Fire stopping in Staines-upon-Thames
Flats above shops, where the floor between them has to hold.
Get a priceShop below, flats above. Two uses in one building, and one floor between them.
That floor is a compartment line. It has to hold a fire in the shop for long enough for the flat residents to get out.
What we look at
The ceiling of the shop. It carries pipes, ducts and cables up into the flats, and each one is a hole.
Extract ducts from kitchens and cafés. They go through the floor and up the building. A duct needs fire-rated casing or a damper, plus a seal where it passes through.
Shop signs and electrics that were added later, with cable through the wall.
The shared door to the flats from the street, which is not fire stopping but is part of the same escape route.
Rear and shared spaces
Many of these buildings have a back yard or a flat roof with services. Pipes pass through walls into the building there and are rarely checked.
Who regulates it
Staines is in Surrey. The local authority is Spelthorne Borough Council and the fire authority is Surrey Fire and Rescue Service.
What to send
If you are the owner, send us the fire risk assessment. If there is a separate one for the shop and for the flats, send both. They help us decide what a survey should cover.
Questions we get asked
Who is responsible, the shop or the flats?
Often the freeholder, for the structure between them. Your lease will say.
Can the shop stay open?
Often yes. The work is usually in the ceiling void and above.
Send it over with the postcode. We will tell you what the work involves and roughly what it costs.
Get a price