Housebuilders are being forced to put steel bars across the first floor windows of new homes because civil servants believe that increasingly tall Britons are more likely to topple out and plunge to their deaths.
Developers are railing against new building safety regulations that mean they must either go through overly expensive and onerous planning changes or install the bars to comply with rules.
Ministers signed off the changes earlier this year after warnings from Whitehall officials that there will be a spate of fatal accidents as new insulation standards prompt more owners to open first-floor windows in summer to keep their warmer houses cool.
All building work must comply with Building Regulations 2010, part of the Building Act 1984. Part O of the regulations was amended by the Government under Michael Gove when he was Housing Secretary.
Civil servants within the Housing Department rejected protests from developers in an email on Aug 17, which has been seen by The Telegraph.
Officials said that “people through time have become taller and their centre of gravity is higher which requires a higher guard for their protection”.
Guards to prevent accidents could comprise a single internal bar across a bay window or Georgian bars – all of which must meet strict safety critieria.
The officials also cited data from the 1990s which found that there were around 50 fatal falls from windows each year and 2,300 hospitalisations.
The correspondence, written by a civil servant in the Department for Housing, said: “While we recognise this data is not up-to-date, data from the past on falls from height can still be informative.
“It was clear to the department that the new overheating standards could pose a greater risk of falling, that in turn needed enhanced protection.”
The Home Builders Federation attacked changes to regulations as “ill thought-out and contradictory to other regulations [with] clear aesthetic implications for new homes”.
A spokesman for the trade body added: “Developers will now have to resubmit numerous schemes for planning permission, a process that could take years via an already cumbersome, underfunded planning process.
“The constantly changing regulatory environment and Governments’ failure to test, validate and release adequate benchmarking software for industry to measure thermal performance against in a timely manner means tens of thousands of new build homes are delayed.
“At a time when we face an acute housing crisis, with young people increasingly unable to buy, such unnecessary bureaucratic delays have significant social and economic implications and threaten businesses, investment and jobs.”
The revised building regulations, first put forward in December last year and signed off by ministers on June 15, required windows in new-builds to be no lower than 1.1 metres above the floor.
Housebuilding sources said that windows are typically around 95 centimetres from the ground, with standard bedroom windows roughly 1.2 metres in height.
They added that the new rules left developers with three main options: make windows considerably smaller, make houses taller, or insert metal bars across windows to protect against accidental falls.
The first two options would require changes to original planning permissions for housing developments – delaying building projects and adding tens of thousands of pounds to their costs.
As a result, developers say they are effectively being left with no choice but to install bars.
Industry sources said “tens of thousands” of planned homes could be affected even as Liz Truss attempts to encourage more housebuilding.
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