Policy D12 fire safety and the Fire Statement
Policy D12 requires an independently authored Fire Statement with every major London application, a wider trigger than the 18 metre national requirement. What it must cover and why statements get held at stage one.
London Plan policy D12 requires a Fire Statement with every major development application in London, whatever the height of the building, and it must be produced by a suitably qualified third party assessor rather than by the design team. That is a wider trigger than the national fire statement at Planning Gateway One, which applies only to relevant buildings of 18 metres or seven storeys and above. A 14-unit scheme of three-storey townhouses in a London borough needs a D12 Fire Statement. The same scheme in Leeds needs nothing of the kind.
Architects who treat the two as the same document get a holding objection from the Greater London Authority, and on a referable scheme that costs a stage.
What the London Plan policy requires
The policy has two limbs. The first applies to all development proposals and asks that they achieve high standards of fire safety, which in the policy wording means identifying suitably positioned unobstructed outside space that can serve as an evacuation assembly point, as a position for fire appliances and as an operational command centre, incorporating features that reduce the risk to life and serious injury including alarm systems and passive and active measures, being constructed so as to minimise fire spread, providing suitable and convenient means of escape with an associated evacuation strategy for all building users, developing a dependable evacuation strategy that can be updated and published, and providing access and equipment for firefighting appropriate to the size and use of the development.
The second limb requires major development proposals to submit the Fire Statement itself.
The requirement sits in the planning system, which is the part that surprises people. These are planning policy obligations tested at planning stage by a planning officer and the GLA, not building control matters deferred to technical design. A scheme that satisfies Approved Document B can still fail policy D12 because the site plan does not show where the appliance stands.
Where it goes beyond the national fire statement
Article 9A of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 introduced the national fire statement requirement from 1 August 2021. It bites on relevant buildings, meaning buildings containing two or more dwellings or educational accommodation that meet the height condition of 18 metres or more, or seven or more storeys. The Health and Safety Executive, acting as the Building Safety Regulator, is a statutory consultee on those applications, and that consultation is Planning Gateway One under the Building Safety Act 2022 framework.
| London Plan policy D12 | National fire statement, Gateway One | |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | All major development in London | Relevant buildings at 18 m or 7 storeys |
| Legal basis | London Plan policy | Article 9A of the 2015 Order |
| Statutory consultee | None specific to the statement | Health and Safety Executive |
| Author | Third party suitably qualified assessor | Person with fire engineering competence |
| Form | Statement to the policy's own headings | Prescribed government form |
| Scope | Design, evacuation, access, future change | Design and fire safety matters in the form |
A tall residential scheme in London needs both, and the two documents overlap heavily without being interchangeable. Produce the policy D12 statement as the substantive fire strategy and use it to populate the national form, rather than the other way round.
What the statement has to cover
The policy lists the content, and GLA case officers mark against the list, so structure the statement to the same headings.
- The building's construction, including the methods, products and materials used.
- The means of escape for all building users, covering stair core design, escape for occupants who are disabled or need level access, and the evacuation strategy that goes with it.
- Features that reduce the risk to life, including fire alarm systems, passive and active measures, and the management and maintenance plans attached to them.
- Access for fire service personnel and equipment, covering how access is achieved in an evacuation situation, water supplies, the provision and positioning of equipment, firefighting lifts, stairs and lobbies, any suppression and smoke ventilation proposed, and the ongoing maintenance and monitoring of those systems.
- Provision within the curtilage of the site for fire appliances to reach the building.
- How potential future modifications to the building will be prevented from compromising the base build fire safety measures.
That sixth item is the one most often omitted and it is specific to the policy. It asks you to think about what happens when a future occupier wants to knock through a compartment wall or a landlord replaces the cladding, and to explain what in the design or the management arrangements stops that undermining the strategy.
Reference the actual drawing numbers throughout. A statement that describes a generic building is worthless to the case officer, because the point of the exercise is to show that this design, on this site, works.
Evacuation lifts, refuges and level access
London Plan policy on inclusive design requires at least one lift per core, or more where a capacity assessment shows it is needed, to be a suitably sized fire evacuation lift usable to evacuate people who need level access. That has consequences for core planning, lift shaft sizing, secondary power supply and lobby arrangements, and it has to be settled at planning stage because it changes the floor plate.
Refuges, the evacuation alert system in taller residential buildings, and the management arrangements that make a phased or simultaneous evacuation strategy work all belong in the statement. State which evacuation strategy the building uses, because stay put, simultaneous evacuation and phased evacuation produce different design requirements and different management obligations.
The second staircase requirement for taller residential buildings is the live design question on many London schemes. Government introduced an 18 metre threshold for second staircases in residential buildings through an amendment to Approved Document B, with transitional arrangements. Check the current Approved Document text and the transitional position before you fix a core strategy, because the answer has changed more than once and the capacity consequences are substantial. A second stair takes floor area from every storey, which feeds straight into the design-led capacity exercise described in the note on optimising site capacity through a design-led approach.
Who may author the statement
The policy asks for a third party suitably qualified assessor, and the GLA reads that as meaning someone independent of the design team with demonstrable fire engineering competence. In practice that means a chartered engineer or a member of the relevant professional institution with fire engineering experience, engaged separately from the architect and the services engineer.
A statement signed by the project architect will be rejected on that ground alone, however good its content. The same applies to a statement produced by the fire consultant who is also designing the smoke control system, where the authority takes the view that the reviewer should be independent of the designer.
For the national fire statement at Gateway One, the person preparing it must have the necessary fire engineering competence, and the Health and Safety Executive will comment on the substance. Both routes are report types where a qualified professional is legally required, and the fire statement page sets out what the document contains. An AI-assisted draft can structure the statement, assemble the policy references and flag where site-specific facts are missing, and it is a starting point for that professional rather than a substitute for them.
Appoint the assessor at concept design. A fire engineer brought in at planning submission can only describe what has been drawn, and if the core arrangement is wrong the only options are a redesign or a holding objection.
Referable schemes and the Mayor's two stages
Applications meeting the referral thresholds go to the Mayor twice. At stage one, before the borough determines the application, the GLA issues a report setting out whether the scheme complies with the London Plan and what further information is required. At stage two, after the borough resolves to grant, the Mayor considers whether to allow the borough to proceed, to direct refusal or to take over the application.
Fire safety is raised at stage one as a matter of routine, and a deficient Fire Statement produces a conclusion that the scheme does not yet comply with policy D12. That is not fatal, and it does add a round of correspondence and often a revised statement, which on a tightly programmed scheme is four to eight weeks. Where the site sits in a growth location with its own policy framework, the stage one report will test the fire position alongside everything else, as described in the note on what a London allocation changes.
Submit the statement with the application rather than offering it later. A condition requiring a Fire Statement is not an acceptable substitute, because the policy requires the statement to inform the decision.
Common reasons for a holding objection
Six recur often enough to be worth checking against your own submission before it goes in.
The statement is signed by a member of the design team rather than an independent assessor. No evacuation strategy is identified, so the reviewer cannot tell whether the building is stay put or simultaneous evacuation. The site plan does not show fire appliance access, the assembly point or the command position, which are the items the policy asks for by name. No evacuation lift is provided or its omission is not justified. The statement is generic and does not reference the submitted drawings. And future modifications are not addressed at all.
Fix those six and the statement will usually clear stage one. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which documents your London scheme is likely to need.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. A Fire Statement is required at Planning Gateway One for relevant buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022 framework and Article 9A of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015, and it must be prepared by someone with the necessary fire engineering competence. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Does policy D12 apply to low-rise schemes?
Yes. The Fire Statement requirement under London Plan policy D12 applies to all major development proposals in London regardless of height, so a 14-unit three-storey scheme is caught. The national fire statement at Planning Gateway One applies only to relevant buildings of 18 metres or seven storeys and above.
Who can write a D12 Fire Statement?
A third party suitably qualified assessor, independent of the design team, with demonstrable fire engineering competence. In practice that means a chartered engineer or a member of the relevant professional institution engaged separately from the architect and services engineer. A statement signed by the project architect is rejected on that ground alone.
Is the D12 statement the same as the Gateway One fire statement?
No. They have different triggers, different legal bases and different formats, and a tall London residential scheme needs both. The practical approach is to produce the policy D12 statement as the substantive fire strategy and use it to populate the prescribed national form, rather than the reverse.
What does the policy ask about future modifications?
It asks you to explain how potential future modifications to the building will be prevented from compromising the base build fire safety measures. That means addressing what stops a later occupier breaching a compartment wall or a landlord changing a facade system, through design decisions or through management and maintenance arrangements.
Do I need an evacuation lift?
London Plan policy on inclusive design expects at least one lift per core, or more where capacity assessment requires it, to be a suitably sized fire evacuation lift usable for occupants who need level access. It affects core planning, shaft sizing and secondary power, so it has to be resolved at planning stage.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.