City of Vancouver to further explore single-staircase residential buildings
Staff with the City of Vancouver will continue exploring the potential for allowing new single-staircase multi-family residential building policies, similar to those enacted by the Government of B.C.
Ahead of today’s public meeting, City staff recommended to Vancouver City Council that such changes to the Vancouver Building Code should not be allowed due to fire safety risks, even with increased safety mitigations.
Recent provincial changes to the separate B.C. Building Code, which applies to all other municipal governments, permit the construction of small multi-family residential buildings up to six storeys with just one emergency exit staircase. Previously, such buildings that are three storeys or higher required at least two exit staircases, which continues to be a requirement in Vancouver.
The provincial government enabled such new building designs with small floor plates up to six storeys to open up the possibility of achieving six-storey buildings on small lots, possibly even on a standard single-family lot. This could reduce both land acquisition and construction costs, while increasing livability with the potential for more windows.
City Council unanimously directed City staff to consult with Vancouver Fire Rescue, architects, and builders to further explore and expand on the findings of City staff’s report for the meeting, reporting back in Fall 2025 with further information on the feasibility for further consideration. As well, City Council affirmed its goal of aligning its policies with the BC Building Code, with a specific request to limit any major special requirements that may add to project costs.
“We heard a lot about the use of non-combustible materials. The fact that this does require some courage in terms of adopting it’s not present in current cities, but we haven’t heard that there any life safety issues, such as in Seattle that had adopted it,” said ABC city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung during the meeting.
“We haven’t seen any stats that point to issues. We’ve heard concerns which are obviously important, but I haven’t seen data that speaks to it being an issue.”
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