AnthonyB

If the Assembly Point is not on your land or in a public place you won't be able to or expected to sign it. Fire action signs, Evacuation Plan signage and staff training should clearly state where it is and your fire wardens briefed to guide people towards it.

The external wall is a mandatory fire safety consideration regardless of height where there are 2 or more dwellings. Hospitals, other than new high rise ones, aren't covered by the BSA but as they don't simultaneously evacuate any competent risk assessor would consider the EWS as part of their FRA

In theory that thickness should achieve 60 minutes, but subject to the various caveats Mike mentions. You are unlikely to find anyone to certify it though so as daft as it is you might need to under draw the lot with a 60 minute White Book plasterboard solution

How thick are the beams & boards? It would be very unusual for concrete used as a floor to be so insubstantial to be anything less than notionally 60 minutes. BR128 can give a pointer as to fire resistance if you know the thickness.

They have a right to security & are not obliged to have unlocked doors. Prior to wider use of deadlocks with thumb turns on the inside the 'Yale' type night rim latch was the usual 'simple fastening' to allow ease of escape whilst locked (they had to be the type without a snib that locks out the turn knob). Independent living or sheltered housing as it is termed in official guidance is as the name suggests for people still capable of living independently with only limited intervention & supervision and if they don't have the capability to use their front door ironmongery then there are far more safety issues around their house and they should have a care assessment to see if they are still capable of independent living, not leave their front door unlocked.

Yes - it's not a legal fire exit for either domestic or non domestic premises/

You've asked this elsewhere - 1 RP, one premises, 1 linked set of protective measures, just 2 compartments, so could be one FRA. There could be an argument to split them if under completely different management just under the same parent, but it is easier (& cheaper if third party assessed) to have 1 report

Nor under the Fire Safety Order as it's inside the dwelling, nor under Building Regulations as they aren't retrospective. Are they rented or owner occupied? Assuming you are in England LD2 exceeds the statutory minimum of LD3 for rental properties.

The top storey of the building being 11 metres or more/18 metres or more in height should be determined ignoring any storey which is a roof-top machinery or plant area or consists exclusively of machinery or plant rooms, and should be measured from the ground level on the lowest side of a building to the top storey upper floor surface So not roof or ceiling level

Your written Fire Risk Assessment for the blocks (as you should legally have in place) should address this. Any reasonable assessor would, in accordance with the official Government guidance for blocks of those sizes accept the original notional fire doors (usually 44mm or 54mm thick depending on fire rating) as long as they are in good condition and installed to the correct standard originally (unfortunately some modern blocks have defects that were overlooked at the time of build). Beware of people saying you must fit new certified doorsets, fire alarms, etc. Depending where you are in the UK I may be able t help you further if you wish.

Doesn't sound like it, certainly not the front door.

This guide will help - p48 onwards for specific guidance. https://www.cieh.org/media/1244/guidance-on-fire-safety-provisions-for-certain-types-of-existing-housing.pdf You will also require a written fire risk assessment.

As it's a conversion the "Making your small block of flats safe from fire" guide doesn't apply as it is unlikely to meet the required construction standards or have the built in fire precaution and smoke control features and it's recommended a professional carry it out - the "guidance on fire safety provisions for certain types of existing housing produced by the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS)" linked is more appropriate to flats converted from older houses. Currently the RP can carry this out themselves if they can demonstrate competency, although there is a gradual move to restrict this in future only to the three types of premises covered by the three guides in the section "Guidance for fire safety in small premises" but that's a few years off yet!

The freeholders, having control over the common parts, would be legally responsible. If there is no Management Company then both the individual freeholders would jointly be Responsible Persons as 'natural persons', if there is a Management Company then it, as a 'legal person' it would be the RP. The Fire Safety Order (as amended by the Building Safety Act) applies to England & Wales and so you would be required to carry out a fire risk assessment which must be recorded along with the fire safety arrangements for the premises. The FRA would then determine if your current general fire precautions are adequate. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-safety-legislation-guidance-for-those-with-legal-duties

If it's a separate external building the only considerations for the door is it's security/robustness and it's ability to ventilate the chamber. Sounds like someone has read guidance but can't apply it correctly. A gas intake room within a building would be different (but still not likely to need to be 's' rated)

It wouldn't surprise me if the council does a kneejerk reaction and 'bans' everything, but having a second exit and being presumably ground floor, then none of that is really an issue - even in larger blocks the concept of ;managed use' exists to allow at least some of these. See also - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-in-purpose-built-blocks-of-flats

If that's minor wear & tear then you have a slum landlord! Possibly, it depends on what elements of the cover are those giving the fire resistance.

Many vets have an on call staff flat or rest room to allow staff to sleep. Whilst there are certain minimum requirements for sleeping risk premises an already compliant vets premises should either meet these anyway or not require major work. Guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-sleeping-accommodation

Refer to your manual - some of these type of alarms use different sequences of beeps for different things such as low battery or in the case of CO alarms a raised level of CO that is below the alarm threshold.

Do you have a suitable site wide fire alarm system to support a full evacuation policy? If so, whilst a last resort it is a feasible alternative to compartmentation upgrades, which in some properties are not possible or feasible. A good FRA will acknowledge this - I've assessed many buildings where it's the only viable solution so the FRA doesn't scream 'intolerable'

Stairwells shouldn't contain storage/deliveries anyway - are you talking about flats or commercial buildings.

You'd need a combined fire & smoke damper - these are usually powered and linked to a fire detection & alarm system. For example you fit this to the door or doors: https://www.firesealsdirect.co.uk/passive-fire-protection/intumescent-grilles/fire-smoke-air-transfer-grilles/lvn20s/lorient-lvn20s-fire-smoke-resistant-air-transfer-grille-kit-200x200mm-54mm/ Then link them to this control & monitoring system: https://www.firesealsdirect.co.uk/passive-fire-protection/intumescent-grilles/talkback-damper-control-system/ Which in turn is linked to your fire alarm system. All vastly expensive hence rare to see.

The only reason they would need it is if there is a resident who has identified a need for assistance and as part of the PEEP created for them by the agent the provision of an evac chair on their floor was part of it.

Short section of ladder in SCBA is unlikely to happen, they could vent to some extent from the landing set, although strictly speaking the higher ones should be the ones used. It meets the spirit of the guidance so it's essentially how comfortable you feel with it in this situation.

Looks like a pretty standard cladding & latent defect exclusion that virtually all standard fire risk assessors PI have. Cover for this is difficult to get and costs a capital amount of money which is why firms doing FRAEW reports charge an extortionate amount of money.