Business and office space is changing, driven both by the pandemic and by the wider squeeze on businesses’ finances. Much commercial office space that previously housed only one business is being converted to accommodate others.
But what this all too often results in is a reworking of the building’s layout and configuration that undermines its passive fire protection (PFP). This causes the environment to become non-compliant for fire safety – and even downright dangerous.
Here’s what’s going on, why, and what “responsible persons” – landlords, letting agents, employers, even refurbishment contractors – need to be aware of to ensure the environment is both safe and legal from the point of view of fire protection.
Shrinking, changing, subdivided space
First, let’s take a brief look at the supply and demand issues behind the multi-business building boom.
The pandemic has forced employers, as users of business space, into a radical rethink, as a consequence both of the general economic downturn and their own lay-offs, and of the growing realisation that homeworking has taken the place of much office-based activity.
The major UK employers, for example, now plan to reduce their office portfolio by up to nine million square feet, according to research from industry consultancy PWC, but for many smaller businesses, this isn’t financially or contractually viable. The only way they can weather the requirement for reduced office size is to create and sublet smaller offices in the same space.
And that, potentially, is a recipe for a perfect (fire)storm.
The fire hazards of multi-business conversion
The issue here is that the PFP built into the fabric of the building can so often be unwittingly damaged, compromised, or simply removed completely by works of any kind, as we explored in a recent post. It’s easy, then, to see how creating entirely new spaces within the same building magnifies this risk hugely.
Re-siting walls, partitions and doors to create new rooms can result in the removal or breach of materials that are critical for fire compartmentation – the containment of a fire to stop it spreading.
Ceilings damaged by the removal or re-siting of the walls that meet them can also result in PFP material being compromised.
Where service apertures, piping, or ducting are relocated or rerouted to serve new rooms, they can both leave permanent areas of compromised fire protection behind them (often invisibly, as they can be contained in ceiling and roof cavities that can’t be seen from the floor level), and create new ones where they are deployed to.
Even the most apparently simple renovation operation – drilling holes in a partition to fit an LCD screen, for example, or to enable new data cables to pass, risks rendering a previously functional fire compartmentation wall non-compliant, and – worse – ineffective.
And a change of hinges on a fire door for the sake of aesthetics can result in that door no longer being fit for purpose, as we explained in another post recently.
Add to this the fact that the trend towards collaborative spaces and increased ventilation in office renovations already creates special challenges for fire protection, and conversion to multi-business occupancy becomes about a lot more than just rejigging the floorplan.
Fire risk assessments protect people and property
It’s crucial for employers and other responsible persons to understand that conversion to multi-business use immediately necessitates a review and likely revision, of the existing fire risk assessment, and associated fire protection survey.
As the Fire Industry Association (FIA) writes: “…the fire risk assessment must also be reviewed whenever any construction or renovation project is planned – and throughout the life of the renovation project (especially since plans can change).”
And, as the FIA also notes, fire risk assessments must take account of “the people within” – the building’s occupants.
Individual offices and business units may now be smaller, but the maximised use of space within them means that the overall effect on the building’s density of population – all of whom require, by law, compliant fire escape routes – could well be an increase.
Mastering multi-business fire safety
The conversion of offices to multi-business occupancy, then, whilst a practical and necessary solution to a changing economic and social landscape, has a significant effect on the fire safety dynamics of a building. This is something that needs to be fully considered and resolved at the design stage, not once the damage to the building’s PFP and fire safety compliance has already been done.
However, it also adds another layer of complexity that risks distracting building managers and owners from delivering on the core conversion activities.
For this reason, it is best handled by a specialist company experienced in fire risk assessments and fire protection surveys specifically for refurbishments, renovations, and conversions – not just new builds.
For more information on how we can help you with this, get in touch.
