Updating post from Reddit.
Hi,
I've been told by Southwark council that my open-plan layout HMO needs either a full retrofit sprinkler system fitted or a partition corridor to the front door built to create a covered escape route in my property. They are referencing LACORS s.12 guidance for this.
However, the upstairs windows are well below the max height and open wide enough to be a legal escape route as decreed in LACORS s9.8 and s.14.
I've had four different companies undertake an FRA over the years and all but 1 have said the bedroom windows are the preferable escape route and meet the standards as set out in LAcors Guidance.
I've asked Southwark Council why they're choosing not to look at other sections of LACORS and their response was a bedroom window wasn't an ideal escape route (they didn't say it didn't meet the legal standards, as they do) and that they look at other general Health & Safety guides and so their preference was people don't use bedroom windows as escape routes. As a result I need to either build a partition corridor or fit an entire sprinkler system.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Much appreciated in advance.
Thanks
Escape windows are secondary to the primary escape route, which must allow egress via a half hour protected hallway/stairs to a place of safety. If residents have to pass an open plan kitchen area on the way out of the building that will not comply.
Ok, thank you, I understand. So this surely would render most two-storey open plan refurbs unacceptable without sprinkler system.
Not really. You can have an escape window in a kitchen/diner. But if you have to go through that room to escape that’s a problem. Solution: escape windows in the bedroom.
This stuff is all subjective, is Southwark making a demand or is it a recomendation?
It’s an official council notice which I can contest. The council are using guidance which it says is a ‘recommendation’, plus other health & safety guides, but the notice for change is essentially a demand, as without the changes they advise, they can penalise financially up to 30k. But yes, a lot of it is to do with the Southwark interpretation, thanks!