In just over two months, on 30 September 2026, the next set of amendments to Approved Document B takes effect in England. The headline change is a recommendation for more than one common staircase in new blocks of flats with a storey 18 metres or more above ground level, alongside new design provisions to support evacuation lifts. These are changes to building design guidance for new construction, not new duties for existing buildings, but they are worth the attention of anyone responsible for building safety because they show clearly where fire safety expectations are heading.
This article covers what Approved Document B is, what changes on 30 September, how the transitional arrangements work, and what the amendments mean for Responsible Persons and building owners even where no new construction is planned.
Approved Document B is the government's statutory guidance on meeting the fire safety requirements of the Building Regulations 2010 in England. It comes in two volumes: Volume 1 covers dwellings, and Volume 2 covers buildings other than dwellings.
It is guidance rather than law in itself. Following it is the normal way to demonstrate compliance with the Building Regulations, but the legal requirement sits in the regulations, and alternative approaches can be acceptable if they achieve the required outcome. That distinction is worth keeping in mind when reading the 2026 amendments: the second staircase change is framed as a recommendation within the guidance, applying to new building work.
It is also separate from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which governs fire safety in occupied buildings. Approved Document B shapes how a building is designed and built; the Fire Safety Order shapes how it is managed once people are in it.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published consolidated versions of both volumes, with amendments colour coded by the date they take effect. The 2026 amendments, effective 30 September 2026, focus on two areas:
Both changes apply to new construction in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own building regulation frameworks and are not covered by these amendments.
The amendments do not bite overnight on every live project. The previous edition of the guidance continues to apply where a building notice or initial notice has been given, or a building control approval application with full plans has been made, before 30 September 2026, provided the building work has started and is sufficiently progressed before that day, or starts and is sufficiently progressed within 18 months of it.
In practice, schemes already well into the building control process keep working to the guidance they were designed against, while schemes entering the system after the deadline design to the new edition. Developers with 18 metre plus residential schemes in the pipeline should be confirming now which side of the line each project falls on.
The 30 September changes are the middle stage of a three-part programme of amendments:
Taken together, the direction of travel is consistent with everything since the Building Safety Act 2022: better tested products, clearer evidence, more escape provision in taller residential buildings, and accurate fire safety information handed over and maintained through the life of the building.
There is no requirement to retrofit a second staircase into an existing block, and these amendments create no new inspection or maintenance duty. But they are still worth understanding if you are a Responsible Person or building owner, for three reasons.
First, expectations converge over time. Guidance written for new buildings tends to inform what assessors, insurers and enforcing authorities regard as good practice in existing ones, particularly for higher-risk buildings where safety cases have to justify the building's evacuation strategy.
Second, the Regulation 38 strengthening in the 2025 amendments feeds directly into the golden thread. Fire safety information produced at handover is the starting point of the record you maintain in occupation, including the fire doors protecting every escape route. A single staircase building depends entirely on the doors and compartmentation around that staircase performing; that is precisely why routine fire door checking under Regulation 10 exists.
Third, if your organisation commissions new development alongside managing existing stock, as many housing associations and local authorities do, the people specifying new buildings and the people maintaining existing ones should be working from the same, current understanding of the guidance.
Whatever the building's design era, the doors protecting its escape routes need inspecting, evidencing and maintaining, and the records need to stand up as part of the golden thread. DoorTRACE gives Responsible Persons and FM companies a digital register of every fire door, scheduled inspections aligned to Regulation 10, and an audit trail that shows exactly what was checked, when and by whom. If you want to see how it works for your portfolio, get in touch.
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