Hi,

Can anyone explain the reasoning why cold smoke seals are not required on openings in protected shafts forming a service shaft (i.e. riser cupboard doors) according to Approved Document B of the Building Regulations?

 

Thanks

Jonathan

The purpose of cold smoke seals is to prevent cold smoke percolating from a risk room to an escape route and smoke logging it, making it untenable. A lift or service shaft is not an escape route, however if the lift is used for means of escape then it would require rethinking if such a thing was considered.

Why such shafts are protected is to prevent fire spreading from one floor to another in the later stages of a fire, smoke would not be a problem.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your reply.

Can a service shaft not be considered a 'risk room'?

Also, do electrical cupboards/enclosures (for example the type found within a communal hallway of a property converted into flats) require smoke seals on the doors? 

I wouldn't, I would be more concerned with fire spread later in the development f the fire. I think meter cupboards would need to be risk assessed and may need cold smoke seals. I have been to a number of incidents involving electric meter cupboards so I do see a risk.