The consultation document “Building a Safer Future – Proposals for reform of the building safety regulatory system” states that the government will be reviewing the Approved Documents B (fire safety), L (conservation of fuel and power), F (ventilation) and M (access to and use of buildings) within the next 12 months.

In fact, the next version of Approved Document B was published earlier this month. It aims to clarify the misunderstandings that came about as a result of the wording and diagrams in the previous versions. It does also include the combustible materials ban guidance which was published in December 2018. There are still two volumes within the new version, but now all residential buildings (houses and flats) are covered by volume 1 and non-residential buildings by volume 2.

As a result the section and clause numbers you will all be familiar with have changed, so it will take some time to find the relevant sections in the new documents. A number of diagrams have been redrawn, relocated or in some cases withdrawn (the old diagram 40 relating to external wall surfaces seems to have gone). There are changes to wording too: the term “filler” which was much discussed in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy has been clarified as a core material.

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