Fire Safety Requirements in Shared Accommodation Buildings

The date for compliance with Regulation 710 of the Building Regulations 2006 SR No68/2006 is 14 June 2009.

This requirement follows the requirement in Regulation 709 for hard-wired smoke alarms already in force.

Regulation 710 requires the installation of automatic sprinkler systems in ‘shared accommodation buildings’.

Although the regulations are directed at backpacker type accommodation the definition of ‘shared accommodation buildings’ broadens the application of this regulation.

‘Shared accommodation building’ means a Class 3 building having-

1. more than one sole-occupancy unit of which any sole-occupancy unit has sleeping facilities capable of accommodating 3 or more unrelated persons; or
2. sleeping facilities capable of accommodating 13 or more unrelated persons, that is a boarding-house, chalet, guest house, lodging house, backpacker accommodation or the like, or a residential part of a hotel offering shared accommodation but does not include a residential care building, a motel or a residential part of a school, health-care building or detention centre.

Many hotels will be exempt from the regulations as a result of regulation 710(6),(7) & (8) however as municipal councils have the power of enforcement it is expected the Regulation will be broadly interpreted leaving building owners to establish the basis upon which their building is exempt.

Hotel owners and operators may care to seek advice from an appropriately qualified Fire Safety Consultant or a Licensed Building Surveyor as to the application of this regulation to each building but the ultimate decision will lie with the municipal council as to compliance, subject only to a right of appeal to the Building Appeals Board.