Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice regarding a window in a protected stairwell and whetrher or not it's acceptable/acceptable with caveats.

It's a manually operated window, no mechancal sysems/AOVs present in the building. The glass is the same as the other windows in the building and is just standard, glazing. not fire rated.

Detection is present at the head of the staircase. Compartmentation is all in good order and unbreached. Externally, there is no fire loading (some AC units at ground floor level but these are not directly below and about 2m away, serviced 6 monthly etc.) external fire spread is unlikely due to construction etc. The final exit is below it but, again about 2m distance.

I've had a look through various guidance docs but information is either not available or slighltly conflicting.
I personally can't see any issue with the window being there, but I wanted to get some advice from more experienced assessors on whether or not I'm forgetting something

I have tried to upload pictures but i keep getting a server error; if theres an easier way to do it, please let me know. If you need anymore info, please feel free to ask.

Many thanks in advance

If the window is located in a protected stairwell, it should be fixed shut and achieve a fire resistance rating at least equal to that of the wall in which it is installed.

If this is on an outer wall it does NOT need to be fixed and fire resisting unless there is an external escape stair within a 1.8m envelope. Furthermore if this is a small block of flats it could form part of the smoke control arrangements if a 'stay put' block (as openable windows are a permitted option for certain small 1991-date blocks and some small-medium legacy pre 1991 blocks)

Thanks, Anthony. I really appreciate the response. It confirmed what I thought.

To clarify, it's a small/medium commercial unit.