What is a boundary?

[kgnoble]

I wonder if someone can help?

I have had built a garage in crinkly tin with internal fire retardation qualities. The building inspector requires external fire spread retardation as well due to the proximity of the boundary. The boundary is merely a fence - the nearest building wall is some considerable distance away. For Building Control purposes is the "boundary" one that is a building or is he correct that the fence is the relevant "boundary"

Any comments would be very welcome

Thank you

Keith

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

The boundary is where your property/land ends and your neighbours property/land starts.

 

[kgnoble]

Thanks for your reply, but am I being silly in expecting the fire regulations to apply to the distance to the nearest building "to ensure that ignition of a building adjacent to a fire is delayed sufficiently to allow the fire and rescue service to arrive and take preventative action"

cf BRE GroupResearcherWebsite External fire spread: building separation and boundary distances (BR 187)

BRE is the UK’s leading centre of expertise on the built environment, construction, energy use in buildings, fire prevention and control, and risk management.

 

[jeds]

am I being silly in expecting the fire regulations to apply to the distance to the nearest building

Not silly, just incorrect. As FMT said, the boundary is the line between your land and your neighbours land. There may be no building on your neighbours land at present but they may want to build one in the future.

PS, fences and walls are not technically the 'boundary', they are 'boundary features', which might or might not be on the actual boundary. The boundary is an invisible line of no width.

 

[^woody^]

Your question should be

"why is the inspector concerned with my garage material, when crinkly tin is not flammable and does not support external fire spread?"

 

[kgnoble]

OK - thanks very much for your clarification

K

Your question should be

"why is the inspector concerned with my garage material, when crinkly tin is not flammable and does not support external fire spread?"

Actually it is not precisely crinkly tin (shorthand from a previous career of mine) but it is Kingspan Quad core KS1000 and classified B-s1,d0. The Building Inspector is happy with the fire spread internally, but concerned through the wall externally. The unit is close (25/50 cms) to a wooden fence, but the nearest building is 10m away. The BI wants 30 mins fire resistance using a further product for protection. My reading of the regs suggests that the requirement is for security against fire to a building and not a fence.
There is an appeal procedure in the event that the BI refuses to sign off the building, but as I cannot get anything out of their department I have nothing yet to appeal against!
It does seem that "rules is rules" applies without any real concern for the reality. Of course each BI who has inspected in the past is different and in private practice - Guildford Borough Council do not seem to have an active inhouse Building Control department.
Thanks for your interest
Keith

 

[^woody^]

You need to get clarification from the manufacturer. A quick look of the data implies that the product should be acceptable for spread of fire.

The inspector may well be interpreting the regulations properly, but misapplying it to the actual material.

Regarding the actual regulation, the requirement is enforced as standard and can't normally be argued against. The only way to get it relaxed is on appeal to the SoS, with incontrovertible evidence that there is and never will be a risk to neighbours land and property and likewise risk to yours from neighbouring land.

 

[John D v2.0]

What's on the other side of the fence? If it's a highway (or canal!) or similar, you can treat it as having the boundary in the middle. If it's someone's garden then they might want to do the same building as you.

 

[kgnoble]

What's on the other side of the fence? If it's a highway (or canal!) or similar, you can treat it as having the boundary in the middle. If it's someone's garden then they might want to do the same building as you.

Hi - thanks both for your comments. I will try the BI with the specification again. On the other side of the fence is a large garden, and a large willow close to the fence. The grounds are part of a modern block of flats development; I can't see it ever being developed closer to the fence. See plan attached

 

[RandomGrinch]

The image on Google maps may not be recent, but do you own the rest of the land in the car park?
The boundary rule would equally apply if someone was to build a garage right next to yours...

 

[kgnoble]

The image on Google maps may not be recent, but do you own the rest of the land in the car park?
The boundary rule would equally apply if someone was to build a garage right next to yours...

View attachment 304120

Interesting image - the dug up bit is where my building is now on the west side of what would be and is the fence. The rest of the car park to the south is not mine.
Separate story but on piling we went through a high pressure hose that Thames Water had said didn't exist. Took a long time to convince them they should still give me a buildover agreement.
No. I do not own the rest of the car park - but thank you for your comment. The site is in a conservation area and I suspect further consents will not be easily obtained.
I suspect I am going to have to suck it up and add whatever additional paneling the BI requires.....

 

[Wolfhere]

If your new building is within 1m of a boundary then the facing elevation will need 30 minutes fire resistance from both sides. It sounds like this is what the BI is asking for. You have no problem with external fire spread.

 

[Tigercubrider]

This is possibly a stupid question...
But could you construct a concrete board and post wall on your side?
ie replace your fence/double up the other with something similar to the council tend to use or is used to make large areas of compound?

 

[kgnoble]

If your new building is within 1m of a boundary then the facing elevation will need 30 minutes fire resistance from both sides. It sounds like this is what the BI is asking for. You have no problem with external fire spread.

Looking at another plan which might well represent my, now,
actual boundary, my building is more than 1m away from that boundary. For my building, a single storey building of approx 45 sq m, do I avoid the additional need for fireproofing, or is my building too large for that?

 

[Wolfhere]

If your building is more than 1m from the boundary you only need the fire resistance from the inside. The internal plasterboard will take care of this.
Just to clarify the last sentence of my previous post you have no problem with surface spread of flame.