Hi. Can anyone advise me on the following?  Does a ground floor open plan restaurant need an alarm system if it has separate apartments above? It currently has sufficient exits, emergency lights, staff training, and extinguishers, etc in place. However, if there is a fire what about the apartments above? I understand that the whole building is owned by the same person. There appears to be a minimum 60 minutes fire separation from the restaurant to the flats and they have their own entrances to the rear.

Usually small places of assembly, due to the public presence, need at least a Category M fire alarm system of call points and sounders although if very small you could use the argument for small workplaces on one level where if a shout of fire can clearly be heard throughout that suffices.

If the flats have the 60 minutes separation & separate access there would be no need for an alarm in the restaurant for their benefit either (unless it's a block with unsatisfactory cladding with a temporary evacuate policy)

Thank you Anthony.