The car park

There are several main types of car park in the UK

Open air
Multi-storey open sided
Basement
Basement with dwellings or commercial space above

The UK is seeing a large move towards EV (Electric Vehicles) from traditional ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) there have also been several well documented Car park fires in the last decade.  Eg Luton Airport Car park October 2023 with over 1500 vehicles destroyed or damaged

Should all UK Car Parks apart from Open air have 
Fire detection with 24/7/365 monitoring with backup power supply
Increase amount of manual fire call points per floor and throughout stairwells to increase evacuation alert
EVSE auto shut off for power in the event of a fire or an alarm
Battery backup for emergency lights for a min of 6 hours
Increased amount of illuminated fire exits signs
Fire resistant cabling throughout
Fire restitant cable management/containment throughout
Increase IP rating throughout in case of fire due to the amount of water that may be used
Annual EICR
Technology/Mechanisms to assist evacuation of disabled and mobility impaired persons, this could include evacuation lift replacing the passenger lift



As always please be polite and respectful in this purely academic debate.





Come on everybody let’s help inspire the future

Parents
  • Yes.
    Maybe, though no need to increase within stair wells if design is otherwise compliant.
    Could already be in place via shunt trip(s) linked to fire alarm activation. If not, yes.
    No need for 6 hours. A compliant 3hr duration system should be sufficient.
    If signage is compliant, I don't see a need to increase it.
    Life safety systems should already be in fire resistant cabling. LSZH for everything else should suffice.
    Not really necessary as I would imagine smoke/heat damage would necessitate at least a partial re-fit anyway.
    Annual inspection of the EVSE installation, perhaps. Full EICR...not sure its warranted, provided any works undertaken between EICRs are properly carried out and certified.
    These would already be in place if deemed necessary for the building.

  • Interesting interpretation. Personally in both cases I'd understand the arrows as telling me where to go if I wanted to get to the named place. On a 2D sign perhaps a dot or a cross to represent the point of the arrow coming towards you or its tail flights going away would be less ambiguous. That may be an undue influence from looking at field plots over the years.

    But maybe a down arrow above the door means something like 'aim for this door' as opposed to the up arrow for 'just keep straight on' to some readers. I'm still not sure that it should affect action taken in practice. And I fully take the point in a multi-story structure, perhaps a basement car park with an upstairs exit, a means of conveying an early  warning to prepare  for going up or down the stairwell could be useful. I'm also well aware its not what the instructions that come with the pack of stickers say you should do. 
    Mike.

  • Per BS 5266-1 & BS 5499-4 & BS EN ISO 7010 'up' arrows are "through and onwards from here". Down arrows should only be used at a change of level.

    You don't need to point to the door, it's usually pretty obvious it is a door.

  • it's usually pretty obvious it is a door.

    perhaps not always...

    (random image from a search for "door in glass wall")

        - Andy.

  • I am aware of the recommendations of the current standards, but they are just the creation of a small cross-section of mankind, based probably on a few meetings and a bit of study work, and could, indeed should,  if found to be misleading or inadequate in practice , be changed and are.
    I'm just indicating that to me the arrow thing is  a bit arbitrary.

    (it is certainly within  my living memory that we had the word 'EXIT' in white capitals on a black background as the UK standard..  Green is perhaps  1990s onwards and arrows soon after  ? Wheelchair exit signs are very new... )
    Mike.

  • Pet peeve is a down arrow above a door.

    I can understand the use of fire exit signs with arrows which point towards the nearest fire exit, but why have an arrow at the exit? It seems superfluous.

    Once you are through a fire door, further arrows would be useful until you have left the building.

  • Worked in a building that had open plan with glass main doors (not a fire exit) and then an exit via a previous architectural feature where the fire exits didn't align with floor levels, so sometimes you had to go up stairs to get out. Quite confusing!

  • Are the Scottish government ahead of the English government in their thinking?  They are asking the people of Scotland to contribute  

    Scottish building regulations - fire safety review and compliance: call for evidence

    www.gov.scot/.../

  • No escape route door in that example there Andy. I get the point though - architects love a fancy door. Still, down arrow is change of direction only.

  • www.fia.uk.com/.../record-rise-in-e-bike-and-e-scooter-fires-across-london.html

  • Of course there is a record rise - there are record numbers of the damned things.

Reply Children
  • Of course there is a record rise - there are record numbers of the damned things.

    People may use them in the car park or maybe very close to the car park thus they COULD be the possible source of a car park fire.

  • I suspect most e-bike/scooter fires start when they're being charged ... mostly due to poor charger design.

    Carelessly discarded cigarettes (and probably disposable vapes these days) starting fires in discarded rubbish is probably a higher risk.

       - Andy.