Fire door regulations are laws and guidelines that ensure buildings have proper fire-resistant doors to prevent the spread of fire and smoke.
Fire doors are required by law in residential flats and houses of multiple occupancy (HMO). They’re also a legal requirement in business premises and commercial and public buildings.
It is important to comply with these regulations to ensure the safety of occupants in the event of a fire.
Who is responsible for fire doors?
Building owners and operators must appoint a responsible person to legally manage a building’s fire strategy. The individual responsible could be the building owner, landlord, or building manager.
This person’s role involves assessing a building’s fire risk by carrying out a fire risk assessment and taking preventive and protective measures to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
What type of fire doors are suitable?
A fire risk assessment is carried out to assess a building’s fire risk and recommend fire safety measures. This lets you identify where fire doors are required and the appropriate fire rating.
If any existing doors are inadequate or require maintenance, they must be fixed or replaced by a competent individual.
Using fire doors ensures that fire compartmentation is in place to slow the spread of fire or smoke, allowing for safe evacuation in case of a fire. Fire compartmentation involves dividing a building into fire-resistant compartments to prevent the spread of fire to other areas or buildings.
Fire doors are necessary for escape routes, such as cross-corridors, and high-risk rooms like boiler rooms, server rooms and rooms with flammable substances.
What are the fire door regulations in the UK?
The regulations for fire doors differ depending on the location within the UK and whether it is a new or existing building or extension.
Commercial and public buildings
In commercial and public buildings, fire doors are required by law and must meet British and European standards.
When deciding on the FD rating of doors, it’s important to assess the building type, door location, and surroundings.
Approved documents for new buildings or those undergoing changes
The Approved Documents provide detailed guidance on how to comply with these regulations. These documents offer specific instructions for the installation and use of fire doors in both new and renovated buildings.
- England: Approved Documents
- Wales: Approved Documents
- Scotland: Technical Handbooks
- Northern Ireland: Technical Booklets
Fire safety regulations for existing buildings
Alongside these building regulations, new laws require non-commercial property owners to adhere to fire safety regulations and install fire doors to ensure the safety of guests.
- England and Wales: The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
- Scotland: Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006
- Northern Ireland: The Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010
These regulations aim to ensure the safety of non-residential buildings, including businesses, public spaces, guest accommodation, and communal areas of flats and HMOs.
It applies when someone is either building something new, adding to an existing building, or changing the way a building is used in a way that could affect fire safety.
The responsible person, who may be the building owner, employer, or contractor, is legally responsible for ensuring fire doors are installed and maintained in commercial buildings.
This person’s legal obligation is to ensure that fire doors are regularly inspected and maintained so that they function properly in an emergency.
Residential buildings
Fire door regulations in multi-occupied residential buildings
As of the 23rd of January 2023, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 came into force.
For buildings over 11 meters high with multiple occupants, a responsible person must check fire doors in common areas quarterly and flat entrance doors annually, leading to the building’s common parts.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires fire risk assessments for communal areas in existing HMOs, flats and maisonettes.
Fire door regulations in flats
In a block of flats, a ‘responsible person’ must carry out necessary safety precautions to ensure people can escape if there is a fire.
Under the current building regulations, fire doors are mandatory at the entrance to communal areas or an external lobby in all flats or HMOs. It is compulsory to have a fire-resistant door, FD30 or FD60, for every flat or apartment entrance door.
For each residential flat, the front doors must also be a self-closing fire door that provides at least 30 minutes of fire resistance.
Flats 4.5 metres above ground level must have fire doors between all the habitable rooms and the hallway or stairwell.
While a fire-rated entrance door is required, ground-floor flats typically do not require internal fire doors, provided each room has a means of escape. However, this is dependent on a number of factors, such as whether a sprinkler system has been installed.
Fire door regulations in houses
For newly built single residences and home renovations with three or more floors, fire doors are required in living spaces that open onto the main staircase.
You need to install fire doors for a two-storey home with an added floor, such as a loft conversion.
Any door leading to an internal garage or basement from your home must be a fire door.
Fire door maintenance regulations
Fire doors must be regularly inspected and maintained to ensure they work in the event of a fire.
Fire door inspections should be checked at least once every six months, with high-traffic doors requiring more frequent checks.
Learn more about fire doors
Traynor Williams is a UK-based manufacturer of bespoke fire doors for the commercial, health, education and hospitality industries.
All our external and internal fire doors have independent third-party certification under the BM TRADA Q-Mark Fire Door Manufacturer Scheme, so you can be sure all our doors meet the highest quality standards.
Our fire doors are BM TRADA Q-Mark certified, ensuring they’re fit for purpose and manufactured to high standards.
For further advice or a quote, call us on 0141 445 4640 or contact us.