Over 20,000 unbuilt London homes caught in second stair 'havoc'

More than 20,000 yet-to-be-built homes in the capital have become mired in chaos caused by demands for second staircases on high-rise housing schemes.

According to industry tracker Glenigan, around 23,000 new residential units currently approved or in planning are likely to have been impacted by London mayor Sadiq Khan's decision in February, which mandated that all new buildings in London above 30m must include a second means of escape.

The mayor's office said 40 schemes in planning will need a second staircase before being allowed to proceed.

The situation, which has led to scores of projects being redesigned and others put on pause, has been compounded by uncertainty over whether the government's soon-to-be-updated fire safety regulations on second staircases will go even further.

Although the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is currently also looking at a nationwide 30m rule, a number of organisations, including the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and local authorities, are demanding the measures to go further, and have called on the UK government to introduce a nationwide ban on all single-stair towers exceeding 18m in height.

Answering a question from Green Party London Assembly member Siân Berry in May about the number of buildings needing to be redesigned to include a second stair, the mayor said 7,243 homes in 14 schemes had already been changed to meet 'the highest standards of fire safety as required by my policies in the London Plan'.

Khan said another 40 schemes which had either been referred to him at Stage 1 or had received a resolution to grant planning permission from the boroughs would ‘require a second staircase before they can be referred to [him] at Stage 2’.

The mayor continued: "There will also be many schemes which will require a second staircase which are currently at pre-application stage that have not yet been referred to me. There will also be schemes which have been granted planning permission that should be unable to be built out under the proposed new Building Regulations which mandate a second staircase.

"My officers are aware of many developers who have paused their schemes until the government can provide further clarity on the detailed requirements and transitional arrangements for the second staircase and I have already written to the secretary of state regarding the urgency of this matter."

This story originally appeared on Architects' Journal