Floor and Building Plans

The plans will be used by operational firefighters during an incident to identify the quickest and most efficient way to fight the fire.

The responsible person must provide a copy of the plans inside the premises’ secure information box. The plans should be sized to fit on A3 paper, and printed in colour where necessary, to assist in easy identification of the plan symbols.

At least two copies of each plan should be provided inside the secure information box. Plans should be laminated to make sure they remain usable throughout the course of an incident. 

Floor plans must show the location of specific equipment as defined by the Regulations. 

A plan will need to be prepared for each floor. If the floors are identical, it is permissible to prepare a single plan, but we would prefer a separate plan for each floor so that the individual flat numbers can be easily identified.

A separate single page plan must be provided which shows the building and its immediate surroundings. The building plan will help firefighters to work effectively on arrival. 

The full list of information to be provided on the building plan is defined in the Regulations and includes all of the following:

• the surroundings of the building
• details of the use of the building, for example for commercial or residential purposes
• access for fire and rescue appliances
• the dimensions of the building
• information on the number of storeys of the building and the number of basement levels (if any)
• information about any maisonettes or scissor section flats
• inlets for dry-rising mains
• inlets for wet-rising mains
• the location of shut-off controls for any sprinklers
• access points for the building
• the location of the secure information box
• the location of the controls for any smoke control system
• the location of any firefighting shaft
• the location of main stairways in the building
• the location of the controls for any evacuation alert system