APPENDIX A
REGULATION 7
Regulation 7 - Materials and workmanship (1) Building work shall be carried out - a. with adequate and proper materials which - i. are appropriate for the circumstances in which they are used, ii. are adequately mixed or prepared, and iii. are applied, used or fixed so as adequately to perform the functions for which they are designed; and b. in a workmanlike manner. (2) Subject to paragraph (3), building work shall be carried out so that materials which become part of an external wall, or specified attachment, of a relevant building are of European Classification A2-s1, d0 or A1, classified in accordance with BS EN 13501-1:2007+A:2009 entitled “FIre classification of construction products and building elements. Classification using test data from reaction to fire tests” (ISBN 978 0 580 59861 6) published by the British Standards Institution on 30th March 2007 and amended in November 2009.
Regulation 7 from Approved Document B
Following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, several standards have been subject to reviews and redevelopment, which has had an impact on the construction industry. In England and Wales, this includes an amendment to Building Regulation 7 – Materials and Workmanship, a review of Approved Document B (AD B) and BS 8414, and the development of BS 9414. The review of AD B led to amendments and clarifications. The main part to be revised was Part B4 of AD B dealing with external fire spread and the inclusion of the amendment text from Regulation 7. As a part of those changes, Regulation 7(4) defines ‘relevant buildings’ as a building with a storey height of more than 18m* above ground level that contains one or more dwellings, an institution or a room for residential purposes.** For this type of construction the external walls or specified attachments must be made from materials with a reaction-to-fire classification of A2-s1, d0 or better (when classified to EN 13501-1).*** For non-relevant buildings such as hostels, hotels or boarding houses with a storey height over 18m, or other buildings with a height under 18m, the external wall can still be
constructed with materials that do not achieve class A2-s1, d0 or better, provided that they comply with the recommendations given in paragraphs 12.3 to 12.9 of AD B (which offers guidance for external surfaces, materials and products, cavities and cavity barriers). The provision of the acceptable materials is given in paragraph 12.5 and table 12.1. The alternative route, as shown in paragraph 12.3b, is to meet the performance criteria given in BRE report BR 135 for external walls using full-scale test data from BS 8414-1 or BS 8414-2. trada.co.uk/news/changes-to-the-test-and-requirements-for- fire-and-cladding/ * This height does not include rooftop plant areas or any storey consisting exclusively of plant rooms. The height is also under review and may be lowered further. ** This article discusses the changes applicable in England and Wales; similar regulations and guidance are published in Scotland, with the limit set at 11m; Northern Ireland is likely to follow England and Wales in future. *** Some exemptions exist for component parts that are documented in Regulation 7(3).
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