Fire safety rules for high-rises to be law in wake of Grenfell

ALL residents of multi-occupancy buildings will be given evacuation instructions under proposed new laws published today to prevent a repeat of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Owners or landlords of residential buildings with two or more flats, and high-rise blocks, will be under a legal obligation to provide residents with fire safety instructions including an evacuation strategy, how to report a blaze and what to do if they encounter one.

Sir Martin Moore-bick, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry judge, said “many more” lives could have been saved if Grenfell Tower had been evacuated earlier.

Seventy-two people died, including 17 children and 15 disabled residents, after many were told to stay put.

Sir Martin said a decision to evacuate should have taken place within a 20-minute window once it was clear that the fire had spread out of control and that compartmentation had failed.

A White Paper today will implement in law most of the inquiry’s phase one recommendations.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said: “We are continuing to drive forward progress on putting the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations into law.”