Ceiling Void Access

[rml1875]

Hi my first post...

I'm a spark but looking for some advice on ceiling hatches.

I live in a 1 Bed flat, I recently looked into installing a ducted extract to our poorly vented bathroom.(No window to bathroom)

Thinking that we had no or little space above our ceiling I was preparing myself for puting up some unsightly flat surface ducting through our home to duct to external. I decided to have a look above the ceiling on the off chance that there was a big enough void to run a duct above. I was surprised to find a massive 620mm void which spans throughout the flat, with the only partition above the ceiling seems to be the bathroom area.

So i'll be sorted for my duct, but it got me thinking about using my newly found dead space for extra storage in our already cluttered flat.

Would it be a simple case of installing one of these Plasterboard hatches, I was hoping to use a 600x600, or is there other things to think of?
Such as Fire ratings? Are we actually allowed to use the space? etc.


Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Alastairreid]

I'm assuming the ceiling has been lowered at some point, i dont think it would have been designed for carrying any weight other than the plasterboard/plaster.
though if you consider the structure to be strong enough to use as storage i cant think of any reason why not.