London Building Acts (Amendment) Act 1939 - applications
Applications under this Act may need to be submitted for certain types of work. These applications are usually required in addition to the normal Building Regulation application. The relevant sections of the Act are listed below. If you require advice or assistance concerning any of the following or an application form please contact our Building Control Surveyors.
Fire Safety in Large Buildings (Section 20)
A 'Section 20' application must be made where the building is:
- greater than 30 metres in height, or greater than 25 metres in height if the area of the building's largest floor exceeds 930 sq. metres,
- of the warehouse class or is used wholly or partly for the purposes of trade or manufacture and exceeds 7100 cubic metres in extent unless it contains "division walls' limiting the divisions to 7100 cubic metres.
Under Section 20 the Council may require extra fire safety measures to be included in the building.
These mainly concern the provisions and maintenance of:
- Fire extinguishing appliances and installations;
- Effective means of removing smoke in case of fire;
- Fire Brigade access to the site
In order to ensure uniformity of standards in 'Section 20' buildings, the London District Surveyors Association (LDSA) has published 'Fire Safety Guide No.1 Fire Safety in Section 20 Buildings'. If you wish to obtain a copy of this guide we can send you an LDSA order form.
Page updated: 17 Aug 2011
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