Fire Doors and the Building Regulations

The Building Regulations in England and Wales are in place to make sure that the laws around safety in building and construction work are applied. Virtually all new buildings, and renovations to older ones, require Building Regulation approval before they can go ahead, and the rules are in position to assure a safer environment for all.

Any land or property owner is responsible for ensuring that any construction or building work carried out on their premises is in compliance with the appropriate building regulations and planning rules. However, although the responsibility ultimately falls on their shoulders, it is those carrying out the work who are more likely to take the lead in ensuring that the particular legal standards are met. This means that both property owners and construction firms must be fully aware of what the building regulations are and how they should be applied.

It is Part B of these regulations that is focused on the prevention of the spread of fire, with a view to allowing all occupants of a building to escape quickly, while allowing fire services to extinguish a fire as easily as possible. Fire doors play an essential role in meeting the requirements of the Building Regulations Part B, because they are designed to help meet several of the criteria.

Part B1 requires that provisions are put in place so that occupants of a building “can escape to a place of safety by their own efforts”. Buying and properly installing fire doors is a very effective way of containing a fire and its smoke to a specific portion of a building. Specialist doors prevent the escape of flames and toxic fumes: this can make it easier for people to flee via corridors and walkways because they will not be filled with dangerous smoke and heat.

Part B2, B3 and B4 of the Building Regulations are concerned with limiting the spread of a fire. They relate predominantly to the linings and structure of a building, as well as the gaps between buildings, however fire doors can, again, play an incredibly important role in providing an environment that does not allow a fire to spread rapidly or cause unnecessary damage.

A well-fitted and well-built fire door is designed to divide any building up into compartments, so that in the event of an outbreak of fire the damage caused by the smoke and flames is limited to one region of the premises. This is so that they both protect human lives and minimise damage to property, giving people valuable time to get away.

This role played by fire doors is also essential to Part B5 of the Regulations, which states that premises must be built and designed in a way that assists fire and rescue services to carry out their duties in an emergency. By restricting the spread of fire through the compartmentation of a building, fire doors will help to prevent the blaze from getting out of control while waiting for the arrival of emergency services, and will help them to do their job when they get there.

As always with fire safety considerations, simply purchasing or installing fire doors is not sufficient: they must be regularly assessed and checked so that optimum safety, in the worst possible circumstances, is guaranteed.