ADB Purpose Groups

[JimHiggins]

I would be very grateful for a steer as to the purpose group (ADB) for the following:
Student accommodation in three and four storey houses, with four study bedrooms on each of the upper floors, i.e. 8 or 12 people. Shared facilities in the house include, shower rooms and WC on all upper floors; with an open plan kitchen/dining room/lounge area on the ground floor. Is it 1(b) or 2(b) or something else?
Many Thanks
Jim

[Phoenix]

2(b) or not 2(b)
That is the question...

[JimHiggins]

True - But is it the answer?

[kurnal]

The correct answer should be 2b but many developers are suggesting they can be treated as 1b following the Birmingham Victoria Halls court case, though IMHO  this is not a valid precedent. The developers then go on to further vary the ADB tecommendations for 1b premises with a floor over 7.5 m by providing a single staircase and no sprinklers and in one case I walked away from, single door protection to the single staircase at ground floor level. They use the flimsiest of arguments to try and justify this - in my case the fire strategy document stated that as there were no dependent children in the dwelling house it was lower risk than a normal family situation because unlike children students could be relied on to evacuate immediately on operation of the alarm. Sadly the big name AI is in the developers pocket. Not in the home counties area perchance?

[JimHiggins]

Many thanks Kurnal,
It?s already up and occupied. Not Home counties, but the SW, although the contractor in question are into servicing a much wider area. There is single door protection to the kitchen on the ground floor, adjacent to the final exit door, for three and four storey accommodation.  A smoke vent fitted to the open landing on the top floor in the four storey houses, with Hoyles door alarms fitted to the kitchens. Looking forward to the next project they are starting soon.
Jim

[kurnal]

On my first visit to site post occupation I found the door alarms had been switched off by  security because they were a nuisance and always going off.

[wee brian]

If you're designing using ADB then a block should be designed either as a block of flats 1(a) or as a hall of residence 2(b). The problems come when people mix the two.

what's a door alarm/whats it for?

[kurnal]

The current trend is for student accommodation to be designed as 3-5  storey townhouses with  8-16 bedrooms on the upper floors served by a single staircase usually with lobby protection on  the upper floors but a single door between the base of the staircase and the open plan  lounge / diningroom/ kitchen on the ground floor.   The door alarm is the alleged compensatory feature for sigle door protection as it will sound an alarm if the door is wedged open. Trouble is it doesnt take long for this to be disabled either by students or in my case the university security staff because it was always going off and creating such a nuisance!!!.

I have seen these cropping up on a number of sites in the UK - they start the design based on a dwelling house ( for up to 16 people?) then engineer away the alternative MOE or sprinkler recommendations from ADB by installing an LD1 or part 1 alarm system, they stick campus security down as a compensatory feature and put FD30S SC on all rooms. These are being approved all over the place. 
 

[JimHiggins]

Hi Kurnal,
That's a very helpful summary. As Brian suggests it seems the ADB can be all things.....