Help me understand fire regs for my loft conversion

[Ges1]

Hi there

I bought a house with an existing open plan loft conservation. The house is two floors and the loft.

Bottom floor: Hallway leading to small, open plan dining room, directly next to the staircase:



You go up the stairs to the middle floor, then up the stairs again to the loft conversion:


I have now removed the bannister and added a wall and fire rated door:


As I'd understood the fire regs, I was OK because I had a fire rated door, and an unobstructed run from the loft through to the front door, but apparently, the existence of this dining room next to the staircase means I'm in breach of regs?

I have smoke detectors on every floor, and every other door in the house is fire rated.

Am I OK here, and in the event that I'm not, what are my quickest means of complying with building regs?

Thanks!

 

[RandomGrinch]

My understanding is that the protected escape route should offer 30 minutes of fire protection, all the way to the exit.
Having a dining room open plan to the hallway wouldn't comply.
This may be mitigated against by providing sprinklers in the dining room (if BC agree), or by boarding in the stairway.

 

[Ges1]

Thanks, that’s how I understood it after reading a liittle. Appreciate the confirmation.

Do I assume this was the same before I even put the wall up?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Do I assume this was the same before I even put the wall up?

Yes, I can't recall when, but it's been that way for a good while now!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Can you post a before and after plan please, a simple sketch will do. And when was the loft conversion done?

And the old chestnut did it get Building Control Approval?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I like that round window in the third pic BTW, not so keen on the floating hand!

 

[Ges1]

Loft conversion was done in 2003, I believe. The first pictures are just from the estate agent when we bought, I think that might be his floating hand haha.

I don’t have any plans for my work, I’m afraid, the after pic I posted is definitely better than any drawing I can do.

I’m almost certain it was signed off by building control, as I have all the original plans for the conversion that show the various stages of the build, etc. it was done by a very reputable company -

 

[foxhole]

You don’t need retrospective BC.

 

[Ges1]

Hi Foxhole,

I don't understand what you mean - could you explain further?

Thanks!

 

[RandomGrinch]

Hi Foxhole,

I don't understand what you mean - could you explain further?

Thanks!

We are a little unclear about what you wish to achieve.

I (improperly!) made the assumption that your original conversion didn't have building control approval, and the works you were doing were to get it to meet the current regs.
If the conversion was already signed off by BC under a previous set of regs, there is no need to upgrade the works to current ones - the regs don't act retrospectively.
However, if you were doing other major work on the house, or perhaps you were preparing the property for rental etc. it may be a good idea to upgrade to current regs.

So basically, we don't know why you were putting in the upgrades to begin with!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Need an existing and proposed plan to answer, however clearly you think you've described it, it is still not.

 

[Ges1]

We are a little unclear about what you wish to achieve.

I (improperly!) made the assumption that your original conversion didn't have building control approval, and the works you were doing were to get it to meet the current regs.
If the conversion was already signed off by BC under a previous set of regs, there is no need to upgrade the works to current ones - the regs don't act retrospectively.
However, if you were doing other major work on the house, or perhaps you were preparing the property for rental etc. it may be a good idea to upgrade to current regs.

So basically, we don't know why you were putting in the upgrades to begin with!

Ah, OK, I think I get you. Forgive me, because I don't know the specific terminology.

So originally, in 2003, the loft conversion was completed. It was an open plan conversion, where the loft was accessible via a standard staircase, with banisters, etc.. When we bought the house, we took the loft room as our bedroom, but since it was open plan, it wasn't very private, so I've decided, after two years of daily 4am wakeups by our cats, to remove the bannisters and close off the loft with a wall, as visible in the pictures. The house is also extremely cold, and I figured putting in the wall on the loft and turning it into a proper room would create better heat retention within the room itself and the rest of the house.

This has been completed, but as I now understand it, I've fallen afoul of fire safety regs, and need to make things right. I followed bilding regs as far as insulation, placement ofdoor, etc, but I wasn't aware of the fire safety regs.

The original loft conversion was signed off by building control, that's all good. However, I'm assuming that no longer counts, since I've added the wall that effectively closes off the loft and turns it into a habitable room. I now want to know the best steps to take to make myself good again, and as far as I can tell, it seems to be putting up a wall in the dining room so that there's once again an uninterrupted route from the loft room to the front door

Does that make sense? Sorry, I don't know the professional terminology!

 

[Ges1]

Need an existing and proposed plan to answer, however clearly you think you've described it, it is still not.

I don't know what this means, I'm sorry. The photos I've posted make sense to me. They show the open plan dining room, the loft room in it's previous state, and the loft room after. I'm not sure what else a plan could outline that isn't visible in the pictures.