Loft conversion - Fire / Building Control Post Reply

[SomethingForKate]

Hi,

My house is currently having a loft conversion carried out and I am trying to understand what is actually required in order for the works to pass Fire Regulations from the building controller.

The house is currently a standard 2-story 2-bed, 1 bath, 1 lounge, 1 kitchen/diner Edwardian terrace and the loft conversion adds a third story, 2 beds and 1 more bathroom.

Doors throughout the house are likely not FD30, but those in the loft will be.

I understand that I can either change all of the doors in the house to be fire resistant to at least 30 mins or install a mains-powered, linked smoke alarm system throughout the house.

My questions are, where exactly is this set out, how many smoke alarms would I need and where would they need to be positioned?

The finished house will have:
- 3 hallways, 1 at each of the three levels
- 4 bedrooms, 2 at 1st floor and 2 at loft
- 2 bathrooms, 1 at 1st floor and 1 at loft
- 1 boiler room (was previously a WC) at 1st floor
- 1 lounge at ground floor
- 1 joint kitchen/diner space at ground floor

Any help or guidance from those who have been through this in the last couple of years would be appreciated.

SFK

[KCL@RP]

Hi SFK

Sounds like a great addition of space! It may be an obvious question but do you not have Building Control involved in the project (either private or local authority)?

If you have then then they should have looked over the architect plans and made recommendations about what is required to obtain the building control final certificate. If they haven't done this then they will be the best people to contact to advise you / you builder.

If you don't have building control you do really need to get them on board. This sort of extension work would (normally) require a building control application, which would lead to an Initial Notice being issued (basically saying that they're happy with the proposed plans and that works can commence, assuming all necessary consents are in place). If you don't obtain a Final Certificate from building control you will very possibly encounter problems if you come to sell the property. You may have an enforcement notice issued and then have to go about getting retrospective building control sign off ... or if this can't be achieved, in the case of selling the property, you may need to take out indemnity insurance to satisfy the buyer.

I'm happy to discuss further if that would be helpful.

Kind regards

Kenelm
www.runprojects.co.uk
07811945726

[SomethingForKate]

Thanks for your detailed response Kenelm.

We are using a D&B company who are "managing" a third-party building controller to provide sign-off. The D&B firm are requesting I add in all sorts of extras to ensure we meet fire regulations and so that even further (more expensive) changes aren't required at a later date. The number of smoke alarms they are requesting we add simply doesn't reconcile with the size of our property and so I was after an indication of what would be appropriate.

I have requested the contact details of the third party building controller so I can ask them directly but that request (like most) is falling on deaf ears at the D&B firm. I understand that I am paying for the building controller and so can request this, but am caught between a rock and a hard place at the moment.

If I turn down the additional cost requests and fail building control due to not meeting fire regulations, it will cost me more to rectify later. But if I agree with the D&B firm, I'll end up paying them lots more and have a daft number of smoke alarms throughout a small house.

And further advice would be appreciated.

SFK

[sarahsarah]

Here's a blog post I saw on health and safety, im unsure if it includes fire but they might be able to help you out http://www.centrallondonloft.co.uk/heal ... ty-policy/