This is particularly applicable where non-standard buildings are concerned, and the design lends itself to a fire-engineered solution rather than a prescriptive one.