AnthonyB

Technically no, but it is strongly recommended as often (not always to be fair) non approved installations are sometimes not correct. However if you feel you are competent to a legally defensible level then it's fine.

Is it signed as a fire exit? What does your premises Fire Risk Assessment say?

What has Building Control said - have you submitted your plans yet for approval?

See below - whole table (your Page 1 has bits missing from the bottom)

Hi, Based on the information the premises appear compliant as is (on the assumption the Building Regs approval didn't include linking the alarms as LABC/AI were happy the required fire compartmentation was in place) and the basement system is in excess of the requirement being LD1. Yes, it's D2 not D1, but this didn't exist at the time of installation so there is no automatic requirement to change until the system is 10 years old and the detectors are end of life and need replacing anyway - that's when you would put D1 units in

BS9991 is not a risk assessment guide for existing buildings, but a design guide for new buildings that can be used in place of Approved Document B. Building Regulations are not retrospective and if it complied when built is outside their scope if not being altered. Save for the section on evacuation planning for vulnerable people the "Fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats" guide remains current, being recently republished by the Home Office.

Your answers are in this guide: https://www.cieh.org/media/1244/guidance-on-fire-safety-provisions-for-certain-types-of-existing-housing.pdf Particularly of use will be Section 37. Buildings converted into self-contained flats on page 46. If you can prove that the conversion was after 1991 and had full Building Regulations Approval as meeting the requirements of Approved Document B then different guidance would apply.

Not normally, as it opens onto an escape route it would be expected to have cold smoke protection.

You don't need to be an electrician - but you do need to be competent. What are you doing with the panel as part of 'maintenance' and how to you test the detectors and who trained you?

As said it depends on location. Protecting an escape route is a common situation where a door would need smoke seals.

If there are two directions of escape along the walkway so you wouldn't have to walk past a flat on fire to reach the stair you should be OK with a normal door.

Yes, these are fire doors, there should be intumescent strips in the door or frame. The foam may be to stop noisy slamming shut and for insulation. The Perko chains would need to be replaced and you may need cold smoke seals, but a new doorset sounds OTT. Here is the guide that should have been used - it doesn't require complete new doors and frames in all cases: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-in-purpose-built-blocks-of-flats

It's fine, lots of houses only have one exit door. Shut your doors at night, make sure your smoke alarm works.

The CO2 extinguishers can be overhauled at 10 years where they have the cylinder pressure tested and a new valve & dip tube fitted and then refilled - giving the unit 10 more years. Far cheaper than new (especially with the 5kg size, the cost difference between overhaul & new is far wider than with the 2kg) and far better for the environment as the carbon footprint of new extinguishers is awful considering the use of virgin raw materials and transport from China or (to a far lesser extent) Poland. The powders can be extended serviced and refilled too, although the cost saving is far less and it's more environmental benefit than anything, mainly because the powder has to be replaced. In most other countries (especially the US) the powder is removed using a closed circuit vacuum pump & hopper and if OK re-used meaning it is a fraction of the cost to keep in use for another 6 years (their refill interval) Cheap imports and lack of training mean many fire related firms 'box shift' and scrap perfectly good extinguishers at 5/10 years - when I started with extinguishers the idea of replacing at discharge test would have rendered you a laughing stock and 25 years wasn't unheard of for service life. The P50 is a good middle ground as you get 20 years out of them and they are 99% recyclable.

Once you have gone through the doors there should be additional signage to direct people down stairs, the sign above the door relates to the door only. People went up at Grenfell not because of signs, but because they couldn't go down as the stairs were heavily smoke logged due to a catalogue of failings in the various protective measures in the building.

Current risk assessment guidance recommends it in flats as a lower priority. The emergency lighting standard would expect it as standard. As legally a fire risk assessment must have been completed this should consider this issue.

Fire Alarm: 6 monthly with weekly call point testing Emergency Lighting: 12 monthly with monthly function testing

Usually yes. Building Control will advise in your specific case as part of your approval submission.

Subject to risk assessment and the appropriate measures put in place it should be OK. BB100 design guidance for fire safety in schools will help you too as will other schools design publications

The reason is the usual shoddy workmanship of modern builds and yes it's a fire safety risk. The developer will try and claim it's fine as it has Building Control sign off, but that doesn't cover workmanship, just that the doors and walls are in the right place and this has nothing to do with the ongoing compliance of the premises under fire legislation. The last developer that tried this on my watch ended up having to give in when the fire service served an Enforcement Notice....

No it isn't (yet - may become so for High Rise Residential Buildings) but is still recommended. You could look for The BWF-CERTIFIRE Fire Door and Doorset Scheme or the similar FIRAS scheme.

Ideally yes

A 2kg CO2 shouldn't be a problem in a typical house room, but it is limited in scope to electrical fires. In the home you really want to have just one extinguisher that does everything which would usually be Water Mist.

You aren't going to get it in the legislation as it's functional and doesn't list individual requirements for compliance. The Housing Act governs fire safety as well and isn't limited to common areas. Article 14(2)(b) is the functional requirement in the Fire Safety Order that a fire door wedged on a protected route would breach. It would also be a hazard under the HHSRS scheme and thus enforceable under Part 1 of the Housing Act. If in doubt invite a multiple agency inspection team to visit and see what they come up with!

The Fire Safety Order is grey in it's ability to enforce issues in this area. Government Guidance is that the Housing Act (which covers all parts of houses and flats, owner occupied or rented) is used for enforcement. I've used Enforcement Notices under the Housing Act issued by local council EHO's for fire safety matters inside flats (doors, vents, floors, walls) that would affect the rest of the premises in the past where the Fire Safety Order is too weak.