Design Freedom Meets Fire Safety: Plumis Automist Enables Open Plan Design

21 May 2024

Open-plan layouts, often add significant value to a home. However, they can sometimes clash with building regulations, requiring additional measures for Building Control approval. After a loft conversion, guidelines typically recommend a dark hallway or protected stairwell from the top of the house to the final exit. Automist, a contemporary alternative to traditional fire sprinklers from Plumis, can enable airy, spacious, and free-flowing home designs by enhancing the protection of your escape route.

Automist is easy to install, conforms to British Standard (BS 8458), and matches the performance of a traditional sprinkler whilst using a tenth of the water. It can be connected to the normal domestic water supply, and there’s no need for a tank or to accommodate pressurised water pipes in your ceiling. It is typically installed alongside other measures, including escape windows, fire doors and an interconnected alarm.

There are two main types of open-plan layout

1) Where the kitchen is combined with another room and open to the escape route, or

2) Where the staircase is combined with a habitable room, such as a living or dining area, but your kitchen is separate (below).

As a rule of thumb, the more open plan the layout, and the higher the property from the ground floor, the more restrictions there are. Our network of Authorised Installers has extensive knowledge of building control and can help guide you through the process step by step.

The manufacturer, Plumis, also commissioned independent fire engineering research into the suitability of Automist to meet the building regulations requirements for open plan dwellings, which you can show your surveyor.

This work evaluated the vast majority of three-storey house configurations in the UK. Building control will usually sign off a project if a fire engineer has fully assessed the property and the necessary fire protection measures are in place.