On 4th June, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) published two further chapters in their gateway 2 guidance - guidance notes on the Fire and Emergency File (Chapter 10) and the Building Regulations Compliance Statement for Building Control approval applications for new Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) (Chapter 11).

Both new guidance notes provide key information on the preparation, content and management of the key accompanying documents for a HRB Building Control Approval (Gateway 2) application and subsequent approved documents for a HRB Completion Certificate (Gateway 3) applications. The guidance notes are supported by an example of the structure and content of a Fire and Emergency File (FEF) and a sample extract of a Building Regulations Compliance Statement (BRCS).

Feedback from the BSR confirms that the quality of both the FEF and BRCS, whilst improving, is a cause of rejections of some applications. It is key that these documents clearly narrate the design and technical approach taken by applicants and fully evidence their assessment of risk, especially in relation to fire and structure.

The overall suite is available in a single document, but the independent chapters allow for greater accessibility on specific information. Read the new and updated CLC guidance here, by clicking chapter 10 or 11 in the contents table.

Guidance Note 01 – The Building Safety Regime for a new Higher Risk Building has also been updated.