New formal hazard classifications
The Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (S.I. No. 56 of 2025) came into effect on 1 May 2025, alongside the Part B Amendments covered in our March edition. Together, they form the most significant change to fire safety building control in Ireland in more than a decade. This edition focuses on the Building Control side, particularly the expansion of Fire Safety Certificate (FSC) requirements and the new formal hazard classifications for industrial and storage buildings.
The 2025 Regulations introduce a formal distinction between:
- Industrial building, high hazard and industrial building, normal hazard
- Storage building, high hazard and storage building, normal hazard
High hazard, in this context, refers to buildings containing materials or processes that pose a significant fire risk, for example highly flammable substances or operations that could lead to rapid fire spread. Normal hazard covers other industrial or storage facilities not falling into the high hazard category.
In addition, the definition of "institutional building" has been replaced by "care facility building," and the definition of "place of assembly" has been clarified and expanded.
When a Fire Safety Certificate is now required
The 2025 Regulations expand the situations in which an FSC must be obtained. Based on the published regulations and contemporaneous legal commentary, expanded triggers include:
- Material alterations to storage buildings that involve subdivision or additional floor area
- Material changes of use relating to industrial buildings (whether normal or high hazard) or storage buildings (whether normal or high hazard)
- A commencement notice is now required for material alterations to storage buildings, even where an FSC is not strictly mandated
Some published analyses also note revised thresholds for when FSC is required for industrial and storage buildings. These are technical and project specific, so before relying on any threshold figure, the project's design team or fire safety consultant should confirm the position against the regulations themselves.
Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2025
S.I. No. 56 of 2025. In force from 1 May 2025. Amends the Building Control Regulations 1997 and expands when Fire Safety Certificates and commencement notices are required.
Practical implications
For owners and operators of industrial and storage facilities, the practical implications are significant. Alterations that previously fell outside the FSC regime may now sit inside it, and changes of use that move a building into a more onerous category will trigger fresh certification requirements. This affects:
- Warehouse extensions and subdivisions
- Conversion of industrial space for new processes or stored goods
- Refit of older industrial or storage premises
- Changes that move buildings between hazard categories
The fire detection and alarm system, emergency lighting, smoke control, and suppression provisions appropriate to a normal hazard storage building may not be sufficient for a high hazard one. Where the hazard classification changes, the active fire safety systems usually need to be reassessed alongside the passive and structural measures.
A note on Euroclass and transitional arrangements
The wider Part B and Building Control changes also involve a transition to Euroclass reaction to fire classifications. Industry guidance indicates a multi year transition window during which legacy and Euroclass systems may both appear, before Euroclass becomes the sole reference for new FSC applications. Project specifications should reference the correct classification framework in line with the current regulations.
What this means for procurement
If your business is planning any of the following in 2026, the 2025 Regulations should sit on the table from day one:
- Subdivision of a warehouse or storage facility
- Adding floor area to an existing industrial building
- Changing the use of a building from offices to storage, or from storage to higher hazard processes
- Major refurbishment of industrial or storage premises
Engage a competent fire safety professional early. The cost of designing in compliance from the start is invariably lower than the cost of retrofitting after a Building Control Authority intervention.
ADS Group's position
ADS Group works with industrial, storage, and care sector clients across Ireland to specify and install the active fire safety systems that sit inside a compliant fire strategy. We will not certify fire safety designs (that is a matter for competent fire safety designers and the Building Control Authority), but we will make sure our scope of works, our drawings, and our handover documentation align with what the project's fire safety consultant requires.
If you are planning works that may now trigger an FSC under the 2025 Regulations, our team can support your fire safety consultant with system level information and budgetary inputs.
Speak With ADS Group