Jump to content

All Activity

This stream auto-updates

  1. Last week
  2. The site needs a fire risk assessment to sort this out by a fire safety specialist with additional training in & experience of residential FRAs.(Legally it should have had one for 18 years now in any case!) The current arrangement is one for a simultaneous evacuation usually required when one or more of the following is in place: - Inadequate fire separation between commercial & residential uses (but you say it's OK) - Shared escape between commercial & residential uses (but you say it's separate) - Inadequate fire separation between flats &/or flats & common parts (but you say it's OK) - Inadequate or no smoke control (but it's an open deck!) - External Wall System High Risk (unlikely for size of building) It seems (& this wouldn't be the first time this has happened) it has got a fire alarm system that it doesn't need nor ads any useful additional benefit and just costs everyone money and the premises may be acceptable with no common system and a 'stay put unless affected' approach. I can't of course be 100% unless I've been and done the FRA - where in the UK is the property?
  3. A suitable repair by a competent person is required.
  4. I was called out by an owner of a maisonette who rents his property out to have a look at the fire detection within the property and make recommendations. Firstly I am not 100% conversant with fire alarms to be honest. There are a row of 5 maisonettes above a single storey library, access is via a rea staircase onto an open deck. The property was purpose built no roof voids and full compartmentation between library and flats and between flats exists. All internal doors are original fire doors with intumescent strips and seals to frames and perko closers which work! When the property was built back in 1992 a full fire alarm system was installed linking both the library and the flats as a whole. Sometime back in 2010 the fire alarm was split into two panels one serving the library and one serving the flats with no communication of such to the leaseholders at the time. The flats still have the original manual call points by the front doors (can't understand why these were installed) smoke detection in each hall and heat in kitchen with bells which are linked to each flat so if one flat at the end of the row sets there alarm off all of the flats bells start ringing, no signal is sent to the library. Whilst if the alarm goes off in the library all the flats are alerted via their system. If the alarms go off in the flats at the moment one of the residents has access to the panel and can silence and reset which is a ludicrous position to be in as the useless managing agents of the flats are not clued up on what is required. Both systems are managed and serviced by two different providers which makes it difficult as no one talks to each other regarding the installations. From the information I have managed to gather so far the library system is managed by the council whilst the flats system is managed by the managing agent. The owner has been pursuing this for a number of years and getting nowhere, he has had some involvement with the local FRS but they don't appear to have offered any assistance or advice. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
  5. Guest

    Replacement of Deta 1111

    I tested the SBBRKSM on an existing DETA 1111 fitting. It worked! Green light (Mains) and Red light (Battery). Point 1) The cube hanging from the ceiling, the one with the 3 electrical wires, fits with the SBBRKSM's three metal prongs and plastic holder. Point 2) The SBBRKSM's round plastic fitment fits exactly into the old DETA 1111's plastic fitting in the ceiling. So cannot see a problem. In answer to this post: The easichange SBBRKSM alarm is a new unit we developed specifically so it can be used on the 660MBX and 670MBX baseplates. Like you say logically they should also fit your DETA1111 alarms but we have not tested this and therefore cannot guarantee it will work.
  6. Thank you for the replies. The leaves have square edges and both have closers but half leaf overlaps the main door when closed so prevents from closing into frame.
  7. Are the doors rebated at their meeting edges? If so, a door selector is required. If not, a repair is required.
  8. Your doorsets no doubt are missing these: https://wellinguk.com/products/door-closers/door-closers-door-closers/overhead-surface-mounted-door-closers/double-door-selector-silver/
  9. Have you checked these out? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-means-of-escape-for-disabled-people
  10. Whilst it has no common areas if it could be classed as a single building containing two or more dwellings then it falls under the FSO requiring an FRA to consider the external wall fire risk.
  11. We have three storey purpose built blocks of flats. One entrance and one stairwell with lobbied approach to flats. Built in the 90’s. There are 2 x AOVs which have gas canisters to open the AOVs in two of the blocks. These no longer work and cannot be tested. 3 of the other blocks, there are Velux windows (not AOVs). Would it be possible for these to be turned into openable Velux windows as opposed to AOVs or do they need to be AOVs? If they need to be AOVs do the other blocks need to be changed.
  12. Thank you very much for your reply. I will ask the managing agents to justify their requirement to retro-fit.
  13. Without looking at the building or some form of drawing I could not tell you, the listing part does not trump the RRO, the does however make it more difficult to comply
  14. Assuming your hinges date back to 2002, then they pre-date the CE marking requirement.
  15. Hi, In my office we have several door sets which are a leaf & half. The half leaf has no bolts so can just be pushed open. If both doors get pushed open together the half leaf will not close and hits on the main door. Is this an installation problem. Should the half leaf close even if opened first.?
  16. It is often done in such premises and probably without significant detriment to fire safety. Where done, I would agree with MN above and also say frames should be secured with mirror plates or similar to prevent them being dislodged. However, it doesn’t seem logical for Building Regulations to require fairly stringent spread of flame characteristics for walls in escape routes only for someone to go plastering them with all sorts of detritus.
  17. Hi, I am selling a Grade 2 Listed flat with its own front door which is part of a building of 3 other flats, all with their own front doors. I am selling my flat and my purchases lawyer is saying I need a FRA even though there are no common parts and it’s a listed building which has its own set of rules. should I need a FRA?
  18. Earlier
  19. Hi, I have got myself somewhat stuck. I have been asked to help devise a Generic Emergency Evacuation Plan for a retail store. From my searching online I have found examples from universities (e.g. Fire procedures (reading.ac.uk), which seem to be more what I would call the end result. I may be under the wrong impression but I thought the GEEP is the document that explains the approach to getting persons with disabilities out of the building who are not employees and therefore would not be familiar with the approach. Am I looking at this wrong? Would the plan around evacuation be solely done in the evac plan document and the GEEP is more the 'public facing' outcome? Any advice very much welcome Andy
  20. I live in a development of low-rise apartments built in 2002. The managing agents have recently had a fire door survey done and one of the recommendations/requirements is that the hinges to the front doors of the apartments should be replaced as they are not CE marked. However the hinges are marked MONARCH EN 1935, with codes indicating that the hinges are suitable for fire doors of up to 60kg mass. My reading of previous posts to this forum suggests no requirement in the regulations for these hinges to be replaced with CE marked ones. Is this still correct, or have recent changes in the regulations altered the requirements?
  21. If you have a formal inspection of your fire doors conducted by a competent person, the report you are provided with should have a register included. You can then work from that going forward. That is a good starting point, get your doors formally inspected, get your report and you have your register to go forward with.
  22. Interesting and difficult in some circumstances.
  23. Contact the door leaf manufacturer's technical department, via the UK agent/distributor (if necessary). They should be able to advise.
  24. I would say it would be easier to change the whole of each smoke alarm as opposed to trying to fit an adaptor that may or may not work/fit. I would suggest Aico as they have a solid base, no need for connector blocks and they have good customer service. Oh and they are inter-linkable
  25. The brand of smoke alarm is your choice. If it were me, I would buy Aico smoke alarms, good detectors, an easy to connect to base, and excellent customer service.
  26. Yes you can as long as the PIR locations and activation times are such it's not possible to be navigating a flight before they lights activate nor them cut out before you've finished. Many buildings have these.
  27. It's not explicitly required, but having one could be viewed as required to form part of the record of fire safety arrangements that is required by law. It also helps with planned maintenance so that only doors required to be fire doors are inspected and maintained (which as this can be quite expensive can save a lot of money!)
  1. Load more activity
×
×
  • Create New...