Whilst the new regulations 7(2) to 7(4) made to the Building Regulations in England do not apply here in NI, there is, nonetheless, discussion about the merits of adopting the requirements, even if voluntary at the moment.

We have a minor design role in the conversion of a 18m+ existing office block to part hotel accommodation.

It was interesting to get the input of the fire engineer who represents a company based in England. He raised a point about some of the external walls in the public areas where entertainment was to be provided which had been battened out with tanalised timber studs on the internal face so that sound attenuating plasterboard could be fixed to them.

The electrical contractor had run HG pvc conduit down between the timber battens to a range of accessories including socket outlets, switches and data points that were to be accommodated in fixtures beyond the wall.

He said that if this was in England he would be asking for the timber battens and the pvc conduit to be removed as it would infringe Regulation 7(2) in that the materials used would not meet the prescriptive requirements to be Euro Class A2-s1,d0 or Euro Class A1.

Strangely, whilst electrical installations are specifically excluded, the definition of electrical installation in the Building Regulations does not include the pvc conduit.

The definition of external wall also includes the internal face. Because of the Purpose Group change (office to hotel), the existing external wall had to be upgraded with the soundproofing plasterboard and so became the new internal face. That means that the timber battens, the electrical installation and the pvc conduit are all now within the external wall and thus subject to the stringent prescriptive requirements for combustibility irrespective of the actual fire risk!

It would have been a significant cost to the project had the Regulation applied! 

Perhaps a good subject for Wiring Matters?