Court quashes combustibles ban on blinds and shutters

A court has quashed one part of the 2018 amendment to Building Relations 2010 which banned combustible materials from being used in or on the external walls of buildings over 18m.

The court ruling came after a challenge to the consultation process that introduced ban. The High Court found that the consultation had been inadequate in respect of products intended to reduce heat gain within a building, such as blinds, shutters and awnings.

As a result, the court quashed one part of the 2018 regulations, which had included in the ban “a device for reducing heat gain within a building by deflecting sunlight which is attached to an external wall”.

The effect of the judgement is that the regulations now exist as if that section had never been included.

But the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) stressed that the decision would not otherwise impact the ban on the use of combustible material in and on external walls. “It remains government policy that combustible materials should not be use in or on external walls or in any attachments to those walls,” it added.

Meanwhile, in a letter published prior the result of the general election, on 10 December, MHCLG said it would be up to a future government to consider whether further consultation was needed to clarify the position for products used to reduce heat gain within buildings, along with any other issues raised in a review of the ban.

It concluded: “While the review process is underway, building control bodies should take account of the Building Regulations requirement B4 when considering whether to allow the use of combustible materials intended to reduce heat gain within a building in and on the external walls of buildings.

“The requirement in B4 provides that ‘the external walls of the building shall adequately resist the spread of fire over the walls and from one building to another, having regard to the height, use and position of the building’.

“Building control bodies should also take account of paragraph 10.4 in volume 1, and 12.4 volume 2 of the clarified version of Approved Document B, which states that ‘in relation to buildings of any height or use, consideration should be given to the choice of materials (including their extent and arrangement) used for the external wall, or attachments to the wall, to reduce the risk of fire spread over the wall.’”