Thread by @Andrewwood17

London Fire Brigade response to Ballymore Cuba/Manilla application
Submitted within 4 days of getting report & is very critical of design especially for disabled exit
"the corridor layout does not provide sufficient protection to users who may rely upon these for safe escape"
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Report & LFB response is here
The application reference is PA/20/02128
development.towerhamlets.gov.uk/online-applica…
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One of the other things that struck me was that some parts of the building only have 30 or 60 minute fire rating
Took way longer than that to evacuate Grenfell
How long would it take for all residents to evacuate, at night, with some smoke in stairwells?
I do not know
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For commercial offices, I have practised a number of times fire alarm evacuations so I know how long that takes in short buildings
But has never been done before in a really tall building
I think we need to trial it in a tall resi building just to see how long it takes
But
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this all assumes immediate evacuation
Stay put policy etc means that it (maybe like Grenfell) sometime before a decision is made to get people out probably well after 30 or 60 minutes have elapsed
So unless we cancel the stay-put policy we need to design buildings with
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longer fire ratings
But immediate evacuation puts more pressure on single stairwells (again need to test) especially if firefighters also using or accidents inside it or less mobile residents
Glad to see Fire Brigade also asked why retail unit not designed for sprinkler
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But I think this planning application is dead for now as will require material changes
What about those already built?
TH Council should be helping to organise these stairwell evacuation tests given that we lead the country on tall buildings & should be experts on them
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