Draft Fire Safety (Tall Residential Buildings) (Jersey) Regulations 202- (P.120/2025): comments

STATES OF JERSEY

DRAFT FIRE SAFETY (TALL RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS) (JERSEY) REGULATIONS 202- (P.120/2025): COMMENTS

Presented to the States on 30th January 2026

by the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel

STATES GREFFE

2025  P.120 Com.

COMMENTS

Background

Prior to the lodging of the Draft Fire Safety (Tall Residential Buildings) (Jersey) Regulations 202– [P.120/2025] (hereafter the draft Regulations'), the Panel was briefed ahead of the consultation process that informed their development. A briefing was received on 25th July 2025 from Government officers and representatives of the States of Jersey Fire  and  Rescue  Service (SoJFRS). Following the lodging of the draft Regulations, the Panel received a further briefing on 9th January 2026.  

The Panel was also provided with an opportunity to observe the practical application of the proposed Regulations during a visit to a tall residential building managed by Andium Homes on 27th January 2026. The Panel extends its thanks to all officers and staff who have contributed to the briefings, visit, and supported the Panel's understanding of the draft Regulations.

Why are the draft Regulations required?

As highlighted in the report accompanying the draft Regulations, "fire safety legislation in Jersey has fallen a long way behind the UK, other crown dependencies and the international community."1 There is no fire safety law that is directly applied to tall residential buildings in Jersey, and the Fire Precautions (Jersey) Law 1977 does not allow Regulations to be made for tall residential buildings without them gaining a Fire Certificate. The Panel was advised that this was not considered an appropriate route due to the cumbersome nature of this process.

However,  there  are  an  estimated  8,500  Islanders  (approximately  8%  of  the  total population) who currently live in tall residential buildings. The draft regulations would be applicable to buildings which are more than 11 metres in height and contain 2, or more, domestic premises. The Panel understands that there are approximately 120 buildings which would fall into this category in Jersey at the present time.

The Panel was advised that the draft Regulations' have been prepared following the Phase 1 recommendations of the UK Government's Grenfell Tower Inquiry, which were published in October 2019. In England, the recommendations informed the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which supported the existing Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Jersey's proposed draft Regulations largely mirror the English legislation but also include changes to account for the Jersey context and consultation feedback. Their purpose is to bring fire safety requirements in Jersey in line with those in the UK.

In summary, the seven requirements that the draft Regulations will introduce, are:

1. Provision of floor and building plans to the SoJFRS;
2. Installing a secure information box in an accessible location for the SoJFRS;
3. Improving existing firefighting equipment that is already present in the building if it is in poor condition, or requires maintenance;

1 Report accompanying Draft Fire Safety (Tall Residential Buildings) (Jersey) Regulations 202- [P.120/2025], p.2

4. A 3 monthly basic check of lifts and firefighting equipment;
5. Ensuring that wayfinding signage is present in the stairway landings and lift lobbies on each floor;
6. Providing basic fire safety instructions to residents, including information about the importance of fire doors; and
7. Basic checks of communal fire doors every 3 months, and flat entrance doors every 12 months.

Further detail about each of the requirements, including responsible person etc, is provided in the proposition report and we will not duplicate the information here.

Points the Panel wishes to highlight:

• At the time of the consultation for the draft Regulations there was a proposal to include  the  requirement  for  the  retrospective  installation  of  firefighting equipment (in addition to the improvement of existing equipment, which is retained as per requirement number 3). Relevant equipment which could have required to be installed were dry risers, or smoke control equipment. Therefore, the requirements in the draft Regulations have been reduced in scope. The Panel was advised that this was because of concerns raised during the consultation process about the significant capital cost this could have for building owners. The Panel queried whether consideration had been given to circumstances in which  property  owners  might  require  an  extended  period  to  install  the equipment. It was confirmed that this had been taken into account; however, the Minister ultimately decided to remove the installation requirements from the draft Regulations.

• The Panel was advised that a voluntary scheme has been in place in Jersey since 2024 and that some buildings had made changes with this model, however, in order to create consistency the draft Regulations would be required to ensure compliance.

• The draft Regulations are triennial at this time. The Panel was advised that whilst  work  is  underway  to  replace  the  primary  law  (namely,  the  Fire Precautions (Jersey) Law 1977) with a more modern law, this would not be ready to come to the States Assembly for another 1-2 years. Once new primary legislation is in place, it is anticipated that the regulations could be made under that law, removing the need to renew the triennial regulations.

• The report accompanying the proposition sets out the six ways in which the draft Regulations differ from the English regulations. The Panel is content that each of these is  a reasonable adjustment, for example, to cover a gap in legislation which is provided elsewhere in English law, or in response to valid points raised by the consultation or Jersey context.

• The Panel understands that work to address Phase 2 of the Grenfell Inquiry recommendations, which relate to building regulations, design and planning will form part of future work.

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P.120/2025 Com.

Conclusion  

The Panel is supportive of the draft Regulations and is content that they provide a sensible, if long overdue, first step to fire safety regulation in tall residential buildings in the Island. Importantly, their purpose is to provide Islanders living in tall residential buildings with greater protection in any instance of a fire.

If the States Assembly approves the draft regulations, they will come into force on 1st April 2027 and the Panel is advised that this is the swiftest way to introduce protection for Islanders, rather than waiting for the development of the updated primary law.