Specification under the new safety Act is critical, says AEI Cables

The performance of cabling in critical fire safety systems needs to be clearly understood as part of the new Building Safety Act, says leading cable supplier AEI Cables.

The new Building Safety Act makes new stringent requirements for higher-risk buildings which are those deemed to be of at least 18 metres in height or at least seven storeys containing at least two residential units.

The Act updates guidelines for construction and management of higher risk buildings and covers the whole supply chain including electrical safety systems and cabling.

The current British Standard Code of Practice BS 8519 identifies six categories of power and control cables with survival times of 30, 60 or 120 minutes.

Stuart Dover, general manager of AEI Cables, said: “There is a lot of new detail in the legislation and we welcome the requirements of the Act. However, there is a pressing need to understand the part played by electrical safety systems and the cabling that operates these systems.

“There is good information available through the cabling industry including our own technical advisers about cable testing, cable classifications and cable performance in real fire conditions.”

The systems in these buildings powered by electrical cables – including smoke and heat extraction systems – assist fire services in firefighting and a safe evacuation in the case of life safety.

The Building Safety Regulator will oversee the safety and performance of all buildings, as well as having a special focus on high-rise buildings. It will promote competence and organisational capability within the sector including for building control professionals and tradespeople.

Building owners should now have their building safety regime in place and any occupied higher-risk buildings should be registered with the Building Safety Regulator.

AEI Cables’ Firetec Enhanced cabling has been approved and certified by LPCB to BS8519 (Annex B), Category 3 Control in addition to Category 2 Control. The BS Code of Practice under BS8519 contains six categories of cables, three for power cables and three for control cables each covering survival times of 30, 60 or 120 minutes.

All AEI Cables’ products are supplied with approvals from independent bodies including BASEC and LPCB. It also holds approvals from organisations including Lloyds, the MoD, Network Rail and LUL and works to international standards around the world. For more information see the AEI Cables website, tel 0191 410 3111 or email [email protected].

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