Scottish building regulations - fire safety review and compliance: call for evidence

1 Introduction

1.1 Why are we consulting

The Scottish Government is committed to effective fire safety to prevent fires, injuries, and fatalities, which includes learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the findings of the Inquiry to improve building and fire safety in Scotland.

In response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase 2 report, the Scottish Government committed to undertake a fundamental review of Section 2 (Fire) of the Technical Handbooks.

The purpose of this Call for Evidence is to help shape and inform this review in considering changes to the standards and processes set within The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (as amended) and other published guidance documents to improve provisions addressing fire safety.

An additional commitment made in response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase 2 report was to carry out further consultation on the developing compliance plan approach to evidencing compliance with building regulations, focussing on high risk building types initially. A second section to this Call for Evidence will deliver that further consultation.

In Scotland building regulations set out the technical requirements applicable to building work to protect the public interest. The published Building Standards Technical Handbooks explain how to achieve the requirements set out in the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004. Provisions are reviewed regularly in consultation with industry stakeholders. Implementation of the building standard process is reliant on informed and effective action by all of those involved in the design, construction, and verification of building work. This includes citation of, and reliance on, a robust UK products standards and certification.

This call for evidence is a key first step in the technical review of Section 2 (Fire). It will be used to set the agenda, terms of reference and programme and to identify what research may be needed to inform the review. This review will look at any issues that affect fire safety in all types of building and review the effectiveness, in application, of current provisions set out within Section 2 (Fire). We want to hear about the challenges you faced in meeting fire safety standards and to identify any further opportunities for improvement in both content and communication of standards and guidance and their application and clarity of intent in practice to further improve the fire safety performance of buildings.

Previous public consultations have delivered strong support for the direction and elements of the developing compliance plan approach, which is being delivered through a change process beginning with the introduction of guidance for local authority building standards verifiers and the construction industry. A number of areas which were not subject to the initial consultations have been raised by stakeholders, through an early adopter’s scheme and general engagement by Building Standards Division. We also want to hear your views on some aspects of the compliance plan approach where we think change is warranted, and to understand support or otherwise before we move to considering legislative change.

1.2 The Scottish building standards system

The building standards system in Scotland is established by The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 (The 2003 Act). The purpose of the building standards system is to protect the public interest. The system regulates building work on new and existing buildings, to provide buildings that meet reasonable standards which:

• Secure the health, safety, welfare and convenience of persons in or about buildings and of others who may be affected by buildings or matters connected with buildings,
• Further the conservation of fuel and power, and
• Further the achievement of sustainable development.

The building standards system is pre-emptive and is designed to check that proposals meet building regulations. The main principles of the system are that a building warrant must be obtained from a verifier before work commences on site and a completion certificate is accepted by a verifier if, after undertaking reasonable inquiry, they are satisfied the building work meets the building regulations, prior to the building being occupied. The thirty-two local authorities in Scotland are appointed by Scottish Ministers as verifiers to administer the building standards system in their geographical areas. Responsibility for compliance with the building regulations lies with the “Relevant Person” as the party instructing building work and, ultimately, with the building owner.

Requirements applicable to building work are set through Building Regulations as a set of mandatory functional standards. These are simple statements on what outcomes must be achieved when undertaking building work. These standards are supported by a body of guidance set out in Domestic and Non-domestic Building Standards Technical Handbooks. This published guidance assists by defining the scope of action expected under each standard by providing one or more examples of how compliance with the standard can be achieved. Noting that the standards can also be met through solutions not included in published guidance.

The Building Standards Division (BSD) is part of the Scottish Government Directorate for Housing. Our purpose is to provide and maintain a robust legislative framework to ensure that the buildings standards system in Scotland protects the public interest. BSD prepares and updates building standards legislation and guidance documents, conducting any necessary research and consults on changes as The 2003 Act requires.

We also work in partnership with Local Authority verifiers in the delivery of the system and contribute to wider policy objectives of government on issues such as energy efficiency, climate change and building safety.

1.3 Fire standards within building regulations

Section 2 of the Technical Handbooks relates to standards and guidance for fire safety. Life safety is the paramount objective of fire safety standards. Buildings should be designed and constructed in such a way that the risk of fire is reduced and if a fire does occur, there are measures in place to restrict the growth of fire and smoke to enable the occupants to escape safely and fire-fighters to deal with the fire safely and effectively. The standards and guidance are designed to work together to provide a balanced approach to fire safety.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews the standards relating to fire safety. For example, following the fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017 and the risks associated with cladding, changes to requirements on fire safety of external wall cladding systems were introduced on 1 June 2022. Introducing a ban on highly combustible metal composite material panels, a ban on combustible cladding for buildings in scope over 11 m, strengthening the clarity of standard 2.7 for spread on external walls and ensuring replacement cladding must comply with current regulations.

However, it should be appreciated that, due to the generic nature of the guidance it cannot cover all building designs or, for example, innovative or new methods of construction. In such cases the designer or engineer will be required to show, by alternative means, that compliance with the building standards will be achieved in the completed building.

1.4 The Compliance Plan Approach

The new Compliance Plan Approach (CPA) has been developed in response to the recommendations made by the 2018 Review Panel on Building Standards Compliance and Enforcement. The Review Panel was formed by the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety set up following failings in the construction of Edinburgh school buildings and the fire at Grenfell Tower, London. The Review Panel identified that the building standards system in Scotland was not broken but needed to be strengthened, including compliance with building regulations

It is now intended to implement compliance plan guidance as a response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 recommendations, and the principles of the approach to strengthening compliance with Scotland’s building standards system.

The CPA is essentially a robust compliance quality system in which the actions of parties involved in the design and construction process and verifiers are planned, recorded, and reported on. In the compliance plan (the pre-warrant and warrant submission stages, under legislative change) the project must confirm the systems that are in place to ensure compliance, primarily for the Relevant Person, but also clearly accessible to the verifier if their reasonable inquiry requires it.

It is not a new system, but an approach that seeks to ensure the current building warrant process, and legislation operates in practice as it is designed.

The CPA is designed to:

• minimise the risk of completed buildings failing to comply with the building regulations and the building warrant approved plans and details
• achieve compliance with building warrant process legislative requirements (procedural compliance) to support the delivery of safe compliant buildings and the legal use/occupation of buildings
• support the relevant person (normally the building owner/developer) through their appointed design and construction teams to control the work on site to build in accordance with the approved building warrant plans and the building regulations, to deliver a compliant building and be able to evidence this, and
• ensure the planned verification inspections, checks and evidence within the approved building warrant Compliance Plan (CP) are fully achieved
• Provide support to verifiers in their reasonable inquiry into completion certificates and the local authority in their statutory enforcement role.

BSD undertook an initial pilot trial of the CPA with Fife Council and BAM Contracts during the development of the Dunfermline Learning Campus (2024/2025). This was followed by setting up an Early Adopters trial scheme in 2024, which is currently ongoing and covers four projects.

The insights gained from these trials have been invaluable and have been used to develop the CPA.

The new CP guidance is intended to give local authority verifiers and industry the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the strengthened approach to processing building warrant applications for High Risk Buildings (HRBs), in advance of changes to legislation.

This will cover:

• the pre-warrant application stage
• the processes involved in developing a Compliance Plan (CP)
• using the CP for verification purposes, and
• recording all relevant information and evidence to support reasonable inquiry by the verifier into a completion certificate submission.

1.5 Scope of this consultation

To improve fire safety in Scotland’s buildings, this consultation seeks your views on certain themes and topics. Responses to the consultation will be used to inform the final policy and impact assessments that will be prepared in support of any legislative changes or amendment of recommendations offered in supporting guidance, to achieve the Scottish Government’s aim for safer buildings in Scotland.

The consultation is set out in four sections with 17 questions, across the following themes:

• the Grenfell Phase 2 report recommendations
• the general layout and usability of the technical handbooks including presentation, the need for more diagrams or explanatory text and what issues should be reviewed, including emerging issues. This will also include where we can improve on intent and interpretation
• performance versus prescriptive guidance
• general topics of interest for inclusion in the review including respondent suggestions
• simple omissions and issues for example outdated references that could maybe be resolved with early revisions
• the role of the Compliance Plan Manager in legislation and some procedural principles of the Compliance Plan Approach
• the types of buildings within scope of high risk building definition
• the need for legislation against a guidance based voluntary approach.

1.6 Consultation documents

This consultation comprises of the following elements:

• Consultation questions (this document, published in html and pdf).
• The online consultation form for your response.
• A Respondee Information Form and list of consultation questions is provided in Word format on the consultation webpage for consultees who are not able to provide a consultation response online.

1.7 The Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policy-making process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work. You can find all our consultations online at Scottish Government consultations. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as providing a way for you to give us your views – either online or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision-making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise, the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals, or
• be used to inform legislation before it is implemented.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

When responding to questions which offer a choice of responses, please also provide information or evidence to explain your view on the topic wherever possible. This assists us in assessing and understanding the reason for your view and presenting the overall picture when reporting on each topic and on the overall proposal in general.

The outcomes of this call for evidence will help inform the extent, shape and need for future Public consultation(s) once themes and topics for review are identified.

1.8 Responding to this consultation

This consultation runs for 12 weeks from 15 January 2026.

We are inviting responses to this consultation by 10 April 2026.

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Consultation Hub. You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted by the closing date of 10 April 2026. If you use Citizen Space to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete the Respondent Information Form and the consultation questionnaire available on the consultation webpage and return to:

Consultation: Fire Safety review and Compliance – call for evidence

Scott Young

Building Standards Division

Scottish Government

Denholm House

Almondvale Business Park Livingston

EH54 6GA

Or email: buildingstandards@gov.scot with the email title ‘Consultation: Fire Safety review and Compliance – call for evidence’.

1.9 Handling your response

If you respond using Citizen Space, you will be directed to the ‘About You’ page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to be published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential and we will treat it accordingly. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under that Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy.

1.10 Next steps in the process

Following the consultation closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence provided. After we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be published (where we have been given permission to do so) on the consultation webpage: Fire Safety review and Compliance - call for evidence

The Scottish Government will review consultation responses received and the issues raised during engagement with stakeholders to inform recommendations to Scottish Ministers on the elements of the review to take forward through amendment of current regulations, standards and guidance. A consultation analysis report and Scottish Government response will then be published on the consultation webpage. It is the current intent that any regulatory changes will be confirmed and implemented by 2030.

1.11 Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Consultation: Fire Safety review and Compliance – call for evidence

Scottish Government

Directorate for Housing

Building Standards Division

Denholm House

Almondvale Business Park Livingston

EH54 6GA

Or email: buildingstandards@gov.scot with the email title ‘Consultation: Fire Safety review and Compliance – call for evidence’