In response to a question from a member, The Property Institute has sought advice from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service, its Primary Authority Partner, on what is the minimum size for the Secure Information Box that the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 requires to be installed and maintained on all high-rise residential buildings.
According to Dean Dixon, Hampshire’s Primary Authority Manager, “there is nothing so prescriptive as to the size of the box, only that it must hold all the information required”. The information required must of course include the A3 Orientation Plan required by the regulations to enable firefighters to orientate themselves with the building and its location in relation to the surrounding streets, neighbouring or adjoining buildings and other features that might cause them operational problems such as adjacent rivers or railway lines.
According to Dean there is nothing to prevent the A3 being folded before putting it in the box. The only risk as he sees it would be that “repeated folding and unfolding may cause the plan to degrade but hopefully there won't be too many occasions when this would happen.”
Dean notes that they have a primary authority partner “that has their A3 plan in a frame on the wall inside the development” with the additional paperwork in a Secure Information Box in the entrance porch. The frame can be released to allow access for fire services. Dean has said that if an ARMA member was to adopt this solution, they would be happy to defend the frame as a suitable receptacle if a member was challenged by other fire and rescue services as to its suitability.