Two issues for further discussion arise from the Colindale fire. The first is the extent to which steel-framed buildings are different from timber. I am watching a steel-framed retirement home go up locally and there is a lot of timber in the secondary structure.

The second is whether this incident indicates that we should be taking a different approach to evacuating the less mobile from multistorey flats. BS 5588-12 advises that if there is a fire in another part of a building, you close doors and windows, and wait for it to be put out. Colindale may have shifted the balance of probabilities.

Ian Macpherson, Guildford

Topics