Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether building regulations relating to the internal and external spread of fire require balconies to be provided with fire protection or resistance.

Yes. Requirement B3 – Internal Fire Spread (structure) - of the Building Regulations 2010 requires that buildings should be constructed so that their stability will be maintained for a reasonable period. Guidance on this requirement is given in section 7 of Approved Document B, elements of structure, such as floors, should be provided with an appropriate degree of fire resistance.

Requirement B4 – External fire spread – requires that the external walls of buildings should resist the spread of fire over the walls.