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Fire safety concerns about thousands of new buildings

London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Paul Jenning says developers are β€œgaming the system” to avoid putting in advanced safety measures to new buildings.

There are fire safety concerns about β€œhundreds, if not thousands” of buildings currently in development, assistant commissioner of the London Fire Brigade has told ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Newsnight.
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Paul JenningΜύsays there are concerns about 60% of the consultations coming into the fire engineering team.Μύ
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He told the programme developers are β€œgaming the system” by deliberately designing buildings before the 80-metre six-floor threshold to avoid putting in advanced safety measures.

Policy Editor Lewis Goodall reports.

The Housebuilders Federation told Newsnight: "Developers meet the Building Regulations set by government - without exception. Standards today are considerably more exacting than previous iterations. Building regulations differ dependant on the type of building but all have resident safety at their core."

The government told Newsnight: β€œThe safety and wellbeing of residents is our priority and the Building Safety Bill will strengthen oversight and protections for everyone in high-rise buildings. All new buildings of any height must meet building regulations fire safety requirements and we have already banned the use of all combustible materials on external walls of new residential buildings over 18 metres."

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6 minutes