Canada’s restrictive fire escape regulations are currently under review

“Will it be one or two stairs?”

As taller, multi-story housing developments begin to be seen as one solution to the global housing shortage, the question arises as to whether buildings above a certain height should have two separate stairwells.

The restrictions on single emergency stairs (SES) come amid concerns about the ability to evacuate residents, particularly in the UK, a country still reeling from the effects of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.

Russ Timpson, a former British firefighter and convener of the UK Tall Building Fire Safety Network, writes that, largely as a result of the Grenfell fire, the UK government recently mandated that all new residential buildings over 18 metres high must be fitted with a second staircase.

In New York City, the two-staircase fire safety rule has been in effect for over 100 years.

“To a New Yorker, the idea that Britain would even have to debate the merits of having two exit stairs in a skyscraper would be absurd. It’s just so ingrained in building regulations,” writes Chris Fogarty, a principal at New York architecture firm Fogarty Finger.

“In the event of a fire, occupants can either use the interior stairs or exit through the windows and go down the metal fire escapes. These fire escapes define the character of many older New York neighborhoods, such as Soho and Tribeca.”

There are ongoing discussions in Canada about changing SES restrictions.

Under the current National Building Code (NBC), new residential buildings above two stories must have two staircases. However, the safety element is not clearly defined beyond that, writes Toon Dreessen, president of Architects DCA.

“When it comes to occupant health and safety, Canadian building codes see little or no difference between seven-storey buildings and 70-storey buildings. The code classifies both as high-rise buildings and imposes the same requirements on them. The problem, of course, is that there is a huge difference between trying to fight a fire or escape safely from a seven-storey building and one that is 10 times higher.”

In fact, maximum single stair lengths vary widely by building height and floor levels around the world. Canada’s two-story limit is at the very bottom, with only Uganda having a lower one-story limit. The SES limit is six in New York, 16 in Sweden, 50 meters in France, and 60 meters in Germany.

Experts say Canada’s decades-long restrictions on single-staircase homes are at odds with the need to increase urban density and improve the interior layouts and cross-ventilation of housing units. They say these indoor comfort issues need to be reexamined in the context of what currently constitutes a safe building.

In his 2022 analysis of Canada’s stair regulations compared to other countries, Conrad Speckert, a trainee architect at LGA Architectural Partners, wrote, “Canada is one of the jurisdictions with the most restrictive maximum height regulations for single-staircase buildings, which poses a significant obstacle to the construction of the much-needed ‘missing middle’ of residential construction.”

This applies in particular to smaller plots of land, he adds.

“While 85 percent efficiency can typically be achieved with two exits from larger properties, small infill lots cannot accommodate the floor plan depth of a dual-load corridor and achieve this goal.”

Speckert also points to advances in building efficiency and fire risk mitigation measures, which are provided by effective fire safety tools such as sprinklers, rigorous fire separations and positive pressurization in stairwells.

British Columbia will implement code changes in the fall to ease SES restrictions, according to a provincial report released in late June, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon wrote on LinkedIn. The ministry cited the potential to “deliver housing to people faster” and “enable better use of space for building occupants.”

In Ontario, several housing affordability groups have requested changes to the Ontario Building Code (SES) in both the NBC and the Ontario Building Code.

As Jamie Harte, senior associate at PUBLIC Architect, told Canadian Architect, the potential for greater creativity and improved interior comfort with a single, centrally placed staircase is compelling.

“It makes all kinds of small housing more high-quality,” Harte said. “Everything becomes a little more flexible and creative when you don’t have to run a corridor through the middle of the plan.”

John Bleasby is a freelance writer based in Coldwater, Ont.-based. Send comments and ideas for Climate and Construction columns to [email protected].