Sambo, DD/PD9999 is a design document, it is not intended for helping in risk assessing existing buildings, especially not for people to use just to warrant fitting more people into their nightclub.
CarlyD, I will save you the bother of translating DD9999:
---
Occupancy characteristic B
Fire growth rate 2? = 0.012kj/s
From table 4 = Category B2
Table 5 confirms dance hall/bar as B2
Table 6, specific purpose group...
Assembly and recreation (high hazard) 5a
Places of assembly, entertainment or recreation; (other than sports stadia) including theatres, broadcasting, recording, and film studios (attended by the public), casinos, dance halls, funfairs and amusement arcades, non-residential music or dancing clubs.
Which specifically gives group B3
Table 7 states that occupancy B3 requires management level 1 as defined in BS5588 part 12.
Table 8 gives the minimum level of fire alarm for the risk group as L2
Table 10 gives you the floor space factors to be used in working out how many people will fit in to the building.
0.3m2 per person in the bar areas
0.5m2 per person in the dance areas/crush hall/assembly areas
Then we go to table 13, door widths when MINIMUM fire protection methods are provided: (i.e. L2 alarm system, management to 5588 pt 12)
Group B3... 7mm per person for exit widths. DOH!
If additional fire protection methods are provided (i.e. Voice alarms) then according to table 18 you can go to 5.3mm per person for exit widths.
---
So what all that basically means is that even following the most recent document that takes into account many different aspects of fire safety, and going ABOVE what it suggests, you still cannot get any more people into the club than the fire officer suggested. You can actually get less.
I am not sure what it is going to take to convince you that the original fire officer was possibly telling the truth, but it has occurred to me that you don't see to want to accept the answers given, and I don't think you will be happy until one of us says that 2,000 people will fit into your club.
There are fire professionals from all different walks of life here in this forum, from fire inspectors like myself to very experienced ex-inspectors, risk assessors, consultants and fire engineers. The consultants and the devil's advocates in here are always looking for an area where they can belittle a fire safety officer like myself for being 'over onerous' (Or for being quite simply 'wrong'.) but nobody seems to be saying anything very different from the first few answers you were given.
Look at it from this point of view: The number of people you can get through a door is a reasonably constant thing. All the british standards and design documents in the world will not make those people walk any quicker.
