Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

PART E Fire safety

Application and interpretation

E1—(1) Regulations E2 and E4(3) shall not apply to a prison within the meaning of the Prisons Act (Northern Ireland) 1953(1) or any other place of lawful detention.

(2) In this Part—

• assembly building includes places of entertainment or recreation; conference, exhibition, and leisure centres; museums and art galleries; law courts; churches and other buildings for worship; libraries open to the public; health centres and surgeries; passenger stations for air, rail, road and sea travel; and public toilets;

• dwelling means a self-contained unit of residential accommodation occupied (whether or not as a sole or main residence)—

  (a)

  by a single person or by people living together as a family; or

  (b)

  by not more than 6 people living together as a single household, including a household where care is provided for residents;

• dwellinghouse means a dwelling on one or more storeys which is detached or forms part of a building from all other parts of which it is divided only vertically;

• flat means a dwelling on one storey forming part of a building from some other part of which it is divided horizontally;

• house in multiple occupation means a building, or part of a building, occupied by people who do not form a single household and containing units of residential accommodation which are not self-contained;

• internal linings means the materials lining any partition, wall, ceiling or other internal structure;

• maisonette means a dwelling on more than one storey forming part of a building from some other part of which it is divided horizontally;

• means of escape means structural means whereby, in the event of a fire, a safe route or routes is or are provided for people to travel from any point in a building to a place of safety;

• office includes premises used for the purposes of administration; clerical work; handling money; and communications;

• place of safety means a place, outside the building, in which people are in no danger from fire within the building;

• residential health care building includes nursing homes; homes for old people, children, mentally ill and the mentally or physically handicapped;

• shopping complex means a shopping complex that includes a covered mall or similar area in which—

  (a)

  more than 15 m of the length of the mall section is covered by a bridge or roof; or

  (b)

  at least one-quarter of its plan area is obscured by a roof or by floors, bridges, galleries or canopies, unless there is a continuous open slot above the mall section in which case more than one-half of its plan area is obscured; and

• spectator accommodation means covered seating accommodation at sports grounds.

Means of escape

E2  A building shall be so designed and constructed that in the event of a fire there is—

(a) where appropriate, adequate means of automatic detection;

(b) adequate means of giving warning; and

(c) adequate means of escape, which can be safely and effectively used at all material times.

Internal fire spread – Linings

E3  To inhibit the spread of fire within a building the internal linings shall—

(a) offer adequate resistance to the spread of flame over their surfaces; and

(b) where they are located in a circulation space, have a low rate of heat release when ignited.

Internal fire spread – Structure

E4—(1) A building shall be so designed and constructed that, in the event of a fire, its stability will be retained for a reasonable period.

(2) A wall common to two or more buildings shall be so designed and constructed that it provides adequate resistance to the spread of fire between those buildings and for the purposes of this paragraph a dwellinghouse in a terrace and a semi-detached dwellinghouse shall be considered as a separate building.

(3) To inhibit the spread of fire within it, a building shall be adequately sub-divided with fire-resisting construction.

(4) A building shall be so designed and constructed that the spread of fire (and in particular smoke) within concealed spaces in its structure and fabric is adequately inhibited.

External fire spread

E5  The external walls and roof of a building shall be so designed and constructed that they afford adequate resistance to the spread of fire over them, and from one building to another, having regard to—

(a) in the case of an external wall – the use, position and height of the building; and

(b) in the case of a roof – the use and position of the building.

Facilities and access for the Fire Brigade

E6—(1) A building shall be designed and constructed with such reasonable facilities as are necessary to assist the Fire Brigade in ensuring the safety of people in and about the building in the event of a fire.

(2) Reasonable provisions shall be made within the boundary of the premises for access to the building by fire brigade appliances for the purpose of paragraph (1).

Deemed-to-satisfy provisions for regulations E2, E3, E4, E5 and E6

E7—(1) The requirements of regulation E2 shall be deemed to be satisfied, in the case of a building specified in column (2) of Table E opposite the reference to that regulation, if the means of detection, giving warning and escape in the building are in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications specified opposite thereto in column (4).

(2) The requirements of regulation E3 shall be deemed to be satisfied, in the case of a building specified in column (2) of Table E opposite the reference to that regulation, if the internal linings used in the building are designed and constructed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications specified opposite thereto in column (4).

(3) The requirements of regulation E4 shall be deemed to be satisfied, in the case of a building specified in column (2) of Table E opposite the reference to that regulation, if the building and measures to inhibit the spread of fire within it are in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications specified opposite thereto in column (4).

(4) The requirements of regulation E5 shall be deemed to be satisfied, in the case of a building specified in column (2) of Table E opposite the reference to that regulation, if the external walls and roof of the building are designed and constructed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications specified opposite thereto in column (4).

(5) The requirements of regulation E6 shall be deemed to be satisfied, in the case of a building specified in column (2) of Table E opposite the reference to that regulation, if the facilities in and access to the building for the Fire Brigade are in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications specified opposite thereto in column (4).

(1)

1953 c. 18 (N.I.)