Building Regs

[Freebooter99]

I write on behalf of a resident owned management company maintaining 15 flats built in the 1970s and presumably complying with building regs at that time.

The doors leading from the flats to the common lobby areas are thought to be fire doors based purely on appearance (44mm think with wired glazed panels). They may possibly be FD30 but are certainly not FD30S as they lack intumescent strips, smoke seals and self closers.

Our recent third party Fire Risk Assessment recommends upgrading these doors to FD30S but we do not think this practical or effective so our options as to :-

a) leave as is or;

b) replace to FD30S standards (preferred):

So that I can answer residents queries, could you advise whether we could rely on compliance as at the time of construction or whether we are obliged to bring these doors up to modern standards ?

Many Thanks

[AnthonyB]

Your risk assessment should really have answered this for you - depending on the circumstances there is the possibility of accepting existing doors, the guidance on how to decide that is in here https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/fire-safety-purpose-built-04b.pdf