Tom Sutton

I would suspect this is the person lowering the ceiling and insulating it thermally/sound, it doesn't appear to have anything to do with fire safety, quite the opposite I would think.

I think it may work, if not bring in a professional.

If you remove the smoke detector from the ceiling and press the hush button that will fully discharge the battery.

It may look like you are getting contradictory advice but it is how the RR(FS)O is interpreted. The order says, where necessary in order to safeguard the safety of relevant persons, the responsible person must ensure that routes to emergency exits from premises and the exits themselves are kept clear at all times and the following requirement must be complied with in respect of premises where necessary. Emergency routes and exits requiring illumination must be provided with emergency lighting of adequate intensity in the case of failure of their normal lighting. It is unlikely that a bedroom could be classed as an escape route but that would be up to the person conducting the FRA. I would suggest you check out article 14 to fully understand the situation.

Surface spread of flame (BS476: Parts 6 & 7) because when it is in a fire door the letter plate could breach the fire resistance of the fire door but when it is in the escape route the principle concern is the surface spread of flame.

I can understand your frustration but the way I interpret the order, there is no requirement in to make the RP share the FRA with other persons other than the enforcers and they have to co-operate with the other responsible person concerned so far as is necessary to enable them to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed on them by or under this Order.

You must not have to travel more than 45 meters to a call point when escaping, in an occupied premises, measuring around furniture and stuff ( a defined route) or 30 meters if you are working from plans using straight lines (an undefined route), this can be reduced to 25 or 16 meters in high-risk areas or disable persons need essential access to the call point. All final exits should have a call box adjacent to the door and additional call points will be required depending on how far you have to travel to escape, from the furthest point to that call box.

As AB has said it is for the convenience of the fire and rescue service so I would suggest you contact them and see what they have to say and if it has to be relocated see if a repeater control panel could be used which would be an easier/cheaper solution.

It looks like you will need to build a full FR30 partition complete with a door frame and FD30s fire door which would bring the door down clear of the ceiling then chose the best swing. Under what situation would you need to have both doors open at the same time, close one, open the other, then visa-versa. Also, consider a bespoke door depending on the best way to do the job.

The managing agents are most probably the Responsible Person (RP) and it is their duty to complete the FRA and rectify the significant findings. It is reasonable to expect the RP will be able to provide documented proof that the significant findings have been dealt with satisfactorily but would not be required to provide another FRA within the terms of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and could be some time before a review was conducted. Consequently, it is not reasonable for the buyer's mortgage valuer requesting for a new FRA to be provided, but getting documented proof is more reasonable and this is a constant misunderstanding of the RR(FS)O by those who should know better. Unfortunately, there is no way to speed up this procedure to rectify any faults found and I would suggest you check out article 9 in the RR(FS)O to understand the problems.

Pitusa may be worth checking out http://www.safetylawyers.co.uk/fire-safety/.

Not strictly true you can buy Fire Rated Sliding Pocket Doors, check the internet and it may be possible to get bespoke doors.

The lettings agency the block's management company would be the Responsible Person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and would have had a duty to sort out the false alarms but your problem is not a fire safety problem it is a legal matter. It would depend on any tenants agreements or any contract you have signed or any other legal considerations, so I would suggest you contact a property lawyer.

There is no way of giving a definitive reply without much more information and preferably a site inspection but you may find your answer in the appropriate guide, check out https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/422195/9294_Small_Mediumt_v2.pdf

A 2, 2.5 and 3-minute evacuation in stage 1 has existed for many years and was the standard after the post-war studies, combined with the travel speed from the PWS, gives travel distances of 40 feet per minute in a fire situation, which equates as 80, 100, 120 feet to stage 2 (comparative safety of a protected staircase or corridor) then 30 minutes to ultimate safety.

To add to AB submission if you are the landlord you are also subject to The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 and may be required to install CO detector or detectors if required.

As I have said above this will depend on your tenant's agreement or other contacts you have signed so it is not a fire safety matter but a legal one and you should seek advice from a property lawyer. What is important that it is made clear that this would not apply in an emergency situation.

I am assuming the building is less the 6 floors and protected lobbies are not required for the staircase. The common corridors and the staircase should provide no risk, so the risk is the flats themselves and as each flat is fitted with an FD30s fire door c/w self closer, so any fire in a flat should be held in check for 30 minutes, allowing all occupants 30 minutes to escape immediately to ultimate safety, which is what is required for an immediate evacuation. If the fire strategy is a stay put, eventually the common corridor will be involved but the fire will have to breach the front door of each flat which will give the occupants another 30 minutes, 60minutes in total, which means the fire and rescue service will have 60mins to extinguish the fire. My argument would be, no additional protection is required for the staircase because that protection is only required for 30 minutes and the staircase has served its purpose.

Occupancy factors are required, when you have an empty space and need to calculate the number of persons you have to provide an MoE for, so you need the MoE for 40 persons. If you can provide MoE for more, then you could have more depending on health and safety, so you need to check out the Workplace (Health, Safety, and Welfare) Regulations 1992 10. Room dimensions and space, to check out how many you can have, its a combination of the two.

OK ?

All fire door closers should conform to BS EN 1154 and only one Perko conforms the Perko Powermatic. Also chained hidden chained door closers for fire doors, one or two chains, have been not acceptable for a long time certainly before 2003.

I agree with you are correct Alexi.

This project is subject to the Building Regulations and the architect and the builder are required to carry out the requirements of the building control inspector (BCI) to get the completion certificate, which they need to give you on completion of the contract, to prove the works meets the requirements of the building regulations. Two storey dwelling houses were fitted with FD20 doors, and substantial, well fittings standard doors were considered to meet that standard. (Nominal door) However, if they should fail, it was considered the occupants could drop from open windows to escape. However, a three storey dwelling house, escape via a window was considered unacceptable, because of the increased possibility of serious injury, so a 30-minute standard means of escape was required. The architect will have produced drawings most probably according to Approved Document B (fire safety) volume 1: Dwellinghouses which would show a means of escape from the third floor to the front door meeting a 30 minutes standard, also the door to the integral garage needs to be an FD30s with a self-closer. All habitable rooms, (excluding bathrooms) off this escape route should be fitted with full FD 30 doors but it appears the architect has agreed with the BCI that these doors can be upgraded, except the loft door. Fire Doors are tested from both sides because when hung, either side could be facing the risk side, but this is not the case for existing doors because the risk side is easily identified, so I would argue that only the risk side need to be upgraded, but it looks like the architect has not convinced the BCI. It is understood by many that manufacturers consider it does not make economic sense to get doors tested to FD20, because D30 fire doors will meet both standards so you will find very few for sale. Also because in the past, unscrupulous manufacturers claimed their FD30 doors, including other fire safety products, had been tested, which was not true, so now inspectors require documented proof. Without full access to all the details, I cannot give a definitive reply and the best advice you can get will be from your local building control.

The combination of the ceiling below and the floor above, various fire resistant standards can be achieved, starting with 30 minutes which is likely to be what is required in your situation. The insulation is for heat retention and is likely to be fibreglass which is fire retardant. Always worth checking with the Responsible Person.

To prevent fires in one building igniting another adjoining building, have you considered Reg B4 requirements and does the buildings in question meet that requirement.