This code of practice provides guidance for designers and the building construction team in their task of incorporating into new buildings, or into alterations to existing buildings, measures that should, in the event of fire, safeguard the lives of the public, staff and performers in assembly buildings of all sizes and that may help to protect the building and its contents against the effect of fire.
This code applies to buildings used for indoor entertainment and/or assembly, but does not apply to those areas of sports grounds covered by the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975. Assembly use may also intermingle with other uses, e.g. a dance area associated with a restaurant or a public house (shop use), and the guidance in this code should be applied to such assembly areas.
An assembly building may contain a number of different assembly type activities to which this code should be applied but, where parts operate in their own right as shops or offices, reference should be made to BS 5588-11 for those parts which should be provided with independent escape routes. Similarly, an assembly building may form part of a shopping complex, and it is particularly important where there is an entrance to an assembly building from a shopping mall that the guidance given in BS 5588-10 is followed.
This code deals with planning, construction and equipment for fire safety, and the provision of escape routes in case of fire, in new assembly buildings and in alterations and extensions to existing assembly buildings. It includes measures and equipment required to assist firefighting in buildings with upper storeys beyond the reach of mobile fire appliances operating outside the building. This code makes specific recommendations in terms of protection, number and position of exits, provides guidance on design principles for preventing the spread of fire, and indicates the fire precautions necessary in these buildings.Guidance for managers of places of assembly can be located in BS 5588-12.
In a building that has to have a fire certificate, the advice given may have to be varied in accordance with the conditions of the fire certificate. Guidance is also included to cover those cases where a building is in course of construction or alteration and is in part used.
This code is not intended to apply to buildings during the course of construction or alteration.
