19 August 2020

The Modern Building Alliance gave feedback to the Inception Impact Assessment published by the European Commission about the review of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). The CPR lays down EU-wide rules for the marketing of construction products. Its review announced in the European Green Deal communication of December 2019, aims to address some issues identified in the 2019 evaluation, to improve the functioning of the single market and to promote environmental goals and product safety. The Inception Impact Assessment presents different options considered by the European Commission, from no legislative change to repealing to CPR.

The Modern Building Alliance stressed in its input to the roadmap that the CPR, together with several other elements such as national building codes & regulations, plays an essential role for the safety of construction works, including for fire safety of buildings. Any change considered must carefully assess the potential safety impact and the potential for improvement which can mainly be found in better implementation and enforcement. Modern Building Alliance therefore supports preferably option A (no legislative changes), radically rejects option E (repealing the CPR) and calls for strengthening quality, compliance and enforcement by developing fire safety competencies.

8 July 2020

The European Commission is preparing the Renovation Wave (a proposal announced by the Green Deal and expected for September) with the ambition of boosting the renovation rate of the EU building stock.

Its main objectives: to make the most of energy renovations of public and private buildings in order to tackle climate change and energy poverty and to improve the well-being of EU citizens while creating local jobs and relaunching the EU economy. It is also a key component of the post COVID-19 recovery plan.

 The Renovation Wave is an unprecedented opportunity to improve the overall quality of buildings and fire safety must not be overlooked during these efforts.

 In our reply to the recent public consultation, we stressed the importance of not forgetting fire safety and of addressing it in a holistic, performance based and material/solution neutral approach. We encouraged a focus on fire safety skills and competencies as an accompaniment to building renovation.

Ensuring the fire safety of buildings is a complex issue requiring competent professionals with clear roles and responsibilities who are involved during the buildings’ design, construction and maintenance phases.

The involvement of fire safety engineers in building design is not sufficiently common practice; in particular, their work must be incorporated to a greater extent during the sustainable transformation of the building stock. Regular fire safety checks of buildings, including inspections of electrical and fire safety installations, are also necessary and can transform each renovation into an opportunity to improve fire safety.

 The Modern Building Alliance will monitor this important dossier and repeat its recommendations every time it is possible for the EU to play a role in strengthening fire safety competencies in order to ensure safe buildings for European citizens.

More info about the Renovation Wave Consultation

7 July 2020

The European Parliament’s ITRE committee has voted on the Own Initiative Report “Maximising the Energy Efficiency Potential of the EU building stock”. The rapporteur Ciaran Cuffe and shadow rapporteurs expressly used this text as an opportunity to include and address features other than strict energy efficiency measures.

We are delighted to see fire safety covered in three paragraphs in this dossier:

- Paragraph 19a: refers to the content of the EPBD regarding seismic and fire safety

- Paragraph 19aa: echoes the 7 layers of fire safety which is great new as it considers fire safety in a holistic way:

“Recalls that fire safety aspects should be considered during the design, selection of materials, construction, renovation and operation of buildings in prevention, detection, early suppression, evacuation, compartmentation, structural resistance and fire-fighting, as well as the relevant competencies of professionals involved during design, construction and renovation;”

- Paragraph 25: This paragraph goes further and refers to [Fire] Safety Competency that also echoes what the Modern Building Alliance advocates in its Call for Action:

“... underlines that ensuring quality, compliance, and safety requires adequate competencies and skills of professionals involved during the design and construction/renovation...”

This vote is a crucial step and a clear signal from the European Parliament to ensure that fire safety is adequately addressed during the renovation of the building stock, with a holistic, performance-based and material-neutral approach that relies on the competencies and skills of professionals. The Modern Building Alliance welcomes this vote and approach.

Link to the compromised text voted