Emergency lighting and smoke alarms in a shared house

[kibble19]

Hi there, Iam new to this so please bare with me.

Iam just about to start a full rewire. The property is a 6 bed, three storey house, which the owner is turning into shared living. 6 bedrooms with a communal lounge, bathroom and kitchen. Iam not sure if I need to fit smoke detectors in each bedroom as well as the usual landing, hall kitchen? And also what to do with the emergency lighting, do I fit the usual, landing, hall and exit doors? Or are these both different because it is shared living?

 

[jaydee81]

if the owner is turning it into a house of multiple occupancy HMO then a full fire alarm system would be required and emergency lighting should cover all the escape route ie hallway landing stairs and exit door but get owner to check with local council

 

[beatboaby924y]

Yeah agree with jay, you would have to find out what spec the emgergency lighting has to be carried out to.

Emgergency escape areas and final exits is probably all they'll want.

 

[UNG]

As well as smoke detectors in each room you may need sounders to get the required sound level at the bedhead.

I would suggest the owner gets in touch with the local council ASAP as he / she will need a HMO licence and the property will have to meet the council requirements for it to be granted

 

[tazz]

Good advice getting intouch with local council, as this can save you a lot of head aches later.
This sound like a Grade A system, full panel and heats and sounders in every room, smokes and call points on landing areas. possible seperate individual mains smokes in each room aswell. Emergency lights will usually be all staircases/landing areas.
Get council and fire officer to confirm before you start any installation.

 

[UNG]

Good advice getting intouch with local council, as this can save you a lot of head aches later.
This sound like a Grade A system, full panel and heats and sounders in every room, smokes and call points on landing areas. possible seperate individual mains smokes in each room aswell. Emergency lights will usually be all staircases/landing areas.
Get council and fire officer to confirm before you start any installation.

Please explain never come across a situation where you would install a full panel system and then individual mains smokes as well

 

[tazz]

The idea of the council is to prevent false alarms and injuries. Basically any hmo over 3 floors is usually Grade A which is control panel and sensors. The heats are requested in each room to activate main panel in fire condition. The individual mains smokes are to give the occupier only of that room early warning of smoke, as you can see the smoke will kick in first.

 

[UNG]

Thanks for the explanation sounds like somebody on a council somewhere has a belt and braces approach to fire safety I'm surprised they don't want manual call points as well to sound the main alarm rather than wait for the heat detector to kick in if a smoke goes off and there is a fire

 

[tazz]

Sorry UNG i forgot that Grade A requires MCP on each landing , front and back exits. Difference councils vary in ideas, but most are using this idea of heats and mains smokes. Personally i would like to see Smokes in every room as in hotel installations, but can see their logic.

 

[kibble19]

Thanks for responses, great help

 

[lauriehurman]

I'm no expert but;
Approved Doc "B" contains the definition of a "large" house, which IIRC is more than 2 floors and greater than 200m2 floor area.

 

[tazz]

I'm no expert but;
Approved Doc "B" contains the definition of a "large" house, which IIRC is more than 2 floors and greater than 200m2 floor area.

Sorry just wondering what you point is

 

[lauriehurman]

Correct me if I'm wrong;
Shared kitchen and bathroom means it's not "technically" multi-occupancy.
If the area per floor is less than 200m2 then it may be legal with Grade D.

As I say, I may be wrong, I'm no expert.
Laurie

 

[UNG]

To correct you

HMO Definition in simple terms

A house which is occupied by three of more unrelated persons, who do not form a single household – this definition is supported by Sections 254 – 259 of the Housing Act 2004

More info can be found here HMO Definition

 

[tazz]

To add to UNG`s HMO Definition, Grade D is defined as 1-2 floors, 3 floors plus will be Grade A

 

[lauriehurman]

Well I emphasise that I am not an expert and come on here to increase my understanding but my reading of AD B is a LARGE dwelling of 2 stories is grade B, a LARGE dwelling of 3 or more is grade A.
Which is why I mentioned the definition of LARGE.

I may be wrong.
Laurie

 

[jonni770]

Like has been said check with local council who wilk be issuing hmo license to land lord..

However from experiance i can tell you of theres more than 3 floors or 7 bedrooms With stay put ruling u will require full conventional fire alarm system with mcp at exits rate of rise smoke detection in communal areas and heat detection on kitchen sounders on ea ea floor.
If not stay put ruling you will need detection in every room too.

If its a small hmo you will need a grade 2 ld3 system incorparating mains interlink smoke alarms on landings and heat alarm in kitchen.

Emergency lights are required on all esvape routes and exits.