Building Regulation Consultations
Part of our work is to provide fire safety comments on building regulation proposals. We are a statutory consultee for buildings to which the Fire Safety Order applies (or will apply) when they are either being built or substantially altered.
We work in accordance with the Building Regulation and Fire Safety Procedural Guidance as produced by Local Authority Building Control (LABC), with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and the Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors (ACAI).
This Procedural Guidance is recognised as best practice by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
We request that any Building Control Body (BCB) consulting with us follows this guidance. This includes use of the Fire & Rescue Consultation Proforma in Appendix J.
What to include in the consultation
Statutory consultations should include enough information to enable us to consult effectively. As a minimum, this should include a completed Fire & Rescue Consultation Proforma plus plan drawings with notes that have sufficient detail to show how B1-B5 will be met. This includes:
- Fire alarm and detection
- Proposed number of occupants
- Means of escape to a place of ultimate safety and supporting calculations for exit and stair widths
- Protection for inner room conditions
- Emergency lighting
- Fire exit signage
- Fire separation and fire resisting construction
- Door security arrangements on doors required for egress
- Boundary conditions
- Firefighter access
- Where only a small part of the building is being altered, sufficient detail to show how the work relates to the building as a whole
More complex proposals will require more information. This may include detailed fire strategies, reports from specialists such as smoke control contractors or structural engineers, third party reports and specialist technical software such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), this may include input and output files.
Early and non-statutory consultation
BCBs should not normally consult with DFRS until they are reasonably satisfied that compliance with the Building Regulations is demonstrated. However there are times when early consultation is beneficial to all parties. This may include situations which utilise unusual or complex approaches to fire safety.
Any direction given by DFRS at this stage is goodwill advice and does not replace or remove the need for formal statutory consultation.
Sending your consultation to us
Fire Safety within DFRS is split into three geographical areas; East (Amber Valley, Chesterfield, North East Derbyshire and Bolsover), West (Derbyshire Dales and High Peak), and South (Derby City, Erewash and South Derbyshire).
Please send your consultation to the relevant Area Office in which the building is located. View the Area Office map. Area Office contact details can be found on our Get in touch page.
DFRS accept physical and electronic Building Regulation submissions.
If your file size exceeds 8.5MB then a large file transfer is required. DFRS can receive larger files via Egress. Please see how to send files for free via Egress. Please tell the relevant Area Office if you are sending a file in this manner.