AnthonyB

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 "....(f) emergency doors must not be so locked or fastened that they cannot be easily and immediately opened by any person who may require to use them in an emergency;...."

Flat front doors to open air in balcony approach flats do not usually have to be fire doors unless there is only only one direction of escape along the balcony requiring someone to pass the front door of the flat on fire.

If this is being built as a stay put build to Approved Document B and not sheltered housing such provision is not required and potentially confusing. There will also be a requirement for a planned maintenance regime and communal/block liability regardless of the set up. If you are building it correctly and to a suitable standard the Grade D local alarm systems specific to each flat will more than suffice. If you want to do something above and beyond regulatory requirements that will genuinely enhance their safety then you should put in a residential sprinkler system (you'd have to anyway if you were in Wales)

Regulations have applied for some time - the applicable guidance for this pre 1991 conversion is here: https://www.cieh.org/media/1244/guidance-on-fire-safety-provisions-for-certain-types-of-existing-housing.pdf

The traditional approach of upgrading doors by lining as in the first paragraph only requires boarding on the risk side, in your case the inner face. Other methods are available using intumescent paints and papers (Envirograf) but you should seek the advice of an accredited fire door manufacturer/installer.

From Building Regulations: Construction of escape stairs 3.24 The flights and landings of escape stairs should be constructed of materials achieving class A2-s3, d2 or better in all of the following situations. a. If the escape stair is the only stair serving the building or part of the building, unless the building has two or three storeys and is an office building. b. If the escape stair is within a basement storey. c. If the escape stair serves any storey that has a floor level more than 18m above ground or access level. d. If the escape stair is external, except where the stair connects the ground floor or ground level with a floor or flat roof a maximum of 6m above or below ground level. e. If the escape stair is a firefighting stair. Materials achieving class B-s3, d2 or worse may be added to the top horizontal surface, except on firefighting stairs. Unprotected timber stairs do not meet the required Class if required to.

That's one for your fire risk assessor. It's not impossible, but relies on a number of factors such as travel distances, occupancy numbers and types, whether this creates inner or inner inner rooms, etc

Assuming it's not a large building then no - the staircase is meant to be a protected stair (fire resistant walls and doors) that will resist fire and smoke for up to 30 minutes - also it should not contain combustibles or ignition sources. There should also be a suitable fire detection & warning system. Guidance - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-small-and-medium-places-of-assembly

You might have to go through Building Regulations for the doorway. Who owns the road? If not you, then the door may be pointless as you may not automatically have a right of access onto the land.

If this is the door to the outside then no, not unless by some strange chance and external escape stair passes close to/in front of it.

What is the layout on the upper floors?

The Building Regulations relate to new builds - there will be plenty of legacy buildings that, although to the standards of the time they were built, may not meet current standards. Building Regulations are not retrospective and the Provision of Access and Facilities for the Fire Service is outside the scope of the Fire Safety Order, other than in respect to the maintenance of such facilities if they have been provided under other legislation so it's not unreasonable for this not to appear in an FRA. The fire service is legally responsible for collecting risk data (usually by local crew visits) affecting their tactics although as a lower risk building you probably haven't had a visit. It's not a matter you have to worry about, although if you have concerns you can always contact the fire service.

When was it built? It is possible for small blocks of flats in the configuration you have drawn to have the flats directly off the stair landing - there has been a relaxation allowing this in Building Regulations for decades.

Contact the Building Safety Regulator - ultimately they have the final say.

Entirely down to the premises and it's risk assessment. It's possible to justify leaving them active during the investigation phase, especially as in all but the smallest buildings you won't have time to investigate before any delay trips over to stage 2 if you don't have a lift.

It does sound like the exits from the kitchen are just for the kitchen and not reliant for escape from other areas - it would help if I could see a floorplan sketch.

Metro Safety have been doing this for nearly 30 years and were the first organisation to have it as a key offering. Their testing staff usually did weekly fire alarm tests, monthly emergency lighting testing & fire drills with more complex services such as servicing and repair sub contracted out in their early days. It's a long time since I had their prices, but they weren't cheap! https://www.metrosafety.co.uk/services/fire-safety/fire-alarm-testing

Why did your flats have a fire alarm system fitted in the first place as they are not normally required other in the form of detectors to operate smoke vents. It's not up to your fire alarm company to tell you what to do (as it often ends up way above what is needed) but your Fire Risk Assessment - if a truly competent person has carried it out they would state what you do and don't need. Usually in flats you need one of two systems: Detectors (no sounders or call points) to stairs and corridors to operate smoke vents where 'Stay Put' is in use. Detectors, call points and sounders to common areas and a detector and sounder in each flat hallway to raise the alarm where 'full evacuate' is in use In certain small stay put blocks where the smoke control is manual not automatic you don't need any fire alarm at all - even if you build it today under current regulations. A lot of flat blocks were mis-sold or mis specified audible common area only systems which won't wake sleeping occupants and because they only go off when the stairways are already affected by fire or smoke can (& have) drawn other occupants who did hear it to their deaths.

It's a brave person that tampers with an electrical fitting and changes it from it's OEM specification and certification. In theory you could try and justify this and have, for example, weekly testing instead of monthly, it's been successfully done for other fire related systems - but this was just altering the testing not the equipment.

Without carrying out the Fire Risk Assessment and thus being able to take all the risks, layout & other precautions into account it's impossible to say. My first concern would be if that is even a fire rated door in the first place - a closer and a sticker does not a fire door make....

Unfortunately a lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon and only done a short course, some of the 'accreditations' are awarded by the company providing the courses rather than a real qualification and you see lots of reports resulting in excessive work or incorrect assessment. There is nothing wrong with a certified door where the intumescent is concealed behind the lipping as long as it is in otherwise good order - the most upgrading it may need is a cold smoke seal depending on the location of the door and overall risk assessment for which surface mounted retrofit smoke seals (without intumescent) are available.

These internal closers are to the correct standard https://www.safelincs.co.uk/perko-powermatic-concealed-door-closer/?sku=SHR100SCP&fGB=true https://www.safelincs.co.uk/astra-3003-series-concealed-door-closers/?sku=FCAST3SS&fGB=true&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgYSTBhDKARIsAB8Kukv73fyww2nh1wBSzIbDlA0JZ27hi6wdRkl2SMkiKTX-nxSelizcjvIaAmpJEALw_wcB

Would someone have to pass the window to escape along the corridor, how wide is the corridor and is the bottom sill of the window under 1100mm from the ground? Is the corridor only open at the ends & enclosed along the length?

Building Regulations are not retrospective and the flat interior is not covered by the Fire Safety Order so you need not change anything. If you were completely remodelling the interior layout you might have an issue where extra measures may be required.

Do you have the required mixed fire alarm system in support of a full evacuate policy and what sort of flat front doors are already in place? When was it converted? The LACORS guide is obsolescent and was put under review in 2019 (which has stalled thanks to COVID) and so requires care in interpretation (many Council's have written their own up to date standards superseding parts of it) although most holds true still. Interestingly a purpose built block of flats of similar age and layout wouldn't need new FD30S doors either as long as the original fire doors from the time of build were in place in good order (but you would still need a self closer)