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Roof voids - compartmentation

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Paul1979
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Roof voids - compartmentation

Post by Paul1979 »

Hi

Do all roof voids (regardless of size) in commercial premises need to be compartmentalised to fall in line with the walls in the floor(s) beneath them?

Does having plasterboard ceilings remove the need for cavity barriers in the roof void at all?

I have looked at ADB Vol 2, B3 - Section 9 (is this the right area??) and the various Gov documents for FRA's in premises.

Diagram 9.1 of ADB suggests the voids should have cavity barriers (regardless of ceiling type?) and I cannot see any specific mention in the Gov documents to help.

The reason for the query is we have a number of premises we look after - some have fire walls in the roof voids and some have completely open voids which spread the whole length and width of the buildings.

Any guidance / steer would be much appreciated.
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stephen1974
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Re: Roof voids - compartmentation

Post by stephen1974 »

I know you asked for commercial spaces, but this is an interesting read. Its residential case studies.

https://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/Fire% ... Feb-15.pdf
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Paul1979
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Re: Roof voids - compartmentation

Post by Paul1979 »

Hi stephen

Yes, I found that - really interesting reading!!

What I was looking for was a bit of guidance when roof voids must have some sort of compartmentation? We find a number of both commercial and residential buildings where there is little, or in most cases, no barriers at all?? This seems to contradict ADB but these have all been passed by BCO's, including some in the last 12 months.

We were wondering if compensatory features such as plasterboard ceilings or automatic fire detection in the voids would allow this to be a variation of standard somehow?
"If life were predictable it would cease to be life and be without flavor." ../.
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