Secure information boxes and premises information at planning

A secure information box is a locked, weatherproof enclosure near the main entrance of a high-rise residential building, holding the information a fire and rescue service needs on arrival. The requirement comes from regulation 4 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which applies to buildings containing two or more domestic premises that are at least 18 metres in height or have at least seven storeys.

It is an operational duty on the responsible person, not a planning requirement. It still belongs on the planning drawings, because the box has to be somewhere a firefighter can reach it in the dark, and on a carefully composed entrance elevation that position is a design decision rather than an afterthought.

Where the requirement comes from

The 2022 Regulations sit under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and were made following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase one recommendations. Alongside the secure information box, they require building floor plans and a single-page building plan to be provided to the fire and rescue service, information about external wall systems, wayfinding signage visible in low light, floor identification signage, and monthly checks of lifts and firefighting equipment in scope buildings.

The box holds the name and contact details of the responsible person and, where the building is in scope, copies of the floor plans. The contents are prescribed by the Regulations rather than left to the designer.

Separately, Approved Document B deals with provision for firefighting under requirement B5, including vehicle access, fire mains and firefighting shafts. The two regimes meet at the entrance, because the fire main inlet, the premises information box and the fire service access route all want the same few metres of elevation.

Why location reaches the elevation

Fire and rescue services expect to find the box at or close to the main entrance, externally accessible, at a height a person can operate while wearing gloves, visible from the approach, and not obstructed by planting, bin stores, cycle stands or a recessed porch.

That set of requirements collides with a designed entrance in four ways:

• The box is a visible object on a facade the architect has composed, typically 300 to 500 millimetres across depending on the product and contents
• It needs to sit beside the entrance rather than around a corner, which is also where the door entry panel, the letterbox, the signage and the fire main inlet want to be
• It has to stay clear of the door swing and of any level access route
• Its finish and signage are prescribed to some degree, so it cannot simply be matched to the cladding

Designing it in from the start costs nothing. Discovering it at building regulations stage, after the entrance elevation has been approved with a condition requiring compliance with the approved drawings, produces either a non-material amendment application or an awkward surface-mounted box on a stone reveal.

Access, security and weather protection

The box must be secure, which in practice means a keyed or combination lock to a standard the local fire and rescue service accepts, and weatherproof, because paper documents inside a leaking enclosure are useless within a season.

Agree the lock standard and the key holding arrangement with the fire and rescue service rather than assuming. Services differ on this and retrofitting a different lock is avoidable waste.

Coordination with the entrance design

The entrance of a residential building now carries a crowd of statutory objects. Fire main inlet, secure information box, dry riser, sprinkler inlet where provided, evacuation alert system panel, door entry, postal provision, accessible approach, and the signage for all of it.

The arrangement that works is a single coordinated zone, set within the entrance recess or an adjacent panel, with a consistent finish and an agreed hierarchy. Treating each item as a separate late addition produces the cluttered entrance that characterises buildings where the coordination happened on site.

Draw it. A 1:20 entrance elevation showing every statutory item in position, with a key, settles the question with the officer and with the building control body in one drawing. Mark the box position on the ground floor plan and the site plan as well, so the fire service access route can be read against it.

Listed and sensitive frontages

On a listed building or in a conservation area the box becomes a heritage question. The options, in rough order of acceptability:

Inside an existing recess or reveal, where the depth allows and no historic fabric is cut. Within a new lobby with external access through a discreet panel. On a secondary elevation beside the fire service access point, where the service agrees. Surface mounted on a modern element rather than on historic fabric. And, last, surface mounted on the historic facade with a finish agreed with the conservation officer.

Listed building consent is likely to be needed for any fixing into historic fabric. The case is helped by reversibility: fixings into mortar joints rather than into stone or brick, and an enclosure that can be removed without trace. Where the building is high-rise and listed, which is uncommon but not unknown, expect the conservation officer and the fire service to want different things and budget time for the conversation.

What to show on the drawings

Show the box on the entrance elevation at a scale where it reads, on the ground floor plan with its access route, and on the site plan in relation to the fire appliance standing position. Add a short note giving the regulation it responds to, the mounting height and the finish.

Where a Fire Statement is required under article 9A of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015, which applies to relevant buildings of 18 metres or more or seven or more storeys containing two or more dwellings, the statement covers site layout, water supplies and access for fire appliances. The box sits naturally alongside that material, and a statement that addresses the arrival sequence as a whole reads better than one that treats each element separately.

The detailed strategy, including evacuation, compartmentation and smoke control, belongs in a Fire Safety Strategy prepared by someone with fire engineering competence. Both of those documents are ones where a competent professional is legally required rather than merely advisable.

Conditions likely to be attached

Expect a condition requiring details of the entrance arrangement, including any statutory boxes and panels, to be submitted and approved before the relevant part of the work begins. On a heritage site expect a materials and fixings condition.

Where the building sits just below the 18 metre and seven storey thresholds, the Fire Statement duty may not apply and the fire safety regulations may not either, which creates the awkward category covered in fire evidence for a building just below the threshold. Designing the entrance as though the box will be needed is low-cost insurance, because thresholds move and buildings get extended.

PlanScope can draft the planning-stage fire material and the supporting statements for a residential scheme from a postcode and a set of answers, flagging where specialist input is needed rather than filling the gap. A Fire Statement and a Fire Safety Strategy require an author with the necessary fire engineering competence under the Building Safety Act 2022 framework, and a PlanScope draft is a starting point for that professional rather than a substitute. Reports should be reviewed before submission and PlanScope does not guarantee planning approval. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required.