Alterations to a Pub

[stewbow]

This is regarding proposed alterations to an existing cafe bar.
At the moment it has a ground floor and a 1st floor public area that has an open plan appearance because of a large open void above the serving area on the ground floor.
Total area is about 18 by 12 meters and the void is about 7 by 6 meters.
So basically, if you are upstairs, you can look over a rail, down into the lower ground floor area.

There are 2 sets of stairs, one at each end, there are 4 exits on the ground floor and a fire escape on the 1st floor.(this place has been liscened in it's present form for about 8 years)

Now then, the proposed alterations are that, The large void that I have mentioned, be filled in to create a 1st floor dance area.

The question that I am asking is, for the alterations to be accepted, would any compartmentation be required at the foot or head of the 2 staircases.
I don't think that there will be an increased risk of fire, probably less because of the no smoking rules.

To fit fire doors would spoil the overall "feel" of the place, so I would like a few opinions please

thanks

Stuart

[kurnal]

Sounds to me like you are creating an upper floor rather than a gallery as you have at the moment. Presumably the elements of structure are already protected in accordance with ADB.
Anyway the crux is that you will have a dance floor of 254 sq m so capacity will potentially  be 250- 450 persons depending on floor space factors? So you will need to ensure that if a fire occurs anywhere  affecting one direction of escape people can turn their back on the fire and you can get all those people out using the alternatives in a reasonable time - say 2.5 minutes. An open staircase is not a problem if you have alternative routes of sufficient width and persons dont have to move close to the open stair to reach the alternative.

Sounds to me like it may need at least one protected stair plus the existing external, subject to width etc.