You can’t retrofit responsibility

A recurring feature of fires involving historic buildings is not the absence of expertise, but the absence of clear and sustained accountability. Multiple parties are typically involved in the life of such buildings — designers, contractors, owners, occupiers, and regulators — each fulfilling a defined role at a particular point in time. Individually, those roles are often discharged competently. Collectively, however, they do not always result in a coherent and enduring approach to fire risk.

This fragmentation is particularly evident once a building moves beyond the point of project delivery. Design assumptions persist, but the conditions that underpin them begin to change. Fire-resisting construction is assumed to remain effective, even as it is altered, penetrated, or degraded through use. Maintenance regimes exist, but may not be sufficiently targeted or informed by the original fire strategy. Changes in occupancy or use occur incrementally, without always triggering a corresponding reassessment of risk.

In this context, responsibility becomes diffuse. No single party is clearly accountable for ensuring that fire safety measures continue to perform as intended over time. The result is a gradual shift from a position of demonstrable safety to one of assumed adequacy. That shift is rarely visible in any one moment, but it is often evident in hindsight.

The instinctive response is to look for technical solutions: more guidance, more detailed standards, or more prescriptive requirements. While these have their place, they do not address the underlying issue. Fire safety in historic buildings is not constrained primarily by a lack of technical knowledge, but by a lack of clearly defined and consistently exercised ownership of risk.

Responsibility cannot be reconstructed after an incident. It must be established, understood, and maintained as part of the ongoing operation of the building. This is particularly important in historic contexts, where intervention is more complex and the consequences of failure are often more severe.

This reflection is not directed at any individual dutyholder or project, but at a wider pattern observed across the built environment. Fire safety is not a static condition achieved at a point in time; it is a responsibility that must be actively and continuously managed.