What the plan shows
It is a marked-up floor plan. Each escape route is drawn from the farthest bedroom to the final exit, each fire door is tagged with its rating, and each wall that must resist fire is shown with its period. Alarms and detectors are located too.
Our fee is £425. It is separate from the layout drawings, so it can be added to a house-to-flats or HMO project when approval needs it.
What the guidance asks of a converted house
Approved Document B asks for a review of the existing construction when a house is converted into flats, because retained timber floors can make fire resistance hard to reach. A converted building of up to three storeys may accept REI 30 for its structure if the escape routes follow Section 3; four or more storeys need the full standard.
For a single-storey flat, one approach is a protected entrance hall with REI 30 walls. Another is a layout where no habitable room is more than 9 metres from the entrance door and cooking is away from the escape route.
Loft rooms and shared homes
Where a loft storey is added above 4.5 metres, the guidance asks for fire-resisting doors (E 20) and partitions (REI 30) along the escape route, upgrading existing doors where necessary.
For shared homes there is a licensing side too. Licence conditions set minimum bedroom floor areas, so the fire plan and the room sizes are checked on the same drawing set.
By the numbers
4.5 m
Height above ground over which a new loft storey needs a protected escape route.
Source: Approved Document B, volume 1: dwellings, paragraphs 2.21, 3.18 and 6.5 to 6.7 (GOV.UK)
REI 30
Fire resistance of partitions on that escape route, with doors of E 20.
Source: Approved Document B, volume 1: dwellings, paragraphs 2.21, 3.18 and 6.5 to 6.7 (GOV.UK)
3 storeys
Up to this height a converted building may accept REI 30 for its structure.
Source: Approved Document B, volume 1: dwellings, paragraphs 2.21, 3.18 and 6.5 to 6.7 (GOV.UK)
9 m
Greatest travel distance from a flat entrance door to any point in a habitable room, one approach for a single-storey flat.
Source: Approved Document B, volume 1: dwellings, paragraphs 2.21, 3.18 and 6.5 to 6.7 (GOV.UK)
6.51 m²
Minimum floor area of a bedroom for one adult in a licensed HMO.
Fire strategy plan costs: common questions
Is a fire strategy plan the same as a fire risk assessment?
No. The plan is a design drawing for approval. A fire risk assessment is a separate document about managing an occupied building.
Is it in the HMO or flat conversion drawing fee?
No. It is a separate fixed fee, added where building control or licensing wants it.
Do old timber floors fail?
Not necessarily. The guidance says they may make the standard difficult to meet and asks for a review of the existing construction, which we do on the survey.
Source: Approved Document B, volume 1: dwellings, paragraphs 2.21, 3.18 and 6.5 to 6.7 (GOV.UK)
Sources
- Approved Document B, volume 1: dwellings, paragraphs 2.21, 3.18 and 6.5 to 6.7 (GOV.UK)
- Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Mandatory Conditions of Licences) (England) Regulations 2018 (legislation.gov.uk)
About the author. Ben Shaukat is Managing Director of Property Architecture Ltd, which trades as Planning Drawings.
Published by Planning Drawings. Checked against the sources above on . Planning rules change; check your council before you build.