BYTNAR - TALKS
EPISODE 014 - APPROVED DOCUMENT B - FIRE SAFETY - PART 1 OF 1
This episode is for people who want to know more about Approved Document Part B – Fire Safety.
You should like this episode if you ask yourself questions like:
What are the key fire safety requirements outlined in Approved Document B for residential dwellings?
How does Regulation 38 impact the responsibilities of building managers regarding fire safety information? What is the importance of early fire detection and alarm systems in fire safety planning?
How should escape routes in residential buildings be designed according to Approved Document B?
What methods are recommended to prevent the spread of fire between different areas of a building?
How does structural integrity contribute to fire safety in residential construction?
What is a holistic approach to fire safety, and how should it be implemented during building design?
How can fire safety engineering be used as an alternative to standard prescriptive measures in fire safety?
What resources and standards, like British Standard 7974, are used for designing optimal fire safety measures?
This is Bytnar Talks the Engineer Talk on Construction Episode 14 hi I'm Piotr Bytnar each day I help my clients plan and design building projects through Bytnar Limited a Consulting Chartered Structural Engineers practice my biggest passion and the corner stone on which I've built my business is find finding clever solutions for construction projects I am a chartered structural engineer and a bing software developer so you can rest assured that I will strive to talk about the best practices and the use of new technologies in the industry and if you're embarking on a construction project or are involved in planning designing and building the world around us you'll find this podcast useful approv document B fire safety part [Music] one hi there and welcome back to bitnar talks your favorite podcast on all matters of architecture engineering and construction it is Thursday the 2nd of May 2024 and I'm here back with you with the 14th episode and further information on approved documents another busy week is gone and the we of the weekend makes us all look forward to tomorrow last week in episode 13 I finished talking about the building regulations requirement a structures committing the entire episode to aspect of disproportionate collapse I've told you about different classes of buildings from class one to three and sary what these are and how to approach them from the perspective of robustness to avoid disproportionate collapse Now we move into the interesting world of fire safety in and around buildings and this will take the next several episodes the approved document divides its attention to dwellings and buildings other than dwellings I think taken the scope of the documents there will be several episode on the dwelling side of things and similarly unknown dwellings I will enhance the com commentary on the approved document with some insight from BS 9999 which is the standard code of practice that deals with fire safy in the design management and use of buildings all right let us have a closer look at the subject so without further Ado let's dive into the fire safety requirements as treated in the approved [Music] document right after the consideration of structures comes the consideration of fire sure things there is no need to consider fire if the building won't stand but but fire can also be one of the major contributors to building failure and collapse not to mention loss of life fire considerations spread far and wide over the other parts of the legislation too and should be treated as a part of the holistic building design process and consideration in this episode I will discuss the consideration that the Secretary of State draws our attention to our will go Section by section giving you simple reasons behind the text and where appropriate my commentary this episode will cover section zero and section one however the approved document consists of 18 sections and seven appendices discharging requirements with glorious titles of B1 to B5 with additional mention of Regulation six paragraph 3 and seven paragraph 2 and obviously the regulation 38 are you also already good let us unpack it a little bit shall we all right so let's get on to [Music] it this episode talks about volume one of the approved documents B fire safety dealing with dwellings only the approved document one follows the requirements B1 to B5 of the building regulations which simply require a provision of sufficient alarm means of Escape inhibition of fire spread internally externally between the buildings or in Hidden spaces and Cavities assuring the building will remain structurally sound for the required time and sufficient provision for firefighting is also available it also mentions regulation 38 which requires the provision of fire safety information to the responsible party that manages the relevant building in aist all but single family dwellings and single units in blocks of floods are the relevant buildings it needs to be understood that all these aspects although dealt with in isolation form an interconnected approach to the fire safety of dwellings and need to be approached iteratively and holistic Ally further clarification is contained within appendices where specific information can be found in one place and the document reference the Fire Protection Association as a goto Institution for upgrading the fire safety to levels beyond that of the minimum requirement described in the approved document the document mentions that it is also not intended to exclude people for any reasons from the use use of the building except in the extreme circumstances it should also be considered that the guidance can be met in other ways but but only such alternative will be F if they don't increase the risk level of the solution solution that is otherwise accepted by the document and that the guidance is general for typical use scenarios some additional consideration may be needed like for example Provisions for fire safety of sheltered housing for example where occupants may not be capable of using the building with the same fluency general public does fire safety engineering is consider as a good approach as a good alternative to the approved document today approved guidance of the approved document British standard 7974 application of Fire safety engineering principles to the design of buildings is one of such guidance documents that could prove useful in finding the alternative approach to approv document ways of doing things approved documents guidance follows the identification of the level of Hazards of the particular building by assigning Purpose Group relevant to the use of that particular building as we all know compartments and buildings can vary in their use and be mixed so the general consideration is such circumstance and if the use is unar to the main designation is to use approach of the higher group but some concession can be made if the part is sufficiently Big to be treated on its own when it comes to separated compartments each compartment should be treated on their own merits so what is the classification here as we talk about dwellings I will consider this group group here only which falls under volume one of approved document B and they basically fall under the consideration of The Purpose Group volume one dwellings as I say so Flats dwelling houses with floors at the level not higher than 4 and 1 half m above the ground level two floors at the height of maximum level 18 M up there in the sky and houses with flows level underneath this provision we are generally talking about housing provision and building uses that can be anciliary to it like a small garage or home office perhaps surgery even if Provisions fall outside of this Purpose Group some further requirements that deal that are dealt with in volume two may need to be considered like in case of mixed use buildings okay so let's talk about these simple housing conditions for building in volume one shall we so what we talk about here is decreasing risk as we go down the group designation so the highest one would be Flats which fall under Group 1 a then we go in higher risk houses which are group 1B and then typical houses which fall under the consideration of Group 1 C now let's consider the requirement B1 means of warning and Escape the regulations say the building shall be designed and constructed so that there are appropriate Provisions for the early warning of fire and appropriate means of Escape in case of fire from the building to a place of safety outside the building capable of being safely and effectively used at all material times and what does the Secretary of State has to say about this for the Secretary of State it means that there is sufficient early warning system in place that all people can escape uned there is sufficient provision of Escape Routes sufficient in location number and capacity Escape routs are sufficiently protected from the effect of fire and smoke Escape Routes are sufficiently lead and signed Escape Routes either not overly are either not overly impacted by smoke or the smoke is being removed and fire spread is restricted for Flats sufficient provision is made for stapled evacuation [Music] strategy starting with the section one fire detection and alarm systems as a minimum all dwellings should have great D2 category ld3 alarm systems in place what this means is grading to D2 according to bs5839 the alarm system is main connected with battery backup in each sensor at Escape Routes only Escape Routes only uh considerations are covered underneath the ld3 designation ld3 meaning we always recommend ld2 approach as a minimum placing additional sensors in higher risk rooms like kitchen or living room but preferably houses should be equipped using ld1 approach with additional sensors in places where the fire is likely to originate like the garage or meter carpet note that if the dwelling is large which means it's got 200 M squar of a story and it's at least two story not considering basement the minimum alarm should be grade A C category ld2 now grade A means separate detectors alarms and central control unit and indicators with buckup power supply according to BN 54 when you do an extension fire alarm system should be installed when you add a habitable room over or below ground story and if it is provided at the ground story also when there is no Final Exit from that room in any way when you propose an extension to the existing house smoke alarm should be provided in circulation areas similar expectations of the provision of minimum detection and alarm system is prescribed to Flat treated as separate compartments so that they do not need communal alarm system the document also recognizes student accommodation as a unique entity but such units if they hold no more than six people and generally cons are generally considered as compartmentalized Flats similar due consideration to Flats should be given however if the building has a total evacuation strategy in place this consideration this building will fall under the consideration of volume two for the provision of fire detection and alarm in special situation where people can and need to be aided by assistant floods alarm system should be connected to the monitoring Point informing the responsible person about the fire and its location here I in sheltered housing flats that fall under volume one consideration the document goes to stady the obvious that all the systems need to be coordinated well installed and maintained to assure their appropriate operation [Music] so here you have it approved document B introduction and section zero and one under the belt I delved a little bit into the essential aspects of fire safety regulations for residential buildings particularly focusing on dwellings I trust to have gained some appreciation of the key requirements outlined in volume one of the approved documents B fire safety which spans Provisions from early fire detection to effective means of SK the document emphasizes the interconnected nature of fire safety measures highlights the need for a holistic approach that addresses early detection and alarms escape routs fire spread inhibition structural integrity and firefighting Provisions it is crucial to appreciate regulation 38 which necessitates the provision of fire safety information to responsible parties managing relevant buildings we can have the best system in place but if we do not know how to use it and maintain it I doubt it will be of much use the fire safety approach briefs inclusivity fire safety measures should not exclude individuals unless under extreme circumstances I think the most important part of approaching fire safy considerations is to do it iteratively when doing fire safety planning these measures should be approached holistically and adapted as needed to suit specific context and evolving needs mind you that the fire safety engineering is a viable alternative approach with the use of British standard 7974 and other published documents as a valuable resource for designing buildings with optimal fire safety measures in any case we approach the consideration assign buildings to the different risk category delineating specific requirements for each category and specifying appropriate solution to given building in the next episode I will cover section two and three means of escape from dwelling houses and floods and section four addressing the requirement B2 internal fir spread linings [Music] I hope you enjoyed this episode and that the consideration of fire safety in buildings begins to make more sense to you if you have any questions reach out to me on LinkedIn or send me an email I'm more than happy to help you out in BNA we deal with planning designing and managing of your projects and we are always glad to facilitate a free initial consultation to steer you in the right direction visit www.bit.ly advice and steer you in the right direction at bitna we help our clients design and execute their dream homes or Investments if your building is falling apart we can also help investigate the reasons behind it and to provide you with an appropriate strategy design and specifications for the repair thank you again for listening please voice up your opinions I'm waiting for you on LinkedIn and I want to hear from you Toodloo!
Piotr Bytnar BEng (Hons) MSc CEng MIStructE
Chartered Structural Engineer who deals with the Architecture of buildings. His Master's Studies led him to an in-depth understanding of risk and contract arrangements in construction as well as specialist knowledge in soil mechanics.
He and his team help homeowners and property developers to design and deliver construction projects reducing waste in time and the cost. He believes that the construction project is an iterative process that can be well managed and it is best managed if all the aspects of the project definition and management are dealt with in-house or coordinated by one organisation. His team works to all stages of RIBA and ISTRUCTE stages of work and enables contractors to deliver projects on-site providing risk evaluations, methodologies for execution of works and temporary works designs.
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