business property - means of escape - fire

[semisane]

I am wading through approved document B - Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings but cannot find a section that relates to my requirements.

I have a 3 storey property.

Top floor is accessed at the rear from the road behind and above as per this plan.



Is the single protected staircase sufficient ?

I suspect not due to the staff chill out being a further half floor below at the back.

Can anyone give me some pointers / advice ?

[smokey mow]

What’s the maximum design occupancy of the building?
How are you dealing with the means of escape from the inner rooms and inner-inner rooms that exist?
What are the maximum travel distances to the protected stair?
Is the building all within the same occupancy?
Are the corridors protected corridors?

[semisane]

smokey mow said:

What’s the maximum design occupancy of the building? 15 staff / 5 customers
How are you dealing with the means of escape from the inner rooms and inner-inner rooms that exist? I was assuming they would escape as per the other areas. Happy to have fire resist walls and doors as appropriate (but hence the original query)
What are the maximum travel distances to the protected stair? Staff chillout - 15m, open plan office 1 - 15m and open plan office 10m
Is the building all within the same occupancy?No - ground floor and first floor separate tenants and will use rear protected staircase as 2nd means of exit
Are the corridors protected corridors?

Yes

I hope this helps set the scene

[smokey mow]

semisane said:

What’s the maximum design occupancy of the building? 15 staff / 5 customers - what about the other floors?

How are you dealing with the means of escape from the inner rooms and inner-inner rooms that exist? I was assuming they would escape as per the other areas. Happy to have fire resist walls and doors as appropriate (but hence the original query) - you need to consider better how they would escape if the fire was to start in one of the access rooms.

Is the building all within the same occupancy?No - ground floor and first floor separate tenants and will use rear protected staircase as 2nd means of exit - shared occupancy complicates matters somewhat, so it’s difficult to comment further without seeing the floor plan for the whole building. I have to ask why your architect is not advising you on this?

[semisane]

Hi Thanks for the feedback

Here are draft plans for the ground floor - expecting 110 customers and 12 staff - food and drink. Fire exits expected to be main doors bottom right or rear stair case up 3 floors (protected stair case to top rear)




First floor expecting 25 customers and 15 staff. Main entrance / fire exit next to WC's, secondary fire escape rear stair case up 2 floors (protected stair case to top rear)



Re escape from inner room (second floor), I believe I satisfy 2.11 a-g

Architect gone awol and currently expected to fend for myself

[smokey mow]

semisane said:

Architect gone awol and currently expected to fend for myself

Please don’t take this the wrong way but you need to find yourself a new architect.

The sort of questions you’re asking now are just the tip of the iceberg, building control and the fire service will be expecting a lot more detail from you further down the line and you’ll need to submit full plans this can’t be done On a building notice. unless you know what you’re doing then you’re going to get stuck very quickly and by then it will be even harder and more expensive for you to resolve.

I work daily with a lot of architects that won’t even go near commercial projects, so this isn’t a job I’d recommend to an amateur.

First and foremost though you need to look at your means of escape because from what I can see your protect stair leads back into the accommodation and doesn’t have direct access to a final exit, also judging by your occupancy figures for the upper floors you may need a second stair if exceeding 60.

Edited by smokey mow on Monday 28th March 20:22