Regularisation Cert - open plan kitchen issue

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We had a series of works done to our ground floor garden flat over a couple of years, and rather than go through multiple rounds and fees of Building Control we are now going through a single Regularisation Cert process.

Council have now done their inspection and main issue they've pointed out is that our new open plan kitchen needs an additional fire door between the common area hallway of our building (see red circle in below floor plan). However, this presents some serious design challenges as it will clash with the main entry door arc, and will also block part of the open plan design when open.

Just wondering if people have any practical suggestions to resolve to Council satisfaction? The council suggested alternatively I could install a fire curtain or sprinkler system, but obviously that would be a fairly expensive workaround.

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Put in a detection system inter linked to all rooms including hallway, ensure bed 1 and bed 2 both have escape windows and also put in a FD in the hallway separating the sleeping spaces to the living spaces on the other side of the wall of the kitchen sink

other than that tough sugar! Should have had someone with basic knowledge of building regs before they designed your plans
 
Put in a detection system inter linked to all rooms including hallway, ensure bed 1 and bed 2 both have escape windows and also put in a FD in the hallway separating the sleeping spaces to the living spaces on the other side of the wall of the kitchen sink
You're making the mistake of considering MOE to the flat only, as the flats are served by a single stair, a protected lobby is required to the staircase.
Edit - should have said protected hall not lobby.
 
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You can still protect the communal hall, The flat entrance door will be at least an fd30
The staircase will be lined to ensure fire proofing, the alarm systems can be linked to alert upper flats, whether linking them to hallway or just communal area

but overall, I reiterate that it isn’t the best situation and a lobby or a sprinkler system has to be considered if you can’t “get away” with anything else

live and learn for next time, get proper advice
 
You can still protect the communal hall, The flat entrance door will be at least an fd30
Assuming it is built/modified to suit the latest B regs it will actually be an FD30S.
There are two issues to consider, MOE within the flat and MOE from the upper flats using the single stair. The communal stair requires either protected lobbies or in this case the protected hallway reinstating. This is to protect the stair from the passage of smoke when doors are opened in an emergency in this particular situation any smoke from any of the rooms will be contained in the hallway and not directly into the stairwell.
Considering only the MOE to the flat this would comply if there is an escape window to Bed 1.
Smoke detection is not normally linked or installed in the stair, in fact this is normally avoided due to false alarms.
BC have offered a departure from the approved doc using sprinklers, personally I would be a little cautious accepting this, its probably something I would discuss back at the office for a second opinion before agreeing to. The fire curtain will achieve the same solution as a door, though I've yet to see one used in a domestic situation.
 
How about a fire rated pocket door slotted into the existing wall? Not cheap and quite possibly totally impracticable, likely quite expensive, structure permitting of course but apart from all that it could be a tidy solution. :)

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I'm surprised they'll gleefully accept a fire curtain too, they're not without their risks, it would likely need annual maintenance (being in a flat rather than a house) to ensure it always works and there's nothing stopping someone leaving a box or chair or anything else directly beneath the curtain, preventing it's operations? It would be manually operated presumably?
 
I'm surprised they'll gleefully accept a fire curtain too, they're not without their risks, it would likely need annual maintenance (being in a flat rather than a house) to ensure it always works and there's nothing stopping someone leaving a box or chair or anything else directly beneath the curtain, preventing it's operations? It would be manually operated presumably?
Building regs does not have continuous control, you could say the same about a fire door, you can leave it open, smoke seals wear out etc
I would expect its operated by the smoke detection system.
 

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