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AnthonyB

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  1. Keeping the kitchen separate is a good move as this is often the area of contention. As it's too high for every floor to have escape windows as a secondary exit you would usually need a protected stair as you have presently. I've not had time to look in detail, but usually layouts like this would attract a need for domestic sprinklers, in some cases smoke curtains and vents have been used too. A chartered fire engineer is your best bet for advice & any BCO submission.
  2. Who ever did the work on 2 & 3 needs to come back & think again as the works are useless if the doors aren't shutting flush of their own accord - a fully competent firm would be expected to be able to recognise and deal with this issue. Does the lobby contain a staircase, how many floors are there & how many flats per floor? The default is to remediate your door but I can see your point - depending on the overall set up in the premises would determine how critical this would be.
  3. How old is the house? It's been a legal requirement under Building Regs for a very long time so shouldn't have been replaced by a non fire door. If it's a very old house then it may predate this requirement and as long as it complies with the standard at the time of build it's compliant until there is any building work that would result in the application of current regs
  4. I'd make the effort to find out, I've worked on a Tribunal case where a landlord supply was installed when not actually required for EL & alarm and helped the leaseholders win and not be liable for costs. If it's pre payment only then there are grounds for a landlord supply but these can be very expensive to provide and you are at the mercy of the DNS as to what they will charge for their side of laying in the new supply.
  5. As long as it's not off a pre payment meter it's tolerable.
  6. Yes, at least a notional 30 minutes usually
  7. However, if an existing building with a common alarm system and simultaneous evacuation you are fine. A new build would indeed require 60 minutes and usually then doesn't need linked alarms.
  8. That's because it doesn't need to be. 30 would suit, just like a flat front door on an external balcony with only one direction of escape that has to be passed to escape.
  9. They removed the reference to 'significant' findings (no doubt due to the confusion) and so all findings must be recorded - which in practice means the whole assessment. Yes, if you are required to do a fire risk assessment under the FSO it must be written. It no longer matters if you don't have any employees, a license or whatever. This change is in part because many Responsible Persons treated the under 5 persons as meaning they didn't have to do anything at all as oppose simply not record the FRA and this included a lot of flats as well as non domestic premises. Fill in the template in full as applicable, including any action plan and you have recorded your findings for the purpose of the FSO. Simpler in a way rather than trying to decide what you needed to record and what you didn't.
  10. There is no set lifespan for devices and independent testing has shown up 25 years of reliable function - but of course devices will eventually fail, either by false alarming or not working whilst tested, so at some point things will get replaced. Haes Sav Wire panels and Apollo Sav wire bases and s65 conventional detectors are all current manufactured kit so there is no reason not to just replace individual components as and when they fail - it's your choice if you wish to start over in one go for the fault finding extras a Fike system provides.
  11. Sounds like the fire alarm system is an obsolete model and needs full replacement. If you are concerned visit the Business Fire Safety page of your local fire service website to get the contact details for the Business Fire Safety Team who can advise and if required carry out a site audit and any required enforcement action. Your company should have implemented temporary measures during the system downtime if they wished to continue to occupy the building
  12. Where 60 minutes fire separation cannot be achieved between the commercial & residential elements then the commercial premises must be provided with a fire alarm system that includes automatic fire detection - the system should also be extended into the flat to provide alarm sounders on each level and no less than 85dB at the bedroom doors. In listed buildings wireless fire alarms are usually appropriate - https://www.safelincs.co.uk/wireless-fire-alarm-systems/
  13. Possibly not - if they were built in the 80's then they would have fire doors as the original doors if required.
  14. AnthonyB

    Mr

    Your Building Regulations submission should have dealt with this as part of the Design Fire Strategy. These premises usually have a BS5839-1 fire alarm system to Category L1. Depending on the occupant profile an agreed variation may be key operated manual call points rather than break glass type.
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