Fire safety design of open plan apartments in England

Abstract

A review has been undertaken which focusses on the fire safety document 'Open plan flat layouts' (NF 19), where the review identifies that NF 19 comes with limitations in its representation of sprinkler performance and its adopted values for door closing behaviours, location of fires, heat release rate and number of occupants when compared to more recent literature. To assess the impact of assumptions for door closing behaviours and fire location specifically, an event tree analysis of exemplar apartments has been undertaken, comparing NF 19 assumptions to data from literature. This analysis indicates that the previous assumptions for these parameters would not be expected to alter the conclusions of NF 19. As a result of the review and analysis, recommendations are made for the design of open plan apartments. The paper ultimately lays the groundwork for future studies, where additional assessments are needed to consider other NF 19 assumptions, including sprinkler performance, as well as to reassess existing guidance limitations derived from NF 19.

Using Probabilistic Zone Model Simulations to Investigate the Deterministic Assumptions of UK Residential Corridor Smoke Control Design

“…Both provisions activate upon smoke detection within the corridor, and their arrangement and specification are representative of systems that could be found in modern residential buildings. The apartment of fire origin has been simulated as a one-bedroom apartment 'with restricted travel' (i.e., where internal travel distances do not exceed 9 m) [22], otherwise referred to as a studio apartment, with dimensions of 6.5 m wide by 6.5 m long by 2.4 m high. This results in an apartment area of 42.25 m 2 , which approximately aligns with the average area of a one-bedroom apartment (44.9 m 2 ) estimated by Hopkin et al [23] from English Housing Survey (EHS) data.…”

A probabilistic thermal radiation analysis of cooking hob separation distance in open plan kitchens

“…Hopkin et al 2 3 with follow-up work then conducted by Davis et al 4 These studies formed the basis for recommendations in the previous edition of BS 9991:2011 1 and the current edition of BS 9991:2015 5 with regard to the floor area of flat arrangements with open plan kitchens and the provision of sprinklers. Hopkin et al 2 concluded that open plan kitchens can be considered acceptable in open plan flats, irrespective of the flat floor area (up to a given limit), but the cooking facilities should be located remotely from both the final exit and occupant escape routes. This aligns with the acceptability of open plan kitchens in other jurisdictions such as Australia, 6 New Zealand, 7 Canada 8 and the US.…”

“…Hopkin et al 2 previously undertook a review of the fire safety design of open plan flats. Part of the review included discussion on flats incorporating open plan kitchens.…”

Household cooking oil use and its bearing on fire safety

“…Fires on kitchen hobs (also referred to as stovetops, range tops or cooktops) may pose a threat to dwelling occupants in which the cooking arrangement is in proximity to an escape path. Hopkin et al 6 note in their review of the fire safety design of apartments in England and other parts of the United Kingdom that Approved Document B 7 and BS 9991 8 recommend that cooking facilities should be located sufficiently remote from the main entrance door so as to not impede escape in the event of a cooking fire. It is often necessary to calculate the potential thermal radiation from a fire which could impact escaping occupants since neither Approved Document B nor BS 9991 explicitly specify what is an acceptable distance between cooking facilities, the entrance door and the escape route.…”