Question 3

Taking into account the fire compartment size limitations of the NCC what is the maximum permissible floor area and volume for the following buildings and parts of buildings? Note that the buildings described in (a) and (c) will be a single fire compartment.

(a)  A Class 8 building with a rise in storeys of 3? The building will not be treated as a large isolated building.

(b)  A basement carpark containing several storeys of carparking below a high rise (20 storey) commercial building? The carpark is a single but separate fire compartment. The building will be sprinkler protected. The building will not be treated as a large isolated building.

(c)  A large single storey commercial building which will accommodate multiple major occupancies? The planning approval  permits retail, professional offices and cinemas. The proportion of the overall floor area occupied by each use will be as follows:

Retail - 60%

Professional offices - 30% Cinemas - 10%

The building will be constructed to comply with the requirements for Type A construction. Carparking is external to the building at grade. Show how you determined your answer to this question.