Can anyone help me ? Block of flats fire escape hindered

[Angelusmcr]

So currently at my apartment complex we are having all of the faulty cladding replaced.

The building company has put metal constrictors on our balcony doors so that we cannot access the balcony which is classed as a live building site.

The building has one ‘fire stairwell escape’ near the elavators with fire doors etc.

I made a comment to the building company , that with this balcony restrictor, if there is a fire between me and the fire escape , what can I do? Normally I would at least have the option to go on my balcony.

I basically got fobbed off by them, threatened by them with police and costs etc from the building company. On top of this the director warned me that if I tried remove the restrictor myself , they would put up even more restrictions at a cost to me. I never touched the restrictor currently in place but they have now put up 3 metal beams only across my balcony exit points.

They did this after I expressed via emails my concerns , stress and anxiety levels about the ‘what if’ that would stop me from getting to the fire escape. I really feel like I have been treated extremely poorly here and what they have done to me doesn’t feel right.

Can anyone please advise what I should do? I’ve been told to contact the health and safety exec, the local fire safety officer and my mp….

Does anyone who is more familiar with this or has expertise in this situation give me some advice.

I understand they can’t have people going on their ‘live building’ site but legally are they allowed to block peoples balcony access? Surely this is a massive fire safety concern?

[WillPool]

Hi Angelusmcr

Welcome to the forums.

We have a few fire gurus on here that may be able to assist in getting you the right information, unfortunately, fire is not my area of specialty.

Hopefully, the information the 'fire guys' give you will offer some assistance.

Will

[Messy]

I am so sorry that this issue is causing you so much anxiety and to a point, I can understand why it might. But I may be able to reassure you - as far as I can without seeing your building - that all is fine. I am also sorry that it looks like you will lose the use of your balcony and I assume some light during these works.

When is an escape route not an escape route?

The main point here is determining whether your balcony is, or ever was part of your escape route. Your landlord (or freeholder or managing agent) should have developed an 'Emergency Plan' for your building. Furthermore, the plan should have been communicated to you and all other residents. It will tell you what to do in the event of fire.

Years ago it was acceptable for people in domestic dwellings to rely on the intervention by the fire service as a suitable means of escape - for instance escape from a loft conversion via an escape window onto the roof and wait for fire service ladders. This is no longer the case and only Emergency Plans which enable residents to escape unaided are deemed sufficient

Therefore its very unlikely that the Emergency Plan will tell you the balcony is an escape route unless you can make your way to an 'ultimate' place of safety - usually the ground floor where you can walk away with no assistance. This might be the case with a communal balcony with stairs at one or either end

So without your balcony - what now? How do you escape?

For decades now, a system of establishing 'Protected Routes" has been used in domestic and commercial buildings. These are escape routes where they are separated from the rest of the building by fire resisting elements of construction. This would include one or two sets of fire doors and fire resisting walls. Some staircases would have automatic or manual ventilation to clear smoke from it and some may have fire detection systems.

In addition to a fire resisting area to escape along or down, a Protected Route must be kept clear of restrictions (eg. bicycles) combustibles (eg. lots of plants/toys etc ) or ignition sources (eg. electric wheelchairs being charged).

With an escape route made from fire resisting construction, very little to burn and hardly anything to start a fire, a protected route gives you a "place of relative safety and time' to reach the ground floor IF you need to escape. Bear in mind some flats have a defend in place system where you stay where you are. Your emergency Plan will tell you what you need to know and if you havent got a copy ask/demand one

Your action

By all means ask your local fire service to pop over and conduct a 'Home Fire Safety Risk Assessment' on your flat. You can ask them if they are happy with your landlord's Emergency Plan

And during the works,

Please do not touch any barriers or contractor's kit including barriers. The contractors will get grumpy and it may cost you

Instead, monitor your escape route during the work. This includes the corridor(s), the staircase, and the lobby where the staircases discharges onto all the way to a safe place outside
.
Ensure that contractors havent wedged fire doors open, are not storing supplies or waste in escape routes - especially overnight. Make sure you have suitable lighting too

I would suggest some pragmatism be used when you monitor the builders. If a fire door has been wedged open to allow a load of insulation to be bought through, then as long as its closed asap - that's not an issue. But of fire doors are wedged, corridors blocked etc all the time - grumble, complain and main as loud as you can. Keep records - a diary, photos etc and record what you have said to whom and when

So in summary

Its unlikely a balcony will be accepted as a means of escape on your Emergency Plan
A protected route - in this case, a protected staircase will provide a suitable means of escape for you if maintained properly
Dont let the contractors take the Mickey by unacceptable storage or fire door wedging etc
If they do, complain and keep records

Good luck and please come back here if you need any further information

[Alexis]

Wow Messy.

Many thanks indeed for this excellent reply.

[witsd]

I don't disagree with anything Messy said, but I'll answer as well, just to hit the question from two perspectives.

The balcony in a multistorey flat (MSF) is frankly never going to be a viable escape route or a reasonable refuge point. Your flat door should be fire-rated and your flat should in effect be a concrete box with no links to the neighbours' flats (re: ventilation, see below). For this reason, almost all MSFs have a stay-put policy - if there's a fire and it isn't inside your flat, you phone 999, and then you sit down and relax, because you will be in no danger at all. You ought to have been told if this is the case in your block. If that isn't the case (and it might not be due to the previous cladding), please do ask.

Now of course, most people don't do the relaxing part because there have been two notable cases in the last 20 years, where a fire managed to jump between flats. Southwark (bad ventilation systems and incomplete asbestos removal works IIRC) and Grenfell (cladding and a few other contributing factors). How many flat fires have there been in those 20 years that behaved exactly as expected? Tens of thousands.

I think the closest thing I've seen to a fire spreading from one flat to another was where one person flicked a cigarette off of their balcony and the wind blew it back into the balcony below, landing on a pile of rubbish that shouldn't have been there. Balcony went up in flames, the window frame melted and the living room was very slightly singed. No-one harmed at all, aside from the curtains. Of course, if there was no pile of rubbish, there'd have been no fire.

So, if I were in your position (or living in any MSF), I'd have the following questions:

1) What's my cladding like? Yours apparently wasn't great, so it's being upgraded. Fab.

2) What's my bathroom / kitchen ventilation system like - does it just go out of the building or is it linked to neighbours? If the latter, does it have shunt ducts?

3) What's my flat door like, and crucially for my safety, what are my neighbours' flat doors like? I'd expect the door to be fire rated to at least 30 minutes (potentially 60 if they've been upgraded in the last ten years or so), and to fully self-close, so smoke won't fill the lobby if someone has a flat fire. Some doors will have intumescent strips that swell up when heated to create a more air-tight seal around the door, but other options are available.

And that's it. Tick those three off and I'm sleeping soundly, and using my balcony in the event of fire would never cross my mind.

Let me just say that I do completely understand the claustrophobia that losing your balcony must be causing, and I hope that the works progress quickly.

[Alexis]

Another WOW reply! Many thanks to you also Witsd.

[1804]

Respect. Nothing else to say.