Three separate fire safety changes are now affecting UK commercial and residential buildings in 2026. BS 5839-1:2025 came into force on 30 April 2025 and now requires all fire alarm cabling (including the mains supply) to be fire-resistant and red, rendering some previously compliant installations non-compliant. Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) became mandatory in certain residential buildings from 6 April 2026. Second-staircase requirements for tall high-rises under Approved Document B take effect from September 2026. Each has a fixed date, a specific scope, and an enforcement mechanism behind it. This guide covers what each change is, who it applies to, and what a responsible person needs to do before their next fire risk assessment.
Contents
- BS 5839-1:2025: The Fire Alarm Standard Has Changed
- Residential PEEPs: Mandatory from 6 April 2026
- Approved Document B: Second Staircases from September 2026
- The Bigger Picture
- What Hawthorne Can Do
1. BS 5839-1:2025: The Fire Alarm Standard Has Changed
Status: In force now (since 30 April 2025)
BS 5839-1 is the British Standard that governs how fire detection and alarm systems are designed, installed, commissioned, and maintained in non-domestic premises. The 2025 revision is not a complete rewrite, but several of the changes are significant enough to catch out anyone relying on the previous 2017 edition.
What has actually changed:
All fire alarm cabling must now be fire-resistant. This includes the mains supply cable. Under the 2017 standard, mechanically protected non-fire-resistant cable was sometimes used. That is no longer compliant. Every cable in the fire alarm circuit, from the mains supply right through to the final device, must be fire-resistant.
Fire alarm cables must be red. The standard now requires all fire alarm wiring, including the low-voltage mains supply, to be a single common colour. Red is the preferred choice. Black or white cables should not be used for fire alarm systems. This is about identification: if an electrician is working in a ceiling void, they need to know immediately which cables they cannot touch.
Heat detectors are effectively banned in sleeping areas. If people sleep in the building (care homes, hotels, student accommodation, staff quarters) smoke, multi-sensory, or carbon monoxide detectors must be used unless a fire risk assessment explicitly justifies heat detection. This is a direct response to incidents where heat detectors failed to activate fast enough in bedrooms.
L4 systems must now include detection at the top of lift shafts. Lift shafts act as chimneys during a fire. Smoke rises through them rapidly, potentially spreading to every floor. The previous standard did not require detection here in all L4 installations. It does now.
L2 systems must now treat sleeping areas as high-risk rooms. Previously, L2 systems only required automatic detection in defined high-risk areas and escape routes. Sleeping areas are now included by default, meaning hotels, care homes, and similar premises with L2 systems may need additional detectors.
Modifications to existing systems must meet the 2025 standard. This closes a common loophole. If you are extending or modifying a fire alarm system, the work must comply with BS 5839-1:2025, not the version that was in force when the system was originally installed. A system installed in 2015 under the 2013 standard might have been compliant then. Any modification now must meet 2025 requirements.
Commissioning documentation must be more detailed. Accurate fire alarm zone drawings, cause-and-effect matrices, and full test certification are now expected. Anyone working on fire alarm systems must also demonstrate ongoing CPD (continuing professional development). This is aimed squarely at improving the quality and accountability of installation work.
Who this affects: Every business, care home, hotel, school, hospital, or public building with a fire alarm system governed by BS 5839-1. If your system was installed before April 2025, any future modification, extension, or significant service work will be measured against the new standard.
What to do: Have your system reviewed against BS 5839-1:2025. Pay particular attention to cabling, sleeping area detection, and lift shaft coverage. If you are planning any modifications or extensions, factor in the new requirements before you start.
2. Residential PEEPs: Mandatory from 6 April 2026
Status: Comes into force today (6 April 2026)
The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 take effect on 6 April 2026. These regulations introduce a legal duty to identify vulnerable residents in certain buildings and create personalised evacuation plans for them.
This is the regulatory response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's recommendation that Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) should be provided for residents who cannot self-evacuate.
Which buildings are in scope:
Buildings in England that contain two or more domestic premises (flats, apartments, student accommodation) and are either over 18 metres tall (roughly seven storeys), or over 11 metres tall with a simultaneous evacuation strategy rather than a stay-put policy.
What the regulations require:
Identify relevant residents. A relevant resident is anyone whose ability to evacuate the building without assistance in the event of a fire is compromised by a cognitive or physical impairment or condition. This includes permanent conditions, temporary conditions (such as a broken leg), and age-related mobility issues.
Conduct person-centred fire risk assessments. For each relevant resident who consents, the responsible person must carry out an individual assessment that considers their specific circumstances, the building layout, the evacuation strategy, and what measures could reasonably be put in place to help them evacuate safely.
Create written PEEPs. Each plan must record what the resident should do in a fire, what assistance is available, and what equipment or measures are in place to support their evacuation.
Share plans with the local Fire and Rescue Service. The responsible person must provide building emergency evacuation plans to the local fire authority and, where a secure information box exists, place a copy inside it. This means fire crews arriving at an incident will know where vulnerable residents are and what support they need.
Resident consent is required at every stage. Residents cannot be compelled to participate. The duty to identify and offer applies regardless, but the creation of a detailed plan depends on the resident consent.
Who this affects: Responsible persons (building owners, managers, management companies, freeholders) for qualifying residential buildings. This also has implications for fire alarm system design. If your evacuation strategy relies on phased or simultaneous evacuation, your fire alarm system needs to support that strategy effectively.
What to do: If you manage a qualifying building, you need to have identification processes, assessment procedures, and documentation systems in place now. If your fire alarm and detection system does not support your evacuation strategy (for example, if you need simultaneous evacuation capability but only have single-zone coverage), that gap needs addressing urgently.
3. Approved Document B Amendments: Second Staircases from September 2026
Status: Takes effect 30 September 2026
Amendments to Approved Document B (Fire Safety), the guidance that supports Building Regulations in England, introduce new requirements for second staircases and evacuation lifts in new residential buildings.
What is changing:
Second staircases are mandatory in new residential buildings over 18 metres. From 30 September 2026, all new residential buildings above 18 metres in height must include a second staircase. This applies to the design stage. If your building plans are submitted after this date without a second staircase, they will not comply.
Interlocking stairs do not count. The guidance makes clear that interlocking stairs should be considered a single escape route, not two separate ones. The second staircase must be genuinely independent.
Evacuation lift provisions are clarified. Where evacuation lifts are provided, they must be located within an evacuation shaft containing a protected stairway, the lift itself, and a lobby that serves as a refuge area. The lobby must have direct access to a protected stairway and must not open directly onto any flat, storage room, or electrical equipment room.
BS 476 fire testing is being phased out. The amendments continue the transition from BS 476 fire testing to the BS EN 13501 European classification system for fire performance of construction products. This affects material specification for new builds and major refurbishments.
Who this affects: Primarily developers, architects, and building owners involved in new-build residential projects over 18 metres. However, it also affects anyone managing existing high-rise residential buildings, as the regulatory direction of travel is clearly toward higher standards, and enforcement of existing duties is intensifying in parallel.
What to do: If you are involved in a new-build project, check your designs against the updated guidance now, even if submission is not until later in the year. If you manage existing high-rise residential buildings, use this as a prompt to review your overall fire safety provisions, including alarm systems, evacuation strategies, and PEEPs compliance.
The Bigger Picture
These three changes are not isolated. They are part of a sustained tightening of fire safety standards across the UK that began with the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 and has been building steadily through the Fire Safety Act 2021, the Building Safety Act 2022, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, and now these 2026 measures.
The direction is clear: more specific requirements, more documentation, more accountability, and less tolerance for systems and practices that are technically legal but practically inadequate.
If you are a building owner, manager, or responsible person, the question is not whether these regulations affect you. It is whether you are ready for them.
What Hawthorne Can Do
We install, maintain, and upgrade fire alarm systems to BS 5839-1:2025. We can review your existing system against the new standard, identify any compliance gaps, and carry out the work needed to close them.
If you manage a residential building affected by the PEEPs regulations, we can ensure your fire detection and alarm infrastructure supports your evacuation strategy, including zoning, phased evacuation capability, and integration with emergency lighting and access control systems.
Every installation is SSAIB certified. Every assessment is documented. Every recommendation is based on what your building actually needs.
Ready to Check Where You Stand?
We can review your fire alarm system, evacuation strategy, and overall fire safety provisions against current and incoming regulations. No obligation, no jargon.
Last updated: April 2026