{"id":353005,"date":"2025-11-03T16:44:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T16:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/353005\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T16:44:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T16:44:14","slug":"calgary-firefighters-warn-against-single-stair-apartments-as-trend-spreads-to-canadian-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/353005\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary firefighters warn against single-stair apartments as trend spreads to Canadian cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calgary\u2019s firefighters union is trying to prevent what it calls a dangerous housing trend \u2014 in which apartment buildings are being constructed with only one exit stairwell \u2014 from making its way here.<\/p>\n

Under the national building code, new residential buildings more than two storeys tall must have two stairwells. But there has recently been a push in Canada to work around that.<\/p>\n

Last year, the B.C. government tweaked<\/a> its building code, allowing buildings up to six storeys to have one stairwell instead of two.<\/p>\n

And earlier this year, the City of Edmonton released a guide<\/a> to help developers get the green light for single-stair housing by using alternative solutions to fire safety instead \u2014 a process that\u2019s been available for decades. So far, two building permits have been approved.<\/p>\n

Now, Jamie Blayney, president of the Calgary Firefighters Association, worries Calgary is next.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to see even one of those buildings get built inside the city,\u201d said Blayney.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we\u2019re seeing increasingly more and more faster growing fires, we don\u2019t want to occupy that stairwell at the same time people are trying to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoFirefighters responding to a call at an apartment building in Calgary after a 911 call about smoke. (Dean Holtsman\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Blayney\u2019s comments echo concerns from firefighters across North America<\/a> who are trying to stop these proposals in cities like Vancouver and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

But proponents argue that, amid a housing crisis, shifting to one stairwell is a good way to construct housing quicker and cheaper.<\/p>\n

Better light, improved circulation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephen Barnecut, principal of Gravity Architecture, said he feels like it\u2019s just a matter of time before these types of developments make their way to Calgary.<\/p>\n

His firm recently partnered with students at the University of Calgary\u2019s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape to design single-stair \u2014 also called point access block \u2014 housing. They submitted their work to a competition in Denver and one team was shortlisted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Barnecut said there are many advantages to this type of housing. For one, stairwells cost a lot. And with less space needed for stairs, he said there are opportunities to design spaces more creatively, giving residents better light and air circulation.<\/p>\n

\"ArchitecturalA graphic of a single-stair apartment building with one exit and a dual-egress apartment building with two shows the differences in how homes can be built, with the former allowing for a smaller number of net units per floor. (LGA Architectural Partners via B.C. Government\/Flickr)<\/p>\n

It also opens up the opportunity to build multi-storey buildings on smaller parcels of land, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than waiting 10, 20 years for [a real estate developer] to buy up the entire block and put a large North American apartment building, the single stair allows even a 50-foot wide or even maybe narrower site to be built as an apartment building,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Barnecut said this type of building is common outside of North America. He pointed to Europe as an example of how they can be constructed safely.<\/p>\n

Countries in Europe use non-combustible materials for stairwells, he said. And European buildings often have designated refuge areas for people with mobility issues in the event of a fire, which isn\u2019t common in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe single stair in some ways is just a more progressive way of doing things if it\u2019s done the way it\u2019s done in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

City open to reviewing proposals<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a statement to CBC, the City of Calgary\u2019s chief building official said no single-stair proposals have been submitted to date.<\/p>\n

But the city is open to reviewing proposals, as long as they\u2019re designed with alternative solutions that are equivalent to applicable building code requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn cases where emergency response may be impacted, such as with single egress designs, the Calgary Fire Department would be a key partner in the review and the design would need to reflect both the capabilities of the Calgary Fire Department and the specific site conditions,” said Ulrik Seward.<\/p>\n

Back at the firefighters’ union, Blayney argues there are no alternative solutions as safe as having two exit stairwells. As a new city council kicks off, he said he plans to continue conversations with councillors to share his concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calgary\u2019s firefighters union is trying to prevent what it calls a dangerous housing trend \u2014 in which apartment…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":353006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-353005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115486777366568971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}