Implication on existing building stock?
Spent the Easter weekend going over some light reading, bouncing around the Building Safety Act from a structural perspective (I know, I really need a life), but from it, 1 question stood-out:
cl.116. Remediation of certain defects.
cl.116.(1). Sections 117 to 125 and Schedule 8 make provision in connection with the remediation of relevant defects in relevant buildings.
cl.117. Meaning of 'relevant building'.
cl.117.(2). 'Relevant building' means a self-contained building, or a self-contained part of a building, in England that contains at least two dwellings and-
a) is at least 11m high, or
b) has at least 5 storeys.
cl.118. Height of buildings and number of storeys.
cl.118.(2) The height of a building is to be measured from ground level to the finished surface of the floor of the top storey of the building (ignoring any storey which is a roof-top machinery or plant area or consists exclusively of machinery or plant rooms).
cl.120. Meaning of 'relevant defect'.
cl.120.(2) 'Relevant defect', in relation to a building, means a defect as regards the building that-
b) causes a building safety risk
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cl.120.(5) For the purposes of this section-
'Building safety risk', in relation to a building, means a risk to the safety of people in or about the building arising from-
a) spread of free, or
b) the collapse of the building or any part of it.
Is this the trigger to make every building in England & Wales compliant as per the current Building Regulations, i.e. resistant to disproportionate collapse?
I've still got a lot to catch up on in terms of IStructE's videos of their Building Safety Conference from March, and a few other journals to consider. But in essence they appear to be throwing the kitchen sink at the existing building stock (as above) in contradiction of the current approach in Building Regulations which states cl.4.(3) 'no more unsatisfactory in relation to that requirement than before the work was carried out'? And the above mentions buildings up to 11m, not just the higher risk buildings.
Now I might be interpreting that incorrectly, but most of the Building Safety Act articles seem to be on Fire rather than Structure at present and it would be interesting to know which way this is going to play out.
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Associate Director, Structures, Bureau Veritas Building Control, supporting my Building Control Surveyor colleagues. Fellow of the ICE. Lead author of "Structural Robustness and Disproportionate Collapse in Buildings"
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