The Building Safety Act is a landmark legislation in the UK that aims to revolutionize the way buildings are designed, constructed, and managed, with a primary focus on enhancing safety and accountability across the sector.

When it comes to school planning and safety, understanding and calculating the net capacity of a school is of paramount importance. Net capacity refers to the maximum number of students or occupants a school facility can comfortably and safely accommodate. In this blog post, we'll guide you through the steps to calculate the net capacity of a school and introduce some useful tools and software to simplify the process.

Fire regulations for school buildings in the UK are in place to ensure the safety and well-being of students, staff, and visitors. There are a number of regulations which are designed to minimize the risk of fire and to ensure that buildings are equipped with the necessary safety features to protect occupants in the event of a fire.

Want to find out the difference between and asbestos management survey and asbestos management plane, well here’s your answer…….

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) is a lightweight form of concrete. The Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS) has noted that: ‘Although called “concrete”, (RAAC) is very different from traditional concrete and, because of the way in which it was made, much weaker. The useful life of such (panels) has been estimated to be around 30 years’ (SCOSS Alert, May 2019).

If RAAC is suspected, a specialist Structural Engineer should be appointed. If RAAC is confirmed, the specialist should undertake a detailed assessment and prepare a management and remediation strategy.

Full guidance available from the Dfe HERE

A Principal Designer under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM Regs) is a person or organization appointed by the client to plan, manage, and monitor the pre-construction phase of a project to ensure that health and safety risks are identified and controlled. They are responsible for coordinating the work of all designers involved in the project and ensuring that the design is safe and compliant with the CDM Regs. They also have a duty to provide information, instruction, and training to other designers and the construction team to ensure that the project is constructed in accordance with the design.

Just because a project is small, doesn’t mean you can forget about CDM. It still applies, and it is important to be familiar with the requirements and your duties.