Inward Firedoors and Fire Routes

[DQUAD]

Hello

We are an arts venue that have recently rearranged our spaces. One space we want to use for hires was originally an office and has two single inward facing firedoors. The doors are situated 14m away from one another. The room is 95m² . 

Looking in capacity I am led to believe the cap would be 60 as the doors open inward. For the next event we can cap it at 60 but we are looking at what needs to be done to safely increase the capacity. 

Are the options:

1. Change one door to outward facing or would both need to be outward.

2. Man the space with fire marshals who can latch the doors open then close after evacuation to serve as firedoor. 

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

DQUAD

[Guest Rhys]

Hi Dquad, you can always fit fire rated magnet catches to the fire doors, they need to be wired in so if the fire alarms of the building are hit, the mags release the doors to allow the self closing mechanism to engage and close the door to prevent the spread of fire. 
 

hope this helps! 

[Mike North]

The use of magnetic hold open devices kind of defeats what the regulations are trying to do here.

Without seeing the doors, I suspect you have 2 options;

1.      Change the swing of the doors

2.      Limit the occupancy of the room