March 2026 round-up: Approved Document B consultation, a new fire door standard and an asbestos prosecution

A record of March 2026. This page is not rewritten as events move on — later developments are reported in later items, so this stays a picture of what was known at the time.

Approved Document B review opens

On 25 March the Building Safety Regulator and MHCLG opened a consultation on changes to Approved Document B, covering external wall and balcony guidance, thresholds on combustible structural elements, and a recommendation for evacuation lifts in residential buildings above 18 metres. It runs to 1 July.

Full item, with what was proposed and who it affects.

BS 8214:2026 published

BSI published BS 8214:2026 on 20 March, superseding the 2016 edition and bringing smoke control doors explicitly into the title and scope of the fire door code of practice.

Full item, and what it means for inspection work.

Asbestos prosecution at Cannock

Birmingham Magistrates' Court sentenced two companies and a site manager on 6 March following a large-scale asbestos disturbance at a demolition site where a survey had already identified asbestos-containing materials. Fines of £74,900 and £13,400, a 26-week suspended sentence and a five-year director disqualification.

Full item, including what was breached.

What we took from the month

Two of these three are about currency rather than substance. A new consultation and a new edition of a code of practice both create the same practical risk: work carried out against a reference that has since moved, by someone who did not notice it had. The prosecution is the reminder of what the other end of that looks like.