Regulation Report for High Risk Building

BUILDING REGULATION STUDIES
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Regulation Report for High Risk Building
Apartments are able to be classified according to different factors. The building under
consideration in this section is a 6 storey residential apartment with two basements which falls
under class 3. Compliance to different legislations to reduce both external and internal risks in
residential buildings is important. Hamilton Island, Queensland has legislations has well which
makes sure these buildings are safe for the occupants. The fire resistance in the buildings is
designed to last for at least 4 hours (Australian Building Codes Board, 2004). More importantly,
the design of the buildings has a fire exist area which will ensure that evacuation is able to
happen at the quickest time possible. In addition, control of fire and proper containment
measures are required during the construction phase. This measure ensures that in case of fire
existence, the spread of fire is contained to limited location. Site locations have been identified to
have direct relationship with the wind factors. AS/NZS 1170.2 is able to provide the different
locational classifications according to the wind speeds (Australian Building Codes Board, 2004).
The location classification is able to help in determining the amount of wind experienced and
thus help in design of the buildings. Fire risk on the other hand is an internal risk which can be
experienced in this kind of building. During design, fire resistance consideration is important.
Four hours of fire resistance is considered to be adequate for the concrete structures during
design. This ensures that failure of the members does not happening so easily and thus offering
key preventing and evacuation times.
Fire resistivity is important for all the members used for construction of buildings. The
members are designed with specific timeline which they can endure the fire before they

experience failure. The key sources of fire in this building include the electricity connection,
kitchen area where cooking gas may be stored and used and also the basement section where the
cars will be parked. Fire resistance requirements are defined on BCA part A2.3. the section
provides the design requirements for the different categories of buildings and elements and the
way elements should be able to last under fire instances. In addition, this kind of structure
requires provision of fire walls. BCA part C2.7 provides the design provisions of the fire walls to
ensures that fire is contained at specific place and does not cause threat at other areas. The
requirement also notes that the fire wall must be separated from other parts of the building. This
ensures that fire will not spread to other locations and cause a risk to the whole building being on
fire. The BCA clause also states that the fire wall openings must be covered well to reduce the
fire risks. C2.5 states that the doors and windows be designed to be automatic of semi-automatic
closing. This will ensure that the spread of fire instances is reduces and fire contained at specific
places where it emanates from. C2.6 states that separation openings in external wall should be
constructed with non-combustible materials (Australian Building Codes Board, 2004). This will
ensure that the material contains fire spread and exist to other locations and buildings through the
openings. Construction guidelines in C1.1 must be adhered to during the construction phase as
well.
Egress provision in buildings is important for evacuation in case of internal risks. The
design of residential apartments must be able to consider the capacity of the residents in order to
provide adequate number of exists. Section D of BCA is able to provide the different
requirements of access and egress provision in different buildings. The sections define that the
egress provision is able to enhance safe and reasonable access to the building. Section D1.2 is
able to define the number of exists required in each building according to their specifications.

First, the section in part a requires that all building must have at least 1 exit provided. Horizontal
exist must be provided in the buildings which must be able to comply with the specifications laid
in C1.5. in the basement part, the section requires that not less than 2 exists in addition to the
horizontal exist must be provided. Therefore, the apartment under consideration in this section
must have these provisions of number of exists. Part D1.3 provides that the exists must be fire-
isolated areas. This is to ensure that the evacuation is safe and people are not under the threat and
risk of fire when evacuating the building. The location of exists such as staircases or ramps
which are serving the provided exists must be fire isolated. Part D1.4 and D1.5 provides the
maximum travel distances for different building to the exit (Australian Building Codes Board,
2004). In this case, the travel distance should not be more that 45 meters from the entry point
serving the storey at the level of egress to the building or open place. The design of the egress
and exist must be done according to the intended occupancy of the building. D1.6 provides the
design requirements of exists where 1.8 meter exist should be provided for occupancy units. This
will ensure that collision and proper evacuation from the building is access and done in case of
threats.
Active fire control is able to provide the required warnings to facilitate the evacuation
processes in case of internal and external risks. Emergency lighting such as the one showing risk
existence should be location where they are visible. Part E4.4 defines that the emergency lighting
must be provided on stairways or ramps to provide proper direction for evacuation. The lighting
must be able to have the exit signs to provide guidance on directions on way out. According to
part E of BCA, the emergency lighting is meant to provide adequate lighting, help in adequate
identification of exits and exit paths and making residents aware of emergencies within the
buildings. The provision of the emergency lighting and exit signs should be done in every storey