Hi All,
I don't believe the guides are totally clear on a scenario where initial travel on a floor and down some stairs should be treated as an initial dead end or whether this should be treated as an unprotected staircase where, if overall travel distance is met, there is no issue of providing FR or AFD to the rooms @ the base of the staircase which open on to the staircase. See example below:
Question
On a 2nd floor of an existing building, we have two small offices. The staircase from the 2nd floor is open to the first floor. Once you get down the stairs on to the first floor, there are 3 small offices open to the staircase i.e. no FR (normal doors & glazing to the 3 offices). Once we reach the base of the staircase at first floor level (the initial one way travel distance being approximately 14m) there is 2 ways out, i.e. at first floor level there are 2 separate staircases (one to the left & one to the right). The nearest available final exit can be reached within 45 metres.
Do the 3 offices on the first floor need to be FR or have AFD in them because of the initial 14m of travel from the 2nd floor & down the stairs being one way travel?
Or do you say that you can have an unprotected staircase because overall travel distance can be met?