PAS 9980: 2022 Fire risk appraisal of external wall construction and cladding of existing blocks of flats code of practice, which was published in January last year, was developed for three key reasons.

First, it was designed to keep people safe from fires associated with external wall construction. Second, it aimed to prevent financial hardship for occupants wherever possible. Third, it sought to promote a competent and consistent approach to fire safety.

Grenfell Tower tragedy prompts urgent reforms
The need for such a code of practice arose from revisions to regulations and guidance since the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, it became clear that problems in external wall construction went much further.

Among the government's many initiatives, it set up an expert panel that issued guidance on how to safeguard residents, particularly those living in blocks found to have the same aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. Immediate action was needed to avoid the risk of a repeat tragedy.

The guidance came in the form of advice notes. The first group of these dealt with the clear and present danger posed by unmodified polyethylene ACM, as had been used on Grenfell Tower; the second group considered the implications of large-scale testing on various grades of ACM; then more widely, a third group looked at other relevant forms of external wall construction. A total of 22 advice notes were published and variously updated.

A Consolidated Advice Note (CAN) was ultimately published in January 2020 to replace the preceding 22, with the aim of moving the construction industry in the right direction.

Even that was only the beginning of what needed to be done, though, and the CAN was ultimately withdrawn two years later to coincide with the publication of PAS 9980.
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