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Author Topic: Unprotected Staircase Office  (Read 5282 times)

Offline Tadees

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Unprotected Staircase Office
« on: June 20, 2017, 12:32:35 PM »
Ground and first floor office with unprotected staircase (no floor more than 90m squared).  Travel distance is 16m to final exit.  Final exit is within 3m of the bottom of the stairs.  The first floor is open plan.  The door to the stairs is visible from any part of the first floor, but the final exit is not.  So what is it that need to be visible from any part of the first floor.  Is it the door to the stairs or the exit from the building?
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Offline Owain

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Re: Unprotected Staircase Office
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2017, 07:50:37 AM »
I think it's a Fire Exit sign that needs to be visible from any location. That should guide people towards the exit. I don't see how a final exit on another floor can be expected to be visible.
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Offline Tom Sutton

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Re: Unprotected Staircase Office
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2017, 12:06:52 PM »
Tadees. Where do you get your guidance from?
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All my responses only apply to England and Wales and they are an overview of the subject, hopefully it will point you in the right direction and always treat with caution.

Offline Tadees

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Re: Unprotected Staircase Office
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2017, 02:26:42 PM »
Quote from: Tom Sutton on June 21, 2017, 12:06:52 PM
Tadees. Where do you get your guidance from?

Was reading through my moreton notes hence the question
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Offline Phoenix

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Re: Unprotected Staircase Office
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2017, 03:12:44 PM »
It sounds ok so far.  You cannot see the ground floor final exit(s) from upstairs so we accept automatic smoke detection in the ground floor to cover the lack of visibility.  I'm assuming that the stairs are enclosed at the top (may or may not be FR) and that they are unenclosed at ground floor.  Like I said, automatic detection downstairs will cover it.  The upstairs is like an inner room to the ground floor, just up a level.  Shouldn't be more than 60 people upstairs, of course, but it doesn't sound big enough anyway.  
« Last Edit: June 21, 2017, 03:14:45 PM by Phoenix »
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Offline Tom Sutton

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Re: Unprotected Staircase Office
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2017, 04:29:49 PM »
There is guidance in the DCLG guide and ADB, which accept your situation, limiting the numbers to 60 on the first floor and as Phoenix says if the top of the stairs is enclosed, treat it as a kind of inner room situation. Which would means it has to be open plan so you do not have two inner rooms, nothing about having view of the final exit but you would have view of the floor exit.
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All my responses only apply to England and Wales and they are an overview of the subject, hopefully it will point you in the right direction and always treat with caution.

Offline Dinnertime Dave

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Re: Unprotected Staircase Office
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2017, 07:27:58 PM »
I've seen a few of these built. They were 110m2. Accepted by BCO and me in fairness.

The next phase introduced a kitchen with domestic cooker at base of the stairs and added a lift to allow disabled access to 1st floor.

Still acceptable? 
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