Reference · 2005 → 2029
The UK fire door regulation timeline
UK fire door law has changed faster in the last five years than in the previous fifty. Here is the chronology that matters — each step dated, sourced, and linked to the guide that explains it.
Timeline of key UK fire door laws
- 2005England & WalesFire Safety Order
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
The foundation still in force today: it makes a 'responsible person' keep fire doors maintained in an efficient state and in efficient working order (Article 17).
UK fire door law → - 2017The catalyst14 June 2017
The Grenfell Tower fire
Failures of compartmentation, fire doors and self-closing devices were central to the tragedy — and drove almost every reform that followed.
- 2022England16 May 2022
Fire Safety Act 2021 comes into force
It puts beyond doubt that the external walls, flat entrance doors and common parts of blocks of flats sit within the Fire Safety Order — so flat entrance fire doors are in scope.
Flat entrance fire doors → - 2022Higher-risk buildingsBuilding Safety Act
The Building Safety Act 2022
Creates the higher-risk building regime (18 m or 7 storeys), accountable persons, the gateways and the 'golden thread' of building-safety information.
Building Safety Act & fire doors → - 2023England23 January 2023
Regulation 10 takes effect
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 set the first fixed check frequencies: communal fire doors at least every 3 months and flat entrance doors every 12, in buildings over 11 m.
Regulation 10 checks → - 2023England1 October 2023
Section 156 strengthens the duties
Section 156 of the Building Safety Act requires every responsible person to record their fire risk assessment in full — making written fire-door records the working assumption of enforcement.
The responsible person → - 2026Wales27 April 2026
Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026
Wales legislates its own occupation-phase regime for every building with two or more residential units — regardless of height — diverging further from England.
Fire door law in Wales → - 2029England · upcoming2 September 2029
BS 476 leaves Approved Document B
England withdraws the old BS 476 fire-test classes from Approved Document B, leaving the European route — BS EN 1634-1 tested, classified as E / EI to BS EN 13501-2 — as the reference.
BS 476 vs EN 1634 →
Why the pace matters
Most of this timeline post-dates 2017. For anyone responsible for a building, that means a document written even a few years ago may already cite superseded duties. The safe assumption is that fire door obligations are still moving — which is exactly why every guide on this site states the law it relies on and the date it was last reviewed.
See the rules side by side in the UK regulations comparator, or find the duties for your specific building with the compliance checker.