Fire safety laws in Wales due 10 years after Grenfell

Fire safety laws to protect people living in flats will start coming into force in 2027, 10 years after the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The Welsh government said it would be clear who was responsible – and held accountable – for keeping buildings safe.

Residents will also have new responsibilities to minimise the risk of fires under the Building Safety Bill.

Wales’ housing secretary Jayne Bryant said she wanted to make sure “residents are heard and listened to”.

The bill is part of the Welsh government’s response to the fire at Grenfell Tower in London in June 2017, which killed 72 people.

Proposals for legal changes were first consulted on in 2021, before the last Senedd election.

If the bill is approved by the Senedd it is not expected to start taking effect until 2027.

Asked why it had taken so long, Bryant said she wanted “meaningful change” following a number of reviews and inquiries.

“What we wanted to do is make sure we are getting this right,” she added.

Buildings containing flats, including converted houses, will have an “accountable person” who is legally responsible for safety, which could be the building’s owner or a company.

They will have to do a fire risk assessment, including risks associated with cladding.

Officials said the bill would create “clear lines of accountability” so tenants and apartment owners know who is legally responsible for safety.

Inquiries into the Grenfell tragedy showed “people didn’t feel listened to and that they didn’t know who to go to”, Bryant said.

“That’s why it’s so important we get this right and people know who is responsible, who they can go to.

Buildings will be put into three categories, depending on their size, with tower blocks at least 18m (60ft) tall in category one with the strictest safety requirements.

Bryant said it would include more buildings than the equivalent system in England.

Other steps are being taken to make buildings safe, including a ban on flammable cladding, which comes into force in December.

Plaid Cymru’s housing spokeswoman Sian Gwenllian said the government must ensure “the current focus on the Building Safety Bill does not detract from the urgent outstanding remediation work”.

The Welsh Conservatives’ shadow cabinet secretary for housing Laura Anne Jones said there was “a long way to go to understanding how local authorities and leaseholders will be supported with the costs of these changes”.