Building & Fire Safety

The increased weight of cars has seen a safety warning issued over the capacity for older multi-storey and underground car parks.

With the structural safety of ageing buildings under the spotlight, Huw Morris looks at how responsible stewardship is at the top of engineers’ agenda

Collaborative reporting for safer structures. Report 1210: Unqualified engineer’s unsafe computer-aided design of a retaining wall

A member of the public who leaned on iron balustrade on a seaside promenade fell four metres onto the beach when the railings gave way. Another member of the public below narrowly avoided being struck by the person and the falling railing.

A report from the National Access & Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) has revealed that 80% of scaffold accidents among its members are due to manual handling, slips, trips and falls from height.

A joint statement from the Housing Minister Lee Rowley and the Director of Building Safety for the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) Philip White at the GB Health and Safety Executive (HSE) addresses the creation of safety case reports and associated challenges with managing safety in buildings over 18 metres.

The Minister for Housing in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Director of Building Safety in the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) have published a joint letter directed at registered building managers which is designed to resolve issues that have arisen around safety cases and their reports.

The introduction of urgent legislation to address the disparity of legal protection to citizens affected by defective premises in Northern Ireland has been passed by the Executive.

Group Director for Architectural Conservation Professionals (ACP) and CABE Fellow David Humphreys has worked in the global built environment sector for more than 30 years. CABE’s judges commended him for working tirelessly to promote best conservation practice and raising standards in his native Ireland and also internationally.

The reporter believes design responsibility for steel to concrete connections should be shared between the responsible designers of both materials

The role of the building inspector is set to change this month, but how is this change being perceived? Peter Crush investigates

The Building Safety Regulator has released guidance detailing the information that principal accountable persons (PAP) must submit when applying for a building assessment certificate (BAC).

The raft of regulations can leave people feeling confused about their dutyholder roles and responsibilities. Denise Chevin clarifies

April 2024 marks a significant milestone for the new building safety regime as it is fully established in law. In a recent blog post, Dame Judith Hackitt reflected on the journey so far, and called for everyone to continue working together to ensure the new regime works for all.

The public can now find details of a building inspector listed on the register of building inspectors (RBI) for England and Wales.

Passive fire protection is designed to compartmentalise a fire and stop it spreading; however, awareness of different solutions could be better, as Peter Crush reports

Cooper Reed’s Steve McGrill MCABE Chartered Building Engineer has completed a study into essential fire safety systems in open-plan layouts. Here are his findings.

Fire Industry Association’s Will Lloyd and Robert Thilthorpe discuss what fire detection and warning systems should be in place for different types of building with David Adams

A huge shipping vessel that collided with a major bridge in Baltimore has left numerous people missing has prompted many questions: why did the ship hit with the bridge in the first place? But many of them are structural: how was the ship able to reach the bridge, why was it not protected against such collisions, and why the bridge collapsed so quickly once the collision had happened? We look at what experts around the world are saying.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is reminding the construction industry about the provisions being made in order for higher-risk building projects to stay under their existing building control regime.