Fire escapes ?

[Adrian]

Good morning,
I am considering purchasing a large 6 bedroom house on 4 floors that will split really easily into two 3 bedroom flats. Could anyone tell me if the upper flat will require an external fire escape?
Many thanks - first posting so I thought I would keep it brief - plenty more questions to come !!!!

[pdk]

I think you will need fire access.. This is not a planning matter though (although permission will be needed for an external staircase) so I advise that before you do any drawings for a planning application speak to the Council's Building Control Officer. He/she should give you useful advice..

PETER


NOTE: Peter Kyte BSC (Hons) DipTP MRTPI CGeog is an official LandlordZONE Topic Expert… For more information on Peter D Kyte Associates and Enabling Projects please see the websites at http://www.enablinguk.com and http://www.development-seekers.com. Any advice given by Peter Kyte in this Forum is of a general nature only and should not be taken to be a final and binding planning opinion. Based on any initial advice given you are strongly advised to seek a further professional opinion, which may involve a site visit and a detailed analysis of the issues... For information on the sort of work Peter undertakes please see TRACK RECORD (http://www.enablinguk.com/track.html)and PROJECT TYPES (http://www.enablinguk.com/projecttypes.html)...

[SteveP]

What the building regulations say, in a nutshell, is that buildings must have adequate means of escape. The regulations are not prescriptive, the reason for that is because prescriptive regulations would stifle design and innovation, in other words all buildings would be the same.

It is up to you to demonstrate that there are adequate means of escape and there is more than one way to skin a cat. There are what are called "Approved Documents" to the regulations. These are not the regulations, but they do provide solutions which are "deemed to satisfy" the regulations. In regards to fire you should look at Approved Document B which you can download here http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1130508 A second means of escape wouild be one way of complying, but bear in mind that the stairs should also comply with Part K (download from the same site).

Note that on the same page changes to these regulations are proposed, so it may be that by the time you apply for consent thinbgs will have changed.

I assume that you are getting a survey done? If so ask the surveyor to comment on your proposals. This is not the sort of work you should consider, in my opinion, without a Chartered Building Surveyor or Architect to advise you anyway.