Following months of wrangling, Building Control have made a final determination on the acceptability of fitting 90min fire rated downlights in a 90min Fire rated ceiling in the bedrooms of a hotel in a former office building. They have determined that the situation is unacceptable. I believe they are correct. This is a mighty blow to the contractor and developer as we are talking 70 rooms. However, we had advised that the ceilings should not be penetrated and that services and lighting should have been installed below the compartment ceiling. This would have required a lower ceiling which, of course, would have been expensive but not half as expensive as the required corrective measures. So check with BC before drilling!
