Cladding Remediation Programme: Single Building Assessment specification

Foreword

The Grenfell Tower fire tragedy that occurred on 14^th June 2017 brought the risk of fire spread via external walls into sharp focus within the UK.

Following the Grenfell tragedy, the Scottish Government established a Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety to oversee a review of building and fire safety regulatory frameworks in Scotland. A report was issued in October 2020 “Grenfell Inquiry phase 1 recommendations: Scottish Government Response”, containing 46 recommendations from The Chairman’s “Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 1 Report”, 15 directed at building owners and managers and 31 directed at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. A consultation was then undertaken with a number of these recommendations implemented into the Building Standards Technical Handbooks in 2022.

In August 2021 the Scottish Government released ‘Scottish Advice Note (SAN): Determining the fire risk posed by external wall systems (EWS) in existing multi-storey residential building’. The initial purpose of this document was to assist relevant parties in determining the fire risk posed by EWS in existing multi-storey residential buildings. The SAN was later updated in December 2022 to include the Single Building Assessment (SBA) programme. Initially the Scottish Government identified 25 high priority buildings to test and develop the SBA process of the ongoing pilot programme. To date, over 100 buildings are included on the pilot scheme. The SAN is still a live document and will continue to be utilised for buildings that are not under the scope of the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill. A future update to the SAN document will be made to provide further clarity on its scope.

In England and Wales, a “freeholder” is typically responsible for the management of fire safety in private blocks, i.e. undertaking fire risk assessments (FRAs), keeping communal areas free of fire load etc. This arrangement is reinforced with regulatory and legislative requirements enforced upon the freeholder (i.e. the Fire Safety Act/Regulatory Reform Order in England and Wales).

The property tenure system in Scotland is different, and generally each flat in a multi-storey building is owned separately. Therefore, there is usually no overall "responsible person" who is legally obliged to carry out regular fire risk assessments. Each owner in Scotland needs to play their part in fire safety, assisted by others, such as property factors. Whilst there are legal duties which apply to the common parts of blocks of flats in Scotland, there is no legal duty to carry out fire risk assessments though these are strongly recommended. However, the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 impose the requirement to ensure that the common areas and any facilities, equipment and devices provided for the use by or protection of firefighters, are maintained in an efficient state, efficient working order and in good repair. This provision is imposed on the persons who have control of the common areas (dutyholders). In addition, Section 93 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 requires occupiers to keep common property free of combustible substances and anything which might obstruct egress from and access to the property in the event of a fire.

In 2020, Scottish Ministers established a Ministerial Working Group on Mortgage Lending and Cladding. It acknowledged that the existence of cladding in multi-residential buildings was causing problems for people when trying to buy or sell their homes. The procedure for fixing defective cladding was also found to be complex.

In 2022, the Scottish Government announced the Cladding Remediation Programme. Similar programmes already existed in the rest of the UK. Scottish Ministers have since introduced the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill to facilitate delivery of the program. This was unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament on 14 May 2024 and is currently in the process of claiming Royal Assent.

This SBA specification document sets part of the standards specified under Section 25 of the Bill, and also part of the standards specified under Section 26A ‘Meaning of additional work assessment’. This specification document may be amended if required in line with updated, or new, legislation in accordance with best industry practice and guidance.