Over the past nine years, residential fire safety has evolved significantly, with increased focus on assurance, accountability, and resident outcomes.
This article focuses on the practical implications of the updated Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (often referred to as Residential PEEPs or RPEEPs) and what they mean for Responsible Persons (RPs) and residents in England.
Safety on paper vs safety in practice
As someone who has walked countless floors in countless residential buildings, one thing has become consistently clear. Since Grenfell, a seed has been planted in the back of every mind of those who call multi-occupancy residential blocks home: ‘Are we safe?’
On paper, the answer is yes. We have advancements in our technical understanding of materials and construction methods, greater effectiveness of early warning detection systems, and the installation of human factors that play a prevalent role in our ability to share information instantaneously across multiple media.
Post-Grenfell, industry and residents have struggled to navigate evacuation strategies as trust in the previously default stay-put approaches has been lost.
While it is accepted that creating an entirely risk-free building is not feasible, it is possible to reduce risks through good practice and decision-making grounded in integrity and good conscience.
What has changed (effective 6 April 2026)
The recent consultations and updated guidance have culminated in new legal duties for Residential PEEPs (often referred to as RPEEPs), effective from 6 April 2026.
Previously, Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans were not a legal requirement, even in high-rise buildings (HRBs), they were more of a voluntary undertaking or driven by local policy. The new RPEEPs are now set out in legislation, imposing a legal requirement to provide suitable considerations, plans, and actions for all residents, with the view to determining who may need additional measures to facilitate their safety and safe evacuation from a building in the event of a fire.
The intention is not to replicate workplace PEEPs, but to create a proportionate, resident-led residential model.
The RPEEPs policy addresses, amongst other things, three recommendations from the Phase 1 Report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry1;
33.22.f – Up-to-date information about residents with reduced mobility and their PEEPs to be stored in the premises information box for firefighter use.
33.22.e – The owner and manager of every high-rise building are required by law to prepare personal emergency evacuation plans for all residents whose ability to self-evacuate may be compromised, such as persons with reduced mobility or impaired cognition.
33.22.c – The owner and manager of every high-rise residential building should be required by law to draw up and keep under regular review an evacuation plan for the building, copies of which should be provided to the local fire and rescue service and be placed in a premises information box.
What Responsible Persons need to do (PCFRA and evacuation statements)
From this, new duties are established. The appointed Responsible Person(s) are to identify relevant residents that will or may require an individual RPEEPs. These are now constructed with the undertaking of a Person-Centred Fire Risk Assessment [PCFRA]. The PCFRA comprises 10 individual stages.
- Individuals’ Personal Circumstances
- Daily Living Activities & Behaviours
- Fire Risks Specific to the Individual
- Ability to Detect and Respond to Fire
- Evacuation Arrangements
- Fire Safety Measures in Place
- Support and Supervision Levels
- Training, Information & Education Needs
- Required Actions and Controls
- Review and Monitoring
These measures come into effect across all multi-residential HRB buildings in England (defined as having the highest habitable floor at or above 18 metres above ground floor) and all buildings over 11 metres with a simultaneous evacuation strategy in place.
Practical resources and next steps
To aid the process and assist the appointed Responsible Person(s) in completing their duties, the new policy introduces the RP Toolkit.2 A resource provided to support the Responsible Person in their processes when determining the relevant proposals for interventions, strategies, and support controls in relation to fire safety for their residents. The RP Toolkit is available to all, not just those working with the outlined criteria of the 18-metre and 11-metre buildings.
With these newly defined duties in place and suitably actioned, the industry will be able to identify and manage the needs of building users. This, over time, will rebuild trust among residents, building owners and managers, and the wider industry.
It is a step in the right direction, and as we see the inputs and feedback from Responsible Persons increasing, we, as an industry, will be able to continually assess whether these new measures are satisfactory and identify where additional review and amendment may be required.
More importantly, the industry now has direct legal accountability for residents’ safety.
For those who this new legislation may affect, the full policy is available on the government website.
About The Author
Scott is a highly experienced technical consultant with more than 30 years in the construction and fire industries, having worked in roles ranging from contracts manager to fire engineer and façade manager.
With experience in stakeholder engagement, he has developed, implemented, and managed policies and procedures for compliance with building regulations, gathered data for as-built reviews, and assessed building fire risk, including surface spread of flame and unseen spread within the cavity, in high-rise residential buildings.
Scott Kaminski, TechIOSH (FIRE), AFPO AIFSM
Senior Consultant, Technical
+44 73 4545 3952
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