Changes to fire safety guidance coming into effect in England this September will significantly influence the design of new high-rise residential buildings.
From 30 September 2026, updated Approved Document B guidance will require a second staircase in new residential buildings over 18 metres. The change follows several years of scrutiny of fire safety in taller buildings and brings the staircase threshold in line with the 18-metre threshold used elsewhere in the higher-risk building regime.
For architects, developers and design teams, however, the implications extend beyond finding sufficient floor area for another staircase.
Firefighting access, evacuation, protected routes, lift provision, and the needs of residents who may be unable to use stairs must all be considered as part of the wider building strategy. As expectations around high-rise safety develop, these elements are becoming increasingly difficult to address independently.
Why Is the Guidance Changing?
The government announced the second-staircase requirement following consultation on the design of tall residential buildings.
Under the revised guidance, new residential buildings over 18 metres will need a second staircase. The government said this will provide additional evacuation capacity and greater resilience if one staircase cannot be used, while also improving access for the fire and rescue service.
Importantly, the change does not mean that existing single-staircase buildings are automatically considered unsafe. The government has specifically stated that existing and forthcoming single-staircase buildings are not inherently unsafe where they have been constructed to the relevant standards and are properly maintained and managed.
The new guidance is part of a wider change in how fire safety is considered when new taller residential buildings are designed.
A Second Staircase Does Not Answer Every Evacuation Question
Additional stairs provide another means of escape, but stairs are not an evacuation solution for every occupant.
People using wheelchairs, residents with restricted mobility and others who cannot safely negotiate stairs may require different arrangements. This means the evacuation strategy must still consider how people with different needs can leave the building during an emergency.
Regulators have increasingly focused on this issue.
The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 introduced additional duties relating to vulnerable residents in high-rise and certain other residential buildings. These include person-centred fire risk assessments and consideration of reasonable and proportionate measures that could reduce an individual’s risk during an evacuation. The regulations came into force in April 2026.
It is therefore becoming increasingly important to consider the practical evacuation needs of the people who will actually occupy a building, rather than looking only at the number and position of escape stairs.
Where Do Evacuation Lifts Fit In?
An evacuation lift supports the evacuation of people who may be unable to use stairs.
Do not suggest that the September changes automatically require an evacuation lift in every new residential building over 18 metres. They do not. The government’s response to the second-staircase consultation specifically confirmed that the updated guidance would not call for evacuation lifts as a matter of course.
Where an evacuation lift does form part of the strategy, however, it has to be considered as more than an ordinary passenger lift.
Its position within the building, protected access, power arrangements, controls, communication provision and intended operation during an emergency all need to work with the wider evacuation strategy.
This is one reason why lift requirements are best considered during the early stages of a project. Trying to accommodate specialist lift provision after the core, escape routes and building services have already been established can considerably restrict the options available to the design team.
Firefighting Access Is a Separate Consideration
Evacuation and firefighting are closely connected within the overall fire strategy, but an evacuation lift and a firefighting lift serve different primary purposes.
An evacuation lift is intended to assist people leaving the building. A firefighting lift is intended principally to provide protected vertical access for the fire and rescue service.
The supporting requirements therefore differ, even though both can influence the design of the building core, protected lobbies, electrical provision, and other services.
The government’s response to the second-staircase consultation also makes clear that the revised approach should be considered alongside existing provisions for firefighting shafts and protected staircases.
For the design team, this makes early coordination particularly important. Staircases, passenger lifts, evacuation arrangements, and firefighting access cannot be treated as unrelated packages, since each can affect the same areas of the building.
The Building Core Is Becoming More Important
One practical consequence of the changing guidance is the attention required for the core of a high-rise residential building.
A second staircase requires space. Protected routes and lobbies require careful planning. Firefighting access has its own requirements, while any specialist lift provision introduces further structural, electrical and operational considerations.
These decisions can influence floor layouts, circulation space, services and ultimately the amount of usable area available within a development.
Resolving them early allows architects, fire engineers, lift specialists and building-services consultants to coordinate their requirements while there is still flexibility within the design.
Resolving conflicts becomes considerably more difficult once the fundamental building layout is fixed.
High-Rise Fire Safety Is Becoming More Occupant-Focused
Perhaps the bigger change is not any single new technical requirement, but the direction building safety regulation is moving in.
Recent reforms increasingly recognise that occupants do not all have the same ability to respond to an emergency.
The government’s review of the higher-risk building regime has itself highlighted vulnerability as an important consideration, particularly in buildings where occupants may require assistance to evacuate.
That makes the question for designers broader than simply whether a building has sufficient stairs.
The design must also support the fire strategy, emergency-service access, and the practical evacuation arrangements required for the people expected to use the building.
For new high-rise residential developments, the September 2026 changes provide another reason to address those questions at the beginning of the design process.
Second staircases will become part of the guidance for new residential buildings over 18 metres, but they sit within a much wider picture. Protected routes, firefighting access, lift provision, building services and accessible evacuation all need to be coordinated if the fire and evacuation strategy is to work as intended.
For developers and design teams, that coordination is increasingly becoming part of the fundamental architecture of a high-rise building rather than something that can be resolved once the main design is complete.
