Buidling Regulations for Shop

boobious

my story could go on rouge traders, I have lost a lot of money about £15k to the builder and a lot more to put things right since and everything that could go wrong has, but to cut a long story short the builder who has since done a runner with all my money and not finished the job (i know, i know i am a idiot) also has done such poor workmanship on what he did do I have had to pay out more to get that put right as well! he had also told us that because we were not having any alterations done apart from taking a toilet out and putting in 3 sinks and a stud wall, we didnt need to inform building regs, (not the same as planning permission) but then i found out that i did need to inform them, now he has said (building regs guy)that I need fire doors on every door, (i have never been in a beauty salon that has fire reg doors on every treatment room!) emergency lighting and an electrical linked fire alarm, this is a small beauty salon and on the same road there are 3 hairdressers and another salon. none of which have any of these things, i think he is being over zealous cos he wasnt informed from the beginning but that was through no fault of my own. is there anywhere or anyone who knows about these things that can give me any advice?? please someone help me or put me in the right direction, as i think i may seriously have a nervous breakdown if anything else goes wrong. I have run out of money now because of everything and i wanted to be able to get a least one week in before christmas, but at this rate i will not be open for new year, and if that happens i will be in serious trouble, i have my house on the market to try and pay for the mess thats happened, as i have run up debts of 50k in total and I need to start paying all the loans and credit cards back and i dont think i can take anymore.

bosseyed

Hmmm, See if you can have a word with the Councils fire officer who may be able to give you a clearer idea of the requirements in your situation. Fire doors though, they're not hugely expensive - depends on the variant required, 30min or 60min, they just have different internal core material, smoke seals etc than your average door. Emergency lighting is usually just designating certain lights as emergency and ensuring they have a battery backup which kicks in if the power goes out. And you should have a fire alarm system already really?

I do a lot of work with fire regs and building regs and they can be surprisingly onerous for commercial premises, but without knowing the layout or details of your unit its hard to suggest any solutions. If you can get hold of a copy of BS9999: 2008 thats the latest fire regs document for commercial premises and if you wade through it you'll find pretty much everything you need to know.

So see if you can discuss the issue with the fire officer and then go back to building control. They're all human after all, they're not out to rip you off or make life hard, they're to ensure your salon is safe for the public to use.

Good luck, let us know