scooby

Thanks Anthony, that is very helpful. My own view was that as the stairwell is a sterile area (so nothing to burn) and even if there was a fire as a result of arson, the safest place for residents is in their flats behind at least 120 minutes of protection, they should call the fire service and not try to use the stairs regardless of the amount of smoke.

This is driving me crazy because different "experts" are giving conflicting advice. We have 22 flats spread across 4 floors. The corridor to the flat entrances is a compartment with a part 1 smoke detector. There are no alarms as it is a "stay put" building. There is a single (fire fighting) stairwell which is protected from the flat corridors by 60 minute fire doors. In the roof above the stairs is an AOV which opens when smoke is detected by a detector inside any of the corridors accessing the flats. There is a MCP at the building entrance which allows the fire service to close this vent above the stairs if they wish. Question: Should there be a smoke detector in the stair well (a sterile area) to also activate this AOV or should it only open in response to the detection of smoke in one of the flat access compartments. Thanks for any comments (ideally quoting any legislation which supports your view))

I'm not sure which heading this fits under so apologies if it is in the wrong place. We have a 4 floor block of flats with a "stay put" policy. Each floor is a compartment and has a part 1 detector opening a smoke vent on that floor. The compartment is separated from the stairs by a 60 minute door. There is a single protected (fire fighting) stair with a manually operated vent above it in the roof. The Fire Service can use a MCP by the entrance door to open the roof vent if they wish, but there is no smoke detection on the stairwell. ADB Vol1 seems to suggest that if the travel from the fire door to the stairs is under 4.5m, smoke detection is not required on the stairs but am I reading this correctly? Thanks is advance!