AnthonyB

Regardless of temporary or permanent as it's not a private dwelling you must comply with the Fire Safety Order which includes appropriate General Fire Precautions - which may not need to be much in your case!

1. Not necessarily 2. Yes, you should be getting out not messing around with extinguishers that you are untrained in and aren't suited for the risks in your home. (A fire blanket in your kitchen is better as long as it is BS Kitemarked and not the £4 Chinese stuff on eBay/Amazon that are counterfeit & don't work) 3. If not in good order yes. Whilst the guidance allows for smaller old blocks of flats to retain original fire doors that's only on the basis that they were compliant fire doors originally by the standard of the day and that they are in good condition - yours sound not to be. 4. Standards have changed, especially for HA's so higher cover is increasingly required. Also if they are deeming the premises as being full evacuate they would need wider coverage from the common system - you don't make clear if the detectors being fitted are domestic or an extension to the common one. 5. Depends on your lease terms

It doesn't sound like you will be coming under the statutory ADR regime unless you are carrying hazardous goods so you wont be required to carry an extinguisher. You might still consider it wise to have an extinguisher in any case in the cab - usually 2kg is advisable (anything smaller will be of little use) with Powder being most commonly used.

As long as it is a protective shaft it should be fine - i.e. all horizontal penetrations suitably fire stopped. With dry riser shafts I sometimes find that whilst the original landing valves are stopped correctly, where a landing valve has had to be replaced there is a large hole around the new valve.

Not without Building Regulations approval. If you think unauthorised work is going on contact your council Building Control for the Building Regulations contravention & the council Environmental Health/Housing or the Fire Service for the fire safety issues resulting from approval (it might be in either jurisdiction, start with the council)

Several possibilities, you should really get your service engineer out.

If your let is no bigger than a typical family house and does not have a complex layout you may be able to use this alternative guidance which may allow your current layout: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/do-you-have-paying-guests

Check the manufacturer's instructions - you will find most are self testing and do not require servicing as long as they show that they are OK. A log of regular inspections of the status indicators, pad & battery dates and the accessories kit should suffice.

Not unless there's an external escape stair nearby or an external escape pathway that you can only get to safety by passing the door and would be within a metre or two max if it.

If it's in a Care Home detection wouldn't go amiss - after all some are having to even put it in bathrooms (& fire doors) if there's significant ignition risk (electric hoists, height adjustable and therapy baths, etc all surrounded by plastic)

If it doesn't use CLASP and is just used as a school during the day then technically a Category M system suffices. Add extra curricular use, sleeping risk or the fact that it sounds like the school doesn't have it's own site and is in a multi tenant building and you are looking at anything from L3 upwards. The flats are more of a concern as I doubt it's purpose built or compliant modern conversion and without detection there will be a significant risk (especially as residential and non residential uses shouldn't share escape routes unless there are protected lobbies) The residential smoke alarms aren't suitable and are pointless anyway - you'd notice the fire before activation if in the room & if the room is empty they won't sound throughout the building. I'd suspect poor fire doors and compartmentation too. One worthy of an enforcement audit!

Colt do free online CPD seminars on smoke control systems

Yes in my opinion.

It's possible, several smoke seals are advertised as combined acoustic, draught & smoke seals - they are only to stop cold smoke prior to the activation of the intumescent seal.

I think that this could be acceptable in your fire risk assessment, there are no locks/keys involved, staff led evacuation, small numbers, etc

No. There are suitable products available for new doorsets: https://www.safelincs.co.uk/astroflame-fire-rated-door-viewer/ https://www.safelincs.co.uk/fire-rated-letter-plate-system-from-doorset-global-solutions/ Often they would be specified with the new door so they can be incorporated in the manufacture and still meet test criteria

Guidance says the minimum width of an escape route should not be less than 750mm (unless it is for use by less than five people in part of your premises) and, where wheelchair users are likely to use it, not less than 900mm. So in theory from an obstruction point of view managed risk may be possible, fire risk from flammability of items is another factor to consider.

The permanent label is the important thing, the tied labels are primarily for initial retail display purposes and are expected to be removed by the purchaser so you should be OK

To remove the need for the commercial units fire alarm system to be linked to sounders in the flats above there should be adequate fire seperation between the different Purpose Groups, usually 60 minutes fire resistance. If the refurb was to a degree that would be classed as 'Building Work' it would be subject to building regulations and there should be a Health & Safety File containing fire safety information that would answer your questions. Your part of the building appears to have no areas covered by the Fire Safety Order (but the Housing Act does apply) so the obligations are solely on the commercial unit's Responsible Person to ensure your safety - as whilst you are not in premises covered by the Fire Safety Order anyone in your apartment would be a 'relevant person' who could be affected by a fire in the commercial unit so they still have to account for them. There are plenty of passive fire protection companies that could look at the compartmentation as well as specialist Fire Engineering Consultancies that could help too.

Both BB100 & Building Regs are for designing new builds and not always fully applicable to existing builds. Earlier schools will have followed the many editions over the years of BB7 and the risk assessment guide for existing schools is here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/14887/fsra-educational-premises.pdf

There are loads out there: https://fire-surveys.com/ https://pyramid-online.net/index.php?d=1&d=1&refr=128 http://fireriskassessmentapp.co.uk/home/fra

Try these for advice - they are specialists in the field of making items like yours safe for general use https://www.flameprotectuk.com/

Building Regulations only apply to new builds, the DCLG guides replicate the approach used to good effect for over half a century and so as not to penalise existing buildings. The current approach offers enhanced safety, but the old approach still provides a reasonable level of safety in most situations.

Heats are a no no for escape routes as by the time they activate the area wouldn't support life. If you need a common system, the common parts have to have smokes. As a very small block by the sounds of it you may be able to retain the existing kit, without looking I can't be sure.