Inner rooms - permissibility conditions

An inner room is only permitted where – (a) the number of occupants of the inner room is not more than 60 people (or in the case of a building in Purpose Group 2(a), 30 people); (b) it is not a bedroom; (c) the escape route from the inner room does not pass through more than one access room; (d) the distance from any point in the inner room to the nearest exit from the access room does not exceed the appropriate maximum travel distance in one direction only given in Table 2.3; (e) the access room is not a place of special fire hazard and is in the control of the same occupier as the inner room; and (f) one of the following applies – (i) that part of the enclosure separating the inner and access room is stopped at least 500 mm below the ceiling; (ii) a vision panel of not less than 0.1 m² is provided in the enclosure to the inner room so that a fire in the access room will be visible from the inner room at an early stage; or (iii) the access room is fitted with a suitable automatic detection and alarm system to warn the occupants of the inner room of the outbreak of a fire in the access room.