C/AS2 Protection from Fire

Risk group

A detached house, side-by-side townhouses, two stacked single-storey units with their own escape routes, a boarding house or B&B with fewer than 6 paying guests, or an outbuilding is risk group SH, which C/AS2 does not cover (Table 1.1.1.1 note 1). The C/AS1 tool is for those.

No classified use set in the project. Set it once and this page reads it the way 1.2.1.1 and 1.2.2.1 do: A1 for the use, Table 1.1.1.1 for the risk group.

Sprinklers

Asked here because it decides which columns exist at all: Table 2.2.1.1 requires sprinklers for SI and WS.

Other uses

Complex features

Seating

Aisles at the ends of that row

1. Seats in a row, Table 3.4.7.1

   16 seats: within the 18 a 400 mm walkway allows with aisles at both ends.

   3.4.7.1(b), Table 3.4.7.1

2. Seat back to seat back

   900 mm: no less than 760 mm.

   3.4.7.1(d)

3. Seat width

   500 mm: no less than 500 mm with arms.

   3.4.7.1(d)(i)

4. Aisle width, 3.4.9.2

   1100 mm (1.1 m) at its narrowest: no less than the 1100 mm (1.1 m) an aisle serving 100 seats needs; the exit or escape route it leads to is at least as wide, or as 3.2.2 asks if that is wider.

   3.4.9.2(c), 3.4.9.1, 3.4.9.3

5. Cross-aisle width, 3.4.9.5

   1700 mm (1.7 m): no less than 1650 mm (1.65 m), the widest aisle it serves (1100 mm (1.1 m)) plus 50% of the others together (1100 mm (1.1 m)).

   3.4.9.5

1. Smoke lobby area, Figure 3.5.2.1

   6 m²: no less than the 5 m² needed, 60 people at 0.25 m² each less the 10 m² the stair holds; and no smaller than D1/AS1's doors need.

   3.5.2.1, Figure 3.5.2.1, D1/AS1

Other

Building height

Appendix B measures this between the floor level of the lowest occupied space above the ground and the top of the highest occupied floor, ignoring stair, lift and plant enclosures on the roof. A single-level building's is therefore zero, which is why the multi-level in 5.5.1.4 and 5.5.2 is not a second question.

1. Risk group of each firecell Each activity in the building takes its risk group from Table 1.1.1.1, or the nearest suitable one where it is not listed. A firecell holding more than one takes its primary risk group, the one with the most onerous fire safety requirements; the others share it only where they are ancillary to it and support it, and a building may have several primary risk groups, one or more on each floor.

   1.2.2.1, 1.2.2.2, 1.2.3.2, 1.2.3.3, Table 1.1.1.1

2. Occupant load Occupant loads are worked out from Table 1.2.4.2's factors on the floor area of each activity, for each space, floor, firecell and risk group as the requirements need them, taking the activity with the greatest load where a space has alternative uses. Nobody is counted twice, and exitways, and lift lobbies and sanitary facilities used by people already counted, carry no load of their own.

   1.2.4.1, 1.2.4.2, 1.2.4.3, Table 1.2.4.2

3. A lesser or greater occupant load An occupant load lower than Table 1.2.4.2 gives is substantiated to the building consent authority; where the greatest likely load is higher, the higher number is designed for and justified to the building consent authority.

   1.2.4.7, 1.2.4.8

4. Fixed seating counted by the seat The occupant load of fixed seating is its actual arrangement and number of seats; floor area beside it may add occupants at standing density, provided the escape route is not obstructed.

   1.2.4.4, 3.4.7

   N/A
5. Building Product Specifications Products conforming to the Building Product Specifications are used within the scope, limitations and other requirements of C/AS2; the specifications on their own demonstrate compliance with nothing.

   1.2.6.1, 1.2.6.2

6. Hazardous substances C/AS2 provides for no use, storage or processing of hazardous substances: they comply with F3/VM1, the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 and the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, in addition to C/AS2.

   1.1.2.5, F3/VM1

   N/A

1. Firecell floor area No firecell has a floor area of more than 500 m².

   2.1.1.1, Table 2.1.1.1

1. Fire safety systems Each firecell has the fire safety system types Table 2.2.1.1 gives for its risk group, occupant type or occupant load and escape height, provided throughout the firecell.

   2.2.1.1, Table 2.2.1.1, Appendix C

2. Standards for the systems Fire alarm systems are designed and installed to NZS 4512, sprinkler systems to NZS 4541, NZS 4515 or NZS 4517, and smoke alarms made and installed to NZS 4514, each where appropriate; NZS 4541 and NZS 4515 as Appendix D modifies them, NZS 4541's modification including a biennial survey by an independent qualified person.

   C.1.1.2, C.1.1.3, C.1.1.4, D.1.1.1, D.1.1.2, D.1.2.1, D.1.2.2, D.1.2.3

3. Remote receiving centre A required fire alarm or sprinkler system is connected to a remote receiving centre, except in permanent accommodation with an escape height of less than 10 m, and except detection provided beyond what C/AS2 requires.

   2.2.2.1

4. Alerting every occupant The alarm systems alert every occupant of the building in a fire, other than the local smoke detection component of a Type 5 system.

   2.2.8.1

5. More than one firecell The most onerous requirements apply: each firecell's systems are worked out by Figure 2.2.5.1A's steps, taking the minimum types Table 2.2.5.1 gives from every other firecell, and firecells of one risk group on different levels all take the most onerous of theirs.

   2.2.5.1, Table 2.2.5.1, Figure 2.2.5.1A, 2.2.7.1

   N/A
6. Risk groups sharing a floor Where different risk groups share a floor with no fire separations between them, the firecell takes the fire safety systems of its primary risk group.

   2.2.6.1, 1.2.3.2

   N/A

1. Life rating and property rating Unless C/AS2 states otherwise, fire resistance ratings are Table 2.3.1.1's: a life rating of 60 minutes and a property rating of 60 minutes.

   2.3.1.1, Table 2.3.1.1

2. How an FRR is established Fire resistance ratings are established by the standard tests and methods of the Building Product Specifications, Section 8.2.

   2.3.2.1, BPS 8.2

3. Which sides are rated An FRR applies to the sides of primary and secondary elements exposed to fire; a wall that is a fire separation takes the higher of its two sides' ratings on both; and floors are rated from the underside.

   2.3.2.2, 2.3.2.3, 2.3.2.4

4. Supporting and supported elements A primary element integral with a fire separation is rated no less than the separation; an element supporting another, in its own firecell or an adjacent one, is rated no less than what it supports; and framing connected to rated elements is rated no less than them, or its connections are designed so its collapse in a fire cannot bring them down.

   2.3.2.5, 2.3.2.8, 2.3.2.9

5. Rated external walls Parts of an external wall not permitted to be unprotected areas are rated from the inside, and from both sides equally where the wall is within 1 m of a relevant boundary, the building height is more than 10 m, or the final exit is two or more floor levels below any SM or SI occupancy.

   2.3.2.6, 2.3.2.7

6. Insulation ratings The insulation rating applies to every fire separation, to parts of external walls not permitted to be unprotected areas, and to external walls beside an external exitway that is a single means of escape; except glazing exempt under 4.4.3, fire stops kept clear under 4.3.2.5, fire dampers and damper blades under 4.4.5.2, and fire resisting glazing under 5.2.3.2.

   2.3.3.1, 2.3.3.2

7. Risk groups sharing a floor Where more than one risk group is on one floor, common spaces and shared escape routes on that floor take the highest FRR any of them requires.

   2.3.1.3

   N/A

1. Means of escape The building has means of escape from fire with escape routes to a safe place, made of open paths, exitways (smoke lobbies and safe paths) and final exits; a route never passes from a higher level of protection to a lower one in the direction of escape, and may be an open path and a final exit alone while the open path is within its lengths.

   3.1.1.1, 3.1.1.2, 3.1.1.4, 3.1.1.5

2. Clause D1 Escape routes comply with Clause D1, and their ramps, stairs, ladders, landings, handrails, doors, vision panels and openings with D1/AS1.

   3.1.1.6, D1/AS1

3. Signs Fire safety related features have signs complying with F8/AS1.

   3.1.1.7, F8/AS1

4. Number of escape routes Every occupied space is served by two or more escape routes, and each floor level or firecell by at least the number Table 3.1.2.3 gives for its occupants, unless Section 3.8 permits a single escape route.

   3.1.2.1, 3.1.2.2, 3.1.2.3, Table 3.1.2.3

1. Clear height Escape routes have the clear height D1/AS1 requires, and any door opening within or into one has a clear height of at least 1955 mm (1.955 m) across its required width.

   3.2.1.1

2. Least clear widths Clear widths are at least Table 3.2.2.1's: an escape route 850 mm in a horizontal open path, 1000 mm (1 m) in a vertical open path, 1000 mm (1 m) in a horizontal exitway and 1000 mm (1 m) in a vertical exitway; a door 760 mm, 760 mm, 875 mm and 875 mm in the same four places.

   3.2.2.1, Table 3.2.2.1

3. Total width The combined width of all available escape routes allows 7 mm per person for horizontal travel and 9 mm per person for vertical travel.

   3.2.2.2(a)

4. Each escape route's width Each escape route is at least 850 mm wide for horizontal travel and 1000 mm (1 m) for vertical travel, and 1000 mm (1 m) within an exitway; an open path that is a permitted single escape route may be 700 mm and 850 mm.

   3.2.2.3(a)

5. The widest route out of use The total required width is kept with the widest escape route out of use, except where dead ends and single escape routes are permitted.

   3.2.2.4, Figure 3.2.2.4

6. Width for the load it carries A horizontal escape route with one direction of escape is wide enough at every point for the full load of the spaces it has passed, and may widen as it passes each; one with two directions is that wide over its whole length, unless 3.4.3.2(e) is met; a vertical safe path is as wide at each point as the largest load passing it from one level, or from all the levels of a firecell spanning several; and where routes from above and below join at the final exit level, the width there takes both.

   3.2.2.5, 3.2.2.6, 3.2.2.8, 3.2.2.10

7. Width with an intermediate floor The vertical and horizontal parts of the open path are each wide enough for the full load of every contributing space.

   3.2.2.7

   N/A
8. Marae: widths The required escape route widths are doubled.

   3.2.2.9, 4.12.4.1(i)

   N/A
9. Stair handrails Every stairway has at least one handrail; one in an escape route wider than 1500 mm (1.5 m) has handrails on both sides, and one wider than 2000 mm (2 m) has equally spaced intermediate handrails leaving no section wider than 1500 mm (1.5 m).

   3.2.3.1, Figure 3.2.3.1

10. Stair width credited No stairway is credited with more than 1500 mm (1.5 m) of width when its capacity is worked out.

    3.2.3.2

    N/A
11. Curved and spiral stairs The width of a curved or spiral stair in an escape route is measured across the tread where the tread depth meets D1/AS1.

    3.2.3.3, D1/AS1

12. Obstructions Only minor obstructions stand within an escape route's width: projections D1/AS1 allows, such as signs, switches and alarm sounders; handrails projecting no more than 100 mm, or subdividing a wide stair by no more than that; door assemblies taking no more than 125 mm from an exitway when fully open, or what Table 3.2.2.1 allows; and, in CA, fixed seating at the start of an escape route whose rows and walkways meet Table 3.4.7.1. Access control systems do not obstruct escape routes except as 3.9.6.1 permits.

    3.2.4.1, 3.2.4.2

1. Open path lengths Dead end and total open paths are within Table 3.3.1.1's lengths for the risk group and the firecell's fire safety system, after the intermediate floor and stair reductions; where the travel distance to the final exit is longer than the total open path, the rest of the escape route is a safe path within Table 3.5.3.4's lengths.

   3.3.1.1, Table 3.3.1.1, 3.5.3.4

2. How open paths are measured Open paths are measured from no more than 1 m from the most remote point of the space, around furniture and fittings where their positions are known and orthogonally where they are not; where two escape routes are required, to at least two exits from the firecell; and they end at an exitway, a final exit or where the route passes into an adjacent firecell on the same level.

   3.3.2.2, 3.3.2.4, 3.3.2.5, 3.3.2.7, Figure 3.3.2.4

3. Open paths shared by risk groups Where risk groups with different open path lengths use the same open path, the shortest length applies.

   3.3.2.3

   N/A
4. Marae: open paths Table 3.3.1.1's open path lengths are halved.

   3.3.2.6, 4.12.4.1(i)

   N/A
5. Open paths on intermediate floors Open path length on an intermediate floor is taken as 1.5 times the measured length, unless the intermediate floor is a smokecell with an escape route that does not pass through any lower space in the firecell.

   3.3.3.1, 3.3.3.2, Figure 3.3.3.1

   N/A
6. Stairs and ladders in open paths A straight or curved stair in an open path counts as its plan length on the centreline times 1.2, plus each landing's plan length; a spiral stair as 2 times its vertical height; and a ladder as 3 times its vertical height.

   3.3.4.1, Figure 3.3.4.1

   N/A
7. Sloping floors and ceilings Table 3.3.1.1's open path length is reduced by 50% in the space.

   3.3.5.1

   N/A
8. Escape through an adjoining building The route through the adjoining building meets every escape route requirement for the load using it; passes through a smoke lobby before the external walls unless it goes straight to a safe path; has a fire door rated no less than the higher rated external wall; has capacity in the adjoining building's own routes for the load; never re-enters the first building; and is freely available at all times.

   3.3.6.1, Figure 3.3.6.1

   N/A

1. Separating alternative open paths Where two or more open paths are required, they separate and stay separated until they reach an exitway or final exit: diverging at no less than 90° until they are 8 m apart, or divided by smoke separations and smoke control doors.

   3.4.1.1, 3.4.1.2, Figure 3.4.1.1

2. Teaching spaces One open path may run by a connecting corridor and the other through connecting doors between teaching spaces without the separation of 3.4.1, where no teaching space holds more than 100 occupants and the route passes through no space that may be locked.

   3.4.2.1, 3.4.2.2

   N/A
3. Passing into an adjacent firecell An open path passes into an adjacent firecell on the same level and starts again only where every firecell on the route has two directions of escape, separated as 3.4.1 asks; the receiving firecell has room for its own occupants and the others' at no less than 1 m² each; each firecell keeps another escape route independent of it; the route passes no more than 3 fire separations before an exitway or final exit; and its width suits the firecell with the greatest load. Through several fire separations as one open path, the cumulative length is within Table 3.3.1.1.

   3.4.3.1, 3.4.3.2, Figure 3.4.3.2

   N/A
4. Separate tenancies Open paths pass through another tenancy only where the doors to the exitway or final exit can be readily opened by everyone whose escape route it is.

   3.4.4.1

   N/A
5. Escape via an intermediate floor An open path passes from a firecell onto an intermediate floor and starts again only where just one of the firecell's required escape routes goes that way, the intermediate floor's open path is within 3.3.3, and the intermediate floor has two escape routes of its own, separated as 3.4.1 asks, ending at separate firecells, separate exitways or final exits.

   3.4.5.1

6. Unenclosed stairs Outside a household unit or suite, an unenclosed stair in an escape route, one not smoke or fire separated from other spaces, rises no more than 4 m within the firecell; above that height the escape route from the level is a safe path to a final exit.

   3.4.6.1, 3.4.6.2

7. Dead ends A dead end serves no more than 50 occupants and ends where the route reaches a point with alternative directions of travel, a final exit or an exitway; ladders are escape routes only as 3.4.10.3 allows.

   3.4.10.1, 3.4.10.2, 3.4.10.4

1. Fixed seating Fixed seating, moveable or foldaway seats included, has direct access to aisles; rows no longer, and walkways between them no narrower, than Table 3.4.7.1 allows; at least 760 mm from seat back to seat back; and seats at least 500 mm wide with arms and 450 mm without.

   3.4.7.1, Table 3.4.7.1, Figure 3.4.7.1

   N/A
2. Loose seating Loose seating is on level floors only, laid out to 3.4.9, and interconnected against overturning where there are more than 250 seats.

   3.4.8.1, 3.4.8.2

   N/A
3. Aisles Aisles give access to final exits or escape routes as wide as the aisle or as 3.2.2 requires, whichever is greater; they are at least 750 mm wide serving up to 60 seats, 900 mm serving more on one side only, and 1100 mm (1.1 m) otherwise, that least width taken furthest from the exit door where discharge is one way and at mid-length where it is two; and they are widened only in the direction of travel.

   3.4.9.1, 3.4.9.2, 3.4.9.3, 3.4.9.4

4. Cross-aisles Each cross-aisle is at least as wide as the widest aisle it serves plus 50% of the sum of the others' widths.

   3.4.9.5

5. Travel from seats, barriers and steps Travel from any seat to an adjacent firecell, final exit or exitway is within Table 3.3.1.1's open path length, and 3.3.5's where floors and ceilings slope; a side of an aisle giving no access to seats has an F4/AS1 barrier and a D1/AS1 handrail; and steps in aisles have consistent risers and treads complying with D1/AS1, with equal landings within each block of seating.

   3.4.9.6, 3.4.9.7, 3.4.9.8, F4/AS1, D1/AS1

1. Exitways and safe paths Escape routes from firecells enter a safe path or final exit directly, except where 3.4.3 lets an open path continue into another firecell; exitways are smoke lobbies sized to 3.5.2.1, or safe paths that are firecells, unless external and separated by distance; and safe paths are separated from each other and from every space by fire separations rated to Section 2.3 along their length, or externally by distance or construction.

   3.5.3.1, 3.5.3.2, 4.7.1.1, 4.7.1.2

2. Horizontal safe paths Horizontal safe paths are within Table 3.5.3.4's lengths and end at a separate internal stair, an external balcony leading to a stair, a bridge from an opening in an external wall to a stair, or a final exit; vertical safe paths have no length limit.

   3.5.3.4, Table 3.5.3.4, 3.5.3.5

3. Exits from sleeping firecells Exit doors from sleeping area firecells open onto a horizontal safe path or a final exit, except where an external escape route (Section 3.6) or successive open paths (3.4.3) are used.

   3.5.3.3

4. SM safe paths shared with other risk groups SM safe paths serve other risk groups only where a single escape route complying with Section 3.8 is permitted or alternative escape routes that are safe paths are provided, and the same holds for every firecell on lower floors using those escape routes.

   3.5.3.9, 3.5.3.10

   N/A
5. What an exitway holds Exitways hold no storage of goods, solid waste or waste containers, no entry to a waste chute, no furniture or other combustibles, no cloaks or linen, no cleaner's cupboard unless fire separated, no electrical switchboard, and no other activity except as 3.5.4.2 permits.

   3.5.4.1

6. Smoke lobby size A smoke lobby before a vertical safe path holds the part of its occupant load the stair does not, at 0.25 m² per person, the stair's share being the area of its first landing, flights and intermediate landings up to the next level; it is no smaller than D1/AS1's doors and openings need, with room for door swings.

   3.5.2.1, Figure 3.5.2.1

   N/A
7. Smoke lobbies before vertical safe paths Entrances to vertical safe paths are preceded by smoke lobbies, except where the safe path from an upper or intermediate floor serves only that floor, the firecell's occupant load is less than 150, or a horizontal safe path precedes it.

   3.5.2.2

8. Doors to vertical safe paths Where open paths and horizontal safe paths give access to internal vertical safe paths, the doors are fire doors with smoke control capability.

   3.5.3.6

9. Basement smoke lobbies Safe paths serving basement firecells are preceded by a smoke lobby sized to 3.5.2.1, unless two or more escape routes serve only the basement firecells and each ends in a safe place.

   3.5.2.3, Figure 3.5.2.3

   N/A
10. Glazing in safe paths Glazing in safe paths complies with 4.4.3.

    3.5.3.7, 4.4.3

1. A passenger lift in a vertical safe path A passenger lift, never a goods lift, is in a vertical safe path containing a stairway only where its shaft and openings are wholly within that safe path's firecell, passengers enter and leave the car within the safe path, nothing else happens in the safe path, and its machine room is a separate firecell with rope openings as small as practicable and other penetrations fire stopped to 4.3.2.

   3.5.5.1

   N/A
2. Lift landings Unless the building has a Type 7 system or the lift shaft is pressurised to AS 1668.1, lift landings do not open into or lie between open paths, and have either a smoke lobby separated from every other area, horizontal safe paths included, or landing doors with smoke control capability. Lift doors are as 4.4.2.2 and 4.4.4.2 specify.

   3.5.5.2, 3.5.5.3, 4.4.2.2, 4.4.4.2, AS 1668.1

1. Escape routes in the open air From where an escape route enters the open air to the final exit, it meets the requirements of a safe path, separated from the building by distance (3.6.2) or by fire rated construction (3.6.3 and 3.6.4).

   3.6.1.1, 3.6.1.2

2. Separation by distance Where there is only one direction of escape, no unprotected area of roof or external wall is closer to the external escape route than 2 m, unless the route diverges from the external walls or offers alternative directions as 3.6.2.2 describes.

   3.6.2.1, Figure 3.6.2.1

3. Separation by construction Where 3.6.2's distances are not achieved, external walls and roofs beside the external escape route meet the FRR requirements of 5.2.2, 5.4.2 and 5.4.3, with no unprotected areas other than safe path glazing complying with 4.4.3.

   3.6.3.1, 3.6.3.2, 5.2.2, 5.4.2, 5.4.3

4. Balcony barriers Balcony barriers have no openings and achieve a Group Number no greater than 2.

   3.6.3.3, Figure 3.6.3.3

   N/A
5. External escape route floors and stairs The floor of an external escape route closer to the external wall than 3.6.2 allows has an FRR of no less than Section 2.3 requires, and the treads and risers of its stairs are of a material with a critical radiant flux of at least 2.2 kW/m², or are protected underneath with a material of Group Number no greater than 2.

   3.6.3.4

   N/A
6. External and internal safe paths Where a single escape route has an external horizontal safe path and an internal vertical one, a smoke separation divides them.

   3.6.3.5

7. Open balconies and stairs An open balcony or bridge has open area of at least 50% of its floor area, evenly distributed along its open sides and any approach ramp; an open stairway serving it is ventilated the same way; and the open sides are not enclosed, except by a fixed open grille giving the free area.

   3.6.4.1, 3.6.4.2, 3.6.4.3, Figure 3.6.4.1

1. Single escape routes A single escape route is used only where the dead end open path is within Table 3.3.1.1; the occupants of every firecell on each level it serves number no more than 50; the escape height is no more than 10 m unsprinklered or 25 m sprinklered; there are no more than 2 basement levels, with a smoke lobby before the vertical safe path from them; and, with two or more floors, a smoke lobby precedes the vertical safe path on every floor but the top.

   3.8.1.1, Figure 3.5.2.3

2. Single escape routes from an SM floor A floor has a single escape route only where there are no more than 10 people with disabilities on it; the route in each firecell ends at a final exit or a safe path complying with 3.5.3; 3.4.6's and 3.8.4.2's stair, balcony and split level requirements are met; and no safe path on the floor is longer than Table 3.3.1.1's dead end open path.

   3.8.4.1

3. Single external escape routes Balconies, bridges and external stairways are part of a single external escape route only where the escape height is no more than 16 m unsprinklered or 25 m sprinklered, the route meets Section 3.6 for protection, construction and ventilation, and the external wall within 3 m of the stairway is rated to Section 2.3, or any bridge between wall and stairway is at least that long.

   3.8.4.2, Figure 3.6.3.3

   N/A
4. Split level exits The single internal escape route is a safe path leading straight to a final exit, counted as a horizontal safe path, and no household unit's exit is more than 2 m above or below the final exit; a greater difference brings the stair provisions of 3.8.4.1 and 3.8.4.2.

   3.8.4.3, 3.8.4.4, Figure 3.8.4.3

   N/A

1. Door type Doors on escape routes are hinged or pivoted on one vertical edge, sliding doors only where the space, an exitway included, has fewer than 20 occupants; roller shutter and tilt doors count towards escape route width only while open at all times the space is occupied, and may be the only access to an intermittently occupied space on that condition.

   3.9.1.2, 3.9.1.3

2. Self-closing Fire doors and smoke control doors are self-closing, by a closer active at all times, a hold-open device released by a smoke detector, or a free-swinging closer a smoke detector activates; the closer is adjustable after installation to the opening forces of 4.4.2.8.

   3.9.1.4, 4.4.2.11, 4.4.2.12

3. Fastenings and handles Doors on escape routes, fire doors or not, have simple fastenings readily operated from the side people approach when escaping, no locking device other than one 3.9.2 allows, and handles meeting D1/AS1 for people with disabilities.

   3.9.1.5, 3.9.1.6, 3.9.8.4, D1/AS1

4. Opening forces Doors on escape routes open with one hand to release the latch, two to set them moving and one to open them to the required width; a fire door or smoke control door on an escape route takes no more than 67 N to release the latch, 133 N to set it moving and 67 N to open it to the required width, applied at the latch stile, horizontal sliding doors in SI and power-operated doors aside.

   3.9.1.7, 4.4.2.8, 4.4.2.9, 4.4.2.10

5. Locking devices While the building is occupied, locking devices are clearly visible, where one would expect them, and in a fire operate easily without a key so the door opens normally; an unusual release, such as a button beside the door, has signs complying with Clause F8; none prevents or overrides a panic fastening; and an electromechanical lock fails safe to unlocked, or opens readily another way, on power failure or malfunction.

   3.9.2.1, 3.9.2.2, 3.9.2.3, 3.9.2.4, F8/AS1

   N/A
6. Re-entry from a vertical safe path People in the vertical safe path can re-enter a floor at intervals of no more than 4 floors, the doors unlocked from the safe path side at all times or when the fire alarm operates, and signed as available for entry.

   3.9.2.5

   N/A
7. Direction of opening Doors serving a room or area of more than 50 occupants open in the direction of escape, on open paths, into or within exitways and at final exits; where escape may be either way, doors swing both ways.

   3.9.3.1, 3.9.3.2

8. Door widths Open path doors give at least 760 mm clear, or 950 mm where beds are moved, with no leaf of a multi-leaf door narrower than 500 mm, and 600 mm where the door is not required to be on an accessible route; doors within exitways, entry and final exit doors included, leave at least Table 3.2.2.1's exitway width.

   3.9.4.2, 3.9.4.3, 3.9.4.4, Figure 3.9.4.1

9. Door swing Doors on escape routes open no less than 90°, onto a floor at least as long as the arc of their swing and level on both sides across the full width of the route unless D1/AS1 allows otherwise, and once open obstruct the required width of no escape route.

   3.9.4.5, Figure 3.9.4.5

10. Vision panels Vision panels are fitted to doors hung to swing both ways, doors subdividing corridors in escape routes, and doors into or within exitways, except the door out of a sleeping space or a single-person sanitary facility, and a door to an unoccupied space such as a closet.

    3.9.5.1

11. Revolving and automatic doors, access control Revolving doors, automatic doors and access control systems are not across an escape route into or within an exitway; in an open path or at a final exit, on power failure or malfunction they open and stay open without reducing the required width, or can be readily pushed open outwards, unless swing doors of the required width stand right beside them.

    3.9.6.1, 3.9.6.2

    N/A
12. Hold-open devices Fire doors and smoke control doors have smoke detector activated hold-open devices between open paths and exitways where the building's occupant load is more than 1000, where they subdivide long corridors (4.7.3), in fire separations where an escape route passes into an adjacent firecell (3.4.3), where traffic would otherwise hold them open, and in early childhood centres on upper floors of multi-storey buildings; the detectors are integral with the device, on the ceiling on both sides of the doorset, or part of an automatic smoke detection system on both sides, and an NZS 4512 device sits in the air stream through the open door.

    3.9.7.1, 3.9.7.2, 3.9.7.3, NZS 4512

13. Delayed action unlocking Delayed action unlocking devices are only on firecells with a Type 4 or Type 7 system; the fire alarm overrides the delay instantly; the delay is no more than 15 seconds; and a sign complying with F8/AS1 warns of it.

    3.9.8.1, F8/AS1

    N/A
14. Panic fastenings Doors on the escape route, exitways and final exits included, have panic fastenings: a horizontal bar or panel across at least half the door leaf, between 800 mm and 1200 mm (1.2 m) above the floor, that releases the lock and lets the door swing freely under the force of one hand.

    3.9.8.2, 3.9.8.3

    N/A

1. Adjoining firecells Adjoining firecells are fire separated at the life rating (60 minutes) where under common ownership, and at the property rating (60 minutes) where under different ownership, across a property boundary, or where C/AS2 says so, taking the higher FRR where the adjoining firecell has one.

   4.1.1.1, 4.1.1.2, Table 2.3.1.1

1. Stability during fire Primary elements with an FRR keep their structural stability for that FRR, resisting collapse under Clause B1's design dead and live loads and any loads the fire adds.

   4.2.1.1, 4.2.1.3, B1

2. Vertical and horizontal stability Building elements required to have an FRR get their vertical stability from vertical primary elements rated for structural adequacy, or by resting on elements with at least the same rating; and their horizontal stability by cantilevering from a base rated no less, from elements within the firecell rated no less (assessed with fire on every relevant side at once), or from primary elements outside the firecell.

   4.2.3.1, 4.2.4.1

1. Floors Every floor in a multi-storey building is a fire separation, except an intermediate floor within a firecell and the lowest floor over an unoccupied subfloor space meeting 4.10.5.1; floors are rated from the underside only, at the rating of the firecell directly below.

   4.3.1.2, 4.10.1.1, 4.10.1.2

2. Openings in separations Fire and smoke separations have no openings other than penetrations complying with 4.3.2, closures (fire doors, smoke control doors, fire and smoke curtains, fire shutters, fire and smoke dampers) and glazing 4.4.3 permits, and they are continuous at junctions and around closures, protected shafts and penetrations.

   4.3.1.3, 4.3.1.4

3. Fire stops Penetrations and gaps in fire separations are fire stopped; fire stops are rated no less than the separation, tested to 8.2.1.3 of the Building Product Specifications for the type and size of the gap or penetration and the separation's construction, and installed exactly as the tested prototype.

   4.3.2.1, 4.3.2.2, 4.3.2.3, 4.3.2.4, BPS 8.2.1.3

4. Junctions Where fire separations meet each other or external walls, they are bonded or the junction is fire stopped over its full length; a wall and floor junction takes the rating of the higher rated element.

   4.3.3.1, 4.3.3.2, Figure 4.3.3.1A, Figure 4.3.3.1C

5. Junctions with the roof Vertical fire separations and external walls stop as close as possible to the roof cladding and the primary elements supporting the roof, every gap fire stopped, or rise no less than 450 mm above the roof as a parapet.

   4.3.4.1, Figure 4.3.3.1B

6. Sealing gaps Gaps are sealed with fire resistant materials complying with 8.2.1.3 of the Building Product Specifications in smoke separations, between fire and smoke separations, around glazing in smoke separations, and between fire or smoke separations and unrated parts of external walls; gaps around penetrations are fire stopped.

   4.3.6.1, 4.3.6.2, BPS 8.2.1.3

1. Closures Closures in fire and smoke separations have the insulation and smoke control capability of Table 4.4.1.1 (-/*/30sm), with the integrity of the life or property rating the separation needs.

   4.4.1.1, Table 4.4.1.1

2. Fire doors and smoke control doors Fire doors comply with 8.3.1 of the Building Product Specifications, smoke control doors with 8.3.2, and fire doors with smoke control capability with both; they are installed to Section 3.9, signed to 3.1.1.7, and glazed to 4.4.3.

   4.4.2.1, 4.4.2.3, 4.4.2.4, 4.4.2.5, BPS 8.3.1, BPS 8.3.2

3. Smoke seals Doorsets in fire separations between firecells and vertical safe paths or protected shafts have smoke seals on every edge but the sill.

   4.4.2.2

4. Where fire doors are Fire doors are provided between an open path and a safe path, between a smoke lobby and a safe path, where an escape route passes through a fire separation or into an adjoining building, where a fire separation isolates a safe path from levels below the final exit, and in fire separations between the vertical and horizontal parts of internal safe paths.

   4.4.2.6, Figure 4.4.2.6A, Figure 4.4.2.6B, Figure 4.4.2.6C

5. Where smoke control doors are Smoke control doors are provided at smoke separations in vertical safe paths, where a corridor or escape route passes through a smoke separation, and between an open path and a smoke lobby.

   4.4.2.7, Figure 4.4.2.6A

6. Glazing in separations Glazing in fire separations is fixed fire resisting glazing with the separation's integrity and insulation, except uninsulated glazing where vision panels are permitted; glazing in smoke separations, smoke lobbies and smoke control doors may be of any area and toughened or laminated safety glass, stopping smoke as well as the separation does.

   4.4.3.1, 4.4.3.2, 4.4.3.3, 4.4.3.4

7. Access panels and lift doors Access panels to protected shafts have the fire performance 4.4.1.1 requires and open only with a special tool; lift landing doors into a protected shaft, other than a lift within a vertical safe path, are fire doors complying with 4.4.1.1, 4.4.2.1 and 4.4.2.2 without an insulation rating, and need not be rated from the shaft side.

   4.4.4.1, 4.4.4.2

8. Fire and smoke dampers A duct through a fire separation keeps the separation's fire resistance, enclosed by construction rated no less or fitted with a fire damper complying with 8.3.4 of the Building Product Specifications, rated for the separation's integrity and insulation (the blade needs no insulation where the building is sprinklered or combustibles are kept 300 mm from the damper and duct) and readily accessible for servicing; a smoke damper keeping a smoke separation complies with 8.3.4 and closes on alarm.

   4.4.5.1, 4.4.5.2, 4.4.5.4, BPS 8.3.4

   N/A
9. Fire shutters A fire shutter closes only a service opening that is not part of an escape route, is released automatically by a smoke detector, and closes no faster than 150 mm per second.

   4.4.6.1, 4.4.6.2, 4.4.6.3

   N/A

1. Group sleeping areas Group sleeping areas are fire separated from each other and from other sleeping and non-sleeping areas, and communal service functions from group sleeping areas and suites, with FRRs to Section 2.3.

   4.5.1.1, 4.5.1.9

   N/A
2. SM group sleeping areas A group sleeping area has no more than 40 beds; its partitions need no rating only where it has no more than 40 beds, the partitions enclose no occupied space fully and leave at least one side open, every occupied space is available to every occupant at all times, openings and open paths are unobstructed, and only WCs, urinals, baths, showers and bidets are fully enclosed.

   4.5.1.2, 4.5.1.3, Figure 4.5.1.3

3. Suites A suite is a separate firecell fire separated to Section 2.3, holds no more than 12 beds, and may be subdivided with unrated construction into spaces for sleeping, cooking or sanitary facilities.

   4.5.2.1, 4.5.2.3, 4.5.2.4

   N/A
4. Household units A household unit is a single firecell, fire separated from every other firecell to Section 2.3, and may have more than one floor where its open paths meet Table 3.3.1.1.

   4.5.3.1, 4.5.3.2

   N/A
5. Parking in SM and SI buildings Service vehicle and unloading areas are a separate firecell meeting risk group VP's requirements; a garage solely for the occupants of one household unit may be within that unit's firecell; and parking for the vehicles of more than one household unit is a separate VP firecell.

   4.5.4.1, 4.5.4.2, 4.5.4.3

   N/A

1. Stairs from basements A stair safe path that continues from basements or lower floors to floors above the final exit level has the lower levels fire separated from the final exit level, with an FRR to Section 2.3 or the lower level's, whichever is greater.

   4.7.1.4, Figure 4.4.2.6C

2. Long corridors Long corridors, safe paths among them, are subdivided by smoke separations and smoke control doors evenly spaced no more than 40 m apart along an open path and 80 m along a safe path.

   4.7.1.5, 4.7.3.1, 4.7.3.2, Table 4.7.3.2, Figure 4.7.3.1

3. Ducts in exitways Air ducts passing through exitways contain no combustible materials.

   4.7.1.6

4. Tall vertical safe paths The vertical safe path is divided by a smoke separation with smoke control doors at the landing nearest its mid-height.

   4.7.2.1

   N/A

1. Support activities Intermittent activities directly supporting another risk group's primary activity may be part of its firecell without fire or smoke separations, enclosed waste storage and vehicle parking aside; each risk group's fire safety systems extend through them; and where they are separate firecells, their fire separations are rated to Section 2.3.

   4.8.1.1, 4.8.1.2, 4.8.1.3

2. Solid waste storage Solid waste storage beside occupied spaces is enclosed, except in VP; an enclosed store is a separate firecell with fire separations of at least the life rating, or the property rating on a relevant boundary; waste chutes are 4.9.3's.

   4.8.2.1, 4.8.2.2, 4.8.2.3

   N/A
3. Plant, boiler and incinerator rooms The space is a separate firecell, fire separated at no less than 90 minutes, with at least one external wall, access from outside at any level including the roof or internally through a smoke lobby with a heat detector on a fire alarm system, and, where gas is the energy source, no floor below the ground outside; a building solely for such plant, 3 m or more from any other building, needs only the last of these.

   4.8.3.1, 4.8.3.2, 4.8.3.3, Figure 4.8.3.1

   N/A

1. Protected shafts Lifts, conveyors and services passing between firecells are in protected shafts, each a separate firecell whose walls between floors are rated no less than that level requires and at least 30/30/30, equally from both sides except at lift landing doors, and enclosed top and bottom where they do not pass through the roof or lowest floor; the shaft's only openings are access panels rated as the shaft, lift doorsets with smoke control, lift rope openings as small as practicable, fire dampers, fire stopped penetrations, and fittings rated as the shaft.

   4.9.1.1, 4.9.1.2, 4.9.1.3, 4.9.2.1, Figure 4.9.1.1

   N/A
2. Waste and linen chutes Chutes are protected shafts or within one, with no inlet or discharge opening in an exitway, and have automatic sprinkler heads at the top of each chute and in the space it discharges into, on a supply giving at least 50 kPa residual pressure with 2 heads operating.

   4.9.3.1, 4.9.3.2, 4.9.3.3

   N/A

1. Intermediate floors Intermediate floors, their supporting primary elements and stairs have FRRs of at least 30 minutes; their combined area in a firecell is no more than 20% of the firecell floor where enclosed or partitioned, or 40% where completely open or the building has a Type 4 or 7 system, and no more than accommodates 100 occupants; a firecell of direct support functions to a sleeping firecell has only one; two or more differ in height by no more than 1 m; and in a warehouse with storage higher than 3 m they total no more than 35 m². None of this applies within SM household units and suites.

   4.10.2.1, 4.10.2.2, 4.10.2.3, 4.10.2.4, 4.10.2.5, 4.10.2.6

2. Basements Basement firecells are fire separated from one another and from the lowest firecell above ground, rated to Section 2.3.

   4.10.4.1

3. Subfloor spaces The floor over the subfloor space has an FRR to Section 2.3, unless vertical fire separations and external walls go down to the ground and enclose the space, it is accessed only to service plumbing, drainage or other static services, and it holds no storage and no installation that could create a fire hazard unless that is fire separated from the rest of the space and the floor above.

   4.10.5.1, Figure 4.10.5.1

   N/A

1. Concealed spaces and cavity barriers Concealed spaces do not pass from one firecell to another and smaller voids are closed by cavity barriers or fire stops; concealed spaces in fire separation walls and floors and in external walls have cavity barriers or fire stops at every common junction; and cavity barriers keep the element's FRR, are tightly fitted and fixed to rigid construction where practical with any gaps fire stopped, and stay effective through building movement and the failure of their fixings, components or what abuts them.

   4.11.1.1, 4.11.2.1, 4.11.2.3

2. Ceiling plenums The plenum stays within its firecell; the ceiling, its supports and the surfaces within are non-combustible; electrical wiring is supported clear of the ceiling; pipe and acoustic insulation meet Table 4.12.6.2; and where it carries supply air, a Type 4 system has detectors in every return air duct and shuts the ventilation down as 4.13.1.1 requires.

   4.11.1.2, Figure 4.11.1.2, Table 4.12.6.2, 4.13.1.1

   N/A
3. Roof and ceiling spaces Roof and ceiling spaces in unsprinklered firecells are subdivided by fire separations into areas of no more than 400 m² at ceiling level and no longer or wider than 30 m, unless the ceiling space is a separate firecell; the separations are rated to Section 2.3 from the ceiling to the roof cladding or floor above, with gaps fire stopped, and any opening in them has a fire resisting closure.

   4.11.3.1, 4.11.3.3, 4.11.3.4

1. Wall and ceiling finishes Wall and ceiling surface finishes have Group Numbers no higher than Table 4.12.1.1's: 1-S in exitways and Importance Level 4 buildings; 1-S in sleeping spaces where care or detention is provided; 2-S on ceilings and 2-S on walls of other sleeping spaces, household units aside, and crowd spaces; and 3 in all other occupied spaces.

   4.12.1.1, Table 4.12.1.1

2. Foamed plastics and combustible insulation The completed wall or ceiling system achieves Table 4.12.1.1's Group Number, and the foamed plastics meet the flame propagation criteria of 8.5.7 of the Building Product Specifications, the elements of 4.12.4.1 aside.

   4.12.2.1, BPS 8.5.7

   N/A
3. Flooring Flooring, flexible finishes such as carpet, vinyl sheet and tiles included, is non-combustible or has a critical radiant flux, determined to 8.1.2 of the Building Product Specifications, of at least 2.2 kW/m² in exitways and in SM and SI sleeping areas and treatment rooms, 2.2 kW/m² in non-sleeping firecells of more than 50 people, and 1.2 kW/m² in other occupied spaces outside household units.

   4.12.3.1, 4.12.3.2, Table 4.12.3.1, BPS 8.1.2

4. Wood product flooring Wood product flooring, boards of wood fibres or chips bound by an adhesive included, is nominally at least 20 mm thick, or the floor assembly has an FRR of -/30/30 from the flooring side.

   4.12.3.3

   N/A
5. Fabrics and membranes Suspended flexible fabrics and membrane structures in occupied spaces, exitways included, have a flammability index, to 8.1.3 of the Building Product Specifications, of no more than 12, or 5 as an underlay to roofing or cladding exposed to view; tents, marquees and canopies no more than 12, small ones such as camping tents aside.

   4.12.5.1, 4.12.5.2, 4.12.5.3, BPS 8.1.3

   N/A
6. Building services Surfaces of building services have Group Numbers, determined to 8.5.6 of the Building Product Specifications, no higher than Table 4.12.6.2's: 1-S inside HVAC and kitchen exhaust ducts; 1-S on the outside of ducts and on acoustic treatment and pipe insulation within exitways; 3 on acoustic treatment and pipe insulation within sleeping uses; and 3 on the outside of other HVAC ducts. A duct wholly within a protected shaft without lifts needs only its interior to comply.

   4.12.6.1, 4.12.6.2, Table 4.12.6.2, BPS 8.5.6

7. Smoke control in air handling Smoke control in air handling systems complies with C.2.8: AS 1668.1 as Appendix D modifies it, or NZS 4512's ancillary output shutting the HVAC down where a Type 4 or 7 system detects the smoke.

   4.13.1.1, C.2.8.1, AS 1668.1

   N/A

1. More than one title The building is separated from its part on each adjacent title by fire separations meeting the property rating, and from any external area in common by external walls complying with 5.2.2, or, where that area is roofed, the area is a firecell separated from adjacent titles at the property rating. VP's allowances for titled parking are 4.1.2's.

   5.1.1.1, 5.1.1.2, 5.1.1.3, 4.1.2

1. Small openings and fire resisting glazing Small unprotected areas of no more than 0.1 m² and areas of fire resisting glazing are placed to Figure 5.2.3.1, the rest of the wall rated to 5.2.4; the glazing is rated for integrity, its FRR and the wall's to Section 2.3, and it is no larger than Appendix E.1 allows at its distance. Within a firecell, small unprotected areas are at least 1.5 m from each other and from glazing, vertically and horizontally, and areas of glazing are at least Figure 5.2.3.1's X or Y apart, or the greater of the two where staggered.

   5.2.3.1, 5.2.3.2, 5.2.3.3, 5.2.3.4, Figure 5.2.3.1

   N/A

1. Vertical fire spread from roofs Sleeping risk groups SM and SI, other property and external exitways are protected against vertical fire spread from roofs, by separation distance, rating the adjoining external wall, rating all or part of the roof and its supports against fire from below, or sprinklers in the firecell below the roof.

   5.4.1.1, 5.4.1.2

2. External exitways over roofs Where an external exitway crosses a roof, or runs above or beside a roof of this building or another, the roof within 3 m of any part of the exitway and all its supporting elements have an FRR to Section 2.3.

   5.4.2.1

3. Roof supports Primary elements supporting a rated roof are rated no less than the roof; rated columns or walls supporting an unrated roof are rated from the floor to the underside of the roof framing, and roof framing connected to them is rated too where its collapse would bring them down.

   5.4.3.1, 5.4.3.2

4. Parapets for roof storage and parking Where roof within 1.5 m of the relevant boundary is used for combustible storage or vehicle parking, a parapet rises at least 1.5 m above the roof, with an FRR meeting the property rating.

   5.3.2.1, 5.3.2.2

   N/A
5. Roof storage No combustible materials are stored on a roof within 1.5 m of a higher external wall where the building above contains sleeping risk groups.

   5.4.7.1

6. Roof parking Where a roof used for vehicle parking is within 1.5 m of a higher external wall and the building above contains sleeping occupancies, the part of that wall closer to the roof than 3 m vertically or 1.5 m horizontally, measured from the roof level, has an FRR of no less than Table 2.3.1.1 requires.

   5.4.8.1, 5.4.8.2

7. Open sided buildings A single level open sided building has walls of up to 100% unprotected area only where at least two sides are completely open, it and any building it is attached to are under the control of the same occupancy, and it is at least 1 m from a relevant boundary with a roof of more than 40 m², or 0.3 m with a smaller roof; otherwise its walls meet Section 5.2. It is detached from another building where its roof is at least 1 m away from it, or 0.3 m for a roof of no more than 40 m².

   5.3.4.1, 5.3.4.2, 5.3.4.3, Figure 5.3.4.1

   N/A
8. Floor projections A floor projecting beyond any part of an external wall that needs a property rating, or with any part closer than 1 m to the relevant boundary, has the same FRR as the floor inside, and its exposed exterior faces meet Section 5.5.

   5.3.5.1, 5.5

   N/A

1. Fire and Emergency vehicle access Pavements on the property that Fire and Emergency vehicles are likely to use to reach a hard-standing carry a laden weight of up to 25 tonnes with an 8 tonne axle load, or the public road's capacity where that is lower; are trafficable in all weathers; are at least 4 m wide; give a clear passage 3.5 m wide and 4 m high at site entrances, internal entrances and between buildings; and reach a hard-standing from which an unobstructed path runs to within 20 m of the firefighter access and of any sprinkler or hydrant inlets.

   6.1.1.1

   N/A
2. Control panel Where a fire alarm or sprinkler system is installed, its control panel is close to the Fire and Emergency attendance point and located to NZS 4512, NZS 4515 and NZS 4541 as appropriate.

   6.2.1.1, NZS 4512, NZS 4515, NZS 4541

3. Hazardous substances signs Where hazardous substances are present in the building, warning signs complying with F8/AS1 are displayed.

   6.2.2.1, F8/AS1

4. Control features The control features of fire safety systems are where there is ready access from street level, protected from the effects of fire, debris falling from upper floors included.

   6.3.1.1

5. Fire hydrant systems Building fire hydrant systems are installed as Section 2.2 specifies and meet NZS 4510.

   6.3.2.1, 2.2, NZS 4510

6. Lift control Lifts have Fire and Emergency lift control, their control under fire conditions complying with NZS 4332.

   6.3.3.1, NZS 4332

   N/A

1. Solid fuel appliances Domestic solid fuel burning appliances, in domestic or commercial situations, and their flue systems are installed to AS/NZS 2918 as Appendix D.2.1 modifies it: the appliance and floor protector fixed against a seismic force, ventilation to G4/AS1, and water heating to G12/AS1.

   7.1.1.1, D.2.1.1, AS/NZS 2918

   N/A
2. Gas appliances Gas burning appliances are installed in accordance with Clause G11.

   7.1.2.1, G11

   N/A
3. Oil-fired appliances Domestic oil-fired appliances are installed to AS 1691 as Appendix D.2.2 modifies it, and their flues to AS/NZS 2918 Sections 2 and 4.

   7.1.3.1, 7.1.3.2, D.2.2.1, AS 1691, AS/NZS 2918

   N/A
4. Electrical installations Electrical installations comply with Clause G9.

   7.2.1.1, G9

5. Chimneys Chimneys are built to Table 7.3.1.1 and Figure 7.3.1.1: jambs and backs at least 170 mm thick in concrete (255 mm with filling and liner), 155 mm in brickwork (230 mm) and 85 mm in pre-cast pumice concrete (170 mm), and breasts, side gathering and chimney walls above the gather at least 170 mm, 155 mm and 85 mm. Fireplaces are lined with fire bricks at least 50 mm thick, with non-combustible joints sealed against air leakage; brickwork is at least a single 90 mm skin plus 65 mm of grout; and flue liners are wrapped in combustible material at least 0.25 mm thick, such as heavy building paper, leaving an expansion gap.

   7.3.1.1, Table 7.3.1.1, Figure 7.3.1.1

   N/A
6. Flues An open fireplace's flue has a cross-sectional area of at least 0.03 m² and is lined with rebated or socketed clay flue liners, imperforate socketed clay pipes, or high alumina cement and kiln-burnt aggregate pipes, sockets or rebates uppermost, the joints and any space behind filled with weak mortar or insulating concrete; each fireplace has its own flue; flue joints are non-combustible and sealed against air leakage; clearance above the roof is to Figure 4.9 of AS/NZS 2918; and flues from open fires are installed to its Sections 2 and 4.

   7.3.1.2, 7.3.1.3, 7.3.1.4, 7.3.1.6, 7.3.1.7, 7.3.1.8, 7.3.1.13, AS/NZS 2918, Figure 7.3.1.2

7. Hearths and clearances Hearths are fully grouted stone, brick or concrete at least 50 mm thick, extending at least 230 mm each side of the fireplace opening and 380 mm in front of it. Combustible material is kept at least 200 mm from any opening in the flue or the fireplace opening, 200 mm above or below the upper surface of the hearth and 75 mm from its lower surface; hearth edges are separated from combustibles by insulating material with a service temperature of at least 150°C; and a ventilated space of at least 50 mm separates a fireplace, chimney or flue from any combustible material.

   7.3.1.9, 7.3.1.10, 7.3.1.11, 7.3.1.12, Figure 7.3.1.10

1. Cavity barriers Every floor

   C/AS2 5.5.3.1

1. Eaves Same 650 mm rule

   C/AS2 5.3.3

Risk group SM, unsprinklered.

Risk group SHC/AS1 Table 1.1.1.1

Detached household units; low-rise multi-unit dwellings where every unit has its own escape route (side-by-side townhouses, or two stacked units with the upper floor at an escape height under 4.0 m); boarding houses, homestays and B&Bs with fewer than 6 paying guests; outbuildings. Apartments, three or more stacked units and buildings with shared stairs are SM and go to C/AS2.

Risk group SM and SIC/AS2 Table 1.1.1.1

The two groups a design lands in once it leaves C/AS1. SM is sleeping use where the occupants can be expected to evacuate themselves: apartments, three or more stacked units, hotels, motels, backpackers, serviced apartments. SI is care and detention: hospitals, aged care, hospices, sedated day treatment, detention. The split is not nominal: E.2.2.1 gives each group its own unprotected area table (SM reads E.2.2.1A, SI reads E.2.2.1B), and the largest single opening and fire resisting glazing tables have their own columns too. The C/AS2 tool reads each group's own tables.

Other propertyC/AS2 Appendix B

Any land or building, or part of one, not held under the same allotment or not under the same ownership; a road counts. The definition is wider than it first reads: separately owned units stacked on each other are firecells containing other property one above the other, even inside a single building, which is what makes 5.4.5.1 (d) bite and brings vertical fire spread protection on. 5.4.4.1 (a) reads the same definition.

Relevant boundaryC/AS1 & C/AS2 Appendix B

The boundary between your allotment and other property from which external wall distances are measured. Where the other property is a road, railway or public open space, it is the far side of that space.

Notional boundaryC/AS1 5.1.2.1 · C/AS2 5.2.1.8

A boundary assumed for fire purposes between two buildings on the same property under a single land title, used in place of the relevant boundary. It may not sit closer than 1.0 m to any unprotected area in the external wall receiving the radiation, and only where the walls are at less than 90°. C/AS1 uses it between two household units under one owner (5.1.2.1); C/AS2 puts it more widely: between the external walls of firecells in the same building, or of separate buildings on the same property (5.2.1.8), which is the case when two units of one apartment building face each other.

Firecell and fire separationC/AS1 & C/AS2 Appendix B

A firecell is any space, or group of contiguous spaces on the same or different levels, enclosed by any combination of fire separations, external walls, roofs and floors. A fire separation is the building element that separates one firecell from another, or a firecell from a safe path, and carries a specified FRR. Under C/AS1: two storeys of one unit are a single firecell and the floor between them is not rated, while a floor between different units is a fire separation and needs 30/30/30.

Unprotected areaC/AS1 & C/AS2 Appendix B

Any part of an external wall that is not fire rated or has less than the required FRR, plus any part with combustible material more than 1.0 mm thick attached or applied to its outer face, whether as cladding or for any other purpose. Non-fire-rated windows, doors and openings all count, and C/AS2 spells out that non-fire-rated external wall construction does too. The two documents define it identically.

Firecell widthC/AS2 Figure E.2.1.2A

Not defined in Appendix B. The tables split their columns by it (E.2.2.1A and B at 5 m, C and D at 10 m, F at 20 m, while E does not divide by width at all), and Figure E.2.1.2A draws it as the width of the firecell measured along the external wall being checked. So on a long apartment elevation divided into unit firecells it is measured per firecell, not across the whole elevation, and two firecells in one wall are looked up separately.

Primary elementC/AS2 Appendix B

A building element providing the basic loadbearing capacity to the structure, which if affected by fire may initiate instability or premature collapse: columns, beams, loadbearing walls. Whether they have to be fire rated is decided by 2.3.2.5 (integral with a fire separation), 2.3.2.8 (supporting an element that has an FRR) and 2.3.2.9 (framing connected to rated elements); 5.2.2.4 only puts a floor under the rating when they are: no less than the life rating.

FRR 30/30/30C/AS1 & C/AS2 Appendix B

The three numbers are the minutes achieved for structural adequacy, integrity and insulation, always in that order. Under C/AS1, unless it says otherwise, both the life rating and the property rating are 30 minutes. C/AS2 reads Table 2.3.1.1 instead, by risk group and by whether the firecell is sprinklered: risk group SM is 60 minutes unsprinklered and 30 sprinklered.

Life rating and property ratingC/AS2 Table 2.3.1.1

The two columns of Table 2.3.1.1. The property rating is the FRR applied to construction so that it protects other property; the life rating is the other column, and protects people. Which one applies is named by the paragraph: 4.1.1.1 picks by ownership (life where firecells are under common ownership, property where they are not or a property boundary runs between them), 5.2.2.2 names the property rating, 5.2.2.4 names the life rating. For risk group SM the two columns hold the same minutes (60 unsprinklered, 30 sprinklered), so nothing separates them in a building that is SM throughout. They do part for CA, WB and WS, and 4.1.1.2 separates adjoining firecells by the higher of the two.

Escape heightC/AS1 & C/AS2 Appendix B

The vertical distance between the floor level of the firecell being considered and the floor level of the final exit, taking the greatest value. Within a multi-storey unit it is measured from the floor furthest from the exit. For stacked units it is how far the upper unit's floor sits above the ground-level exit.

Building heightC/AS1 & C/AS2 Appendix B

The vertical distance between the floor level of the lowest occupied space above the ground and the top of the highest occupied floor, excluding rooftop stair, lift and plant enclosures. A single-level building's is therefore zero, which is why the multi-level in 5.5.1.4 and 5.5.2 is not a second condition but a consequence of the definition. C/AS1 uses it only in cladding Table 5.3.1.1. C/AS2 uses it for cladding (5.5.1.4 at 10 m or more, 5.5.2 at 25 m or more) and in 2.3.2.7 (b) at more than 10 m, which is a different threshold from 5.5.1.4's, not the same one.

Non-combustible, limited combustible, Type A, Type BBPS 8.1.1 & 8.4.1

The four grades of external cladding material, all defined in the BPS and only referred to by C/AS2. Non-combustible and limited combustible are settled by the combustibility methods in BPS 8.1.1. Type A and Type B come from a cone calorimeter test (ISO 5660-1 or AS/NZS 3837) measuring peak heat release and total heat against BPS Table 8.4.1.2, with Type A the stricter of the two. Strictest first: non-combustible, limited combustible, Type A, Type B. Type B is reachable only by risk group SI (5.5.1.3), so no SM wall gets there. BPS 8.4.2 is a different thing again: the whole cladding system rather than a material, which is the route a building of 25 m or more takes.

Cavity barrierC/AS2 Appendix B · 4.11.2

A construction that closes openings within a concealed space against the passage of fire, or restricts the spread of fire inside one. 5.5.3.1 requires them in external wall cavities at every floor level, built to 4.11.2. It is a requirement on the building, not on one elevation.

Open path, dead end, safe path, final exitC/AS1 & C/AS2 Appendix B

An exitway is all of an escape route protected by fire or smoke separations, or by distance when exposed to open air, terminating at a final exit. An open path is the part within a firecell where occupants may be exposed to fire or smoke; a dead end is an open path with only one direction of travel; a safe path is the part of an exitway protected by fire separations, external walls, or by distance in open air; the final exit is the point of entry to a safe place, which may be beyond the building's exit door. C/AS2 adds one thing: 5.2.2.2 lets a safe path's external wall be 100% unprotected, at the price of the property rating on the walls between the safe path and the adjacent firecells.

Sprinklers to NZS 4541 with a Class A or B2 supplyC/AS2 5.2.1.2(a)

C/AS2's unprotected area tables have sprinklered columns, and only this grade of system may read them: complying with NZS 4541 with a Class A or Class B2 water supply. The NZS 4515 and NZS 4517 systems common in housing do not qualify. Even then, 5.2.1.2(a)'s dispensation does not reach parts of an external wall within 1.0 m of the relevant boundary, or a wall of a firecell used for storage with a storage height over 3.0 m. The FRR is a separate question: a sprinklered building reads the sprinklered columns of Table 2.3.1.1 either way.

Building Product Specifications (BPS)MBIE, Building Act 2004 s 25B

A separate MBIE document, issued under section 25B of the Building Act 2004, holding the standards, test methods and specifications for building products. Its First Edition was published on the same day as C/AS1 Second Edition Amendment 1, 28 July 2025, which is what let C/AS1 move its Appendix E fire test methods across, drop its direct references to NZS/BS 476, AS/NZS 3837 and the rest, and refer out instead at Paragraphs 2.3.1.2, 4.2.2.1 and 5.3.1.1. It is amended on its own schedule after that: Amendment 1, effective 2 April 2026, added specifications for wall bracing elements and for fire doors and fire resisting glazing. So its edition has to be confirmed separately from C/AS1's; and C/AS1 1.2.5.2 says it cannot be used in isolation to demonstrate compliance.

Exitway and smoke lobbyC/AS2 Appendix B

An exitway is every part of an escape route protected by fire or smoke separations, or by distance in the open air, ending at a final exit. A smoke lobby is the part of an escape route within a firecell, before a safe path or a route through an adjoining building, protected from smoke by smoke separations; it serves no more than one firecell, and an exitway serving more than one firecell is a safe path (Figure 3.1.1.2).

Intermediate floorC/AS2 Appendix B

Any upper floor within a firecell whose configuration leaves an opening through which smoke or fire can spread from a lower level to an upper one. C/AS2 lengthens its open paths (3.3.3), limits its area (4.10.2), and puts a building whose intermediate floors are not limited area ones outside its scope (1.1.2.1).

Group sleeping area and suiteC/AS2 Appendix B

A group sleeping area is a firecell of communal sleeping accommodation for a set number of people who may or may not know one another. A suite is a firecell of residential accommodation for one person or several known to one another, with one or more rooms for sleeping and possibly spaces for hygiene and cooking; it may be transient or educational accommodation. Section 4.5 limits the beds in each.

Direct support and communal service functionsC/AS2 Appendix B

Direct support functions are open, low risk, low fire load activities supporting a space's primary use: reception desks, nurses' stations, kiosks, tea bays, sanitary facilities, mailboxes. Communal service functions are generally enclosed spaces serving the sleeping areas at a higher fire risk: offices, waiting rooms, lounges, stores, dining rooms, laundries and kitchens. The first may share a group sleeping area; the second is fire separated from it (4.5.1.8, 4.5.1.9).

Protected shaftC/AS2 Appendix B

A space other than a safe path, enclosed by fire separations or external walls, housing building services, lifts or conveyors that pass from one firecell to another. Each is a firecell of its own (4.9.1.1).

Smoke separation and smokecellC/AS2 Appendix B

A smoke separation is any building element able to stop smoke passing between two spaces; a smokecell is a space enclosed by smoke separations, external walls, roofs and floors. Neither carries an FRR.

Place of safety and safe placeC/AS2 Appendix B

A safe place is outside and near the building, where people can disperse after escaping: a street, open space, public space or adjacent building unit. A place of safety is a safe place, or a place inside a sprinklered building built with fire separations to withstand burnout, sized for the people it holds and with means of escape on to a safe place outside.

Remote receiving centreC/AS2 Appendix B

A fire alarm monitoring service that passes fire alarm signals on to summon Fire and Emergency New Zealand, and complies with NZS 4512. 2.2.2.1 says when a system is connected to one.

Fire safety system typesC/AS2 Appendix C

Type 1 domestic smoke alarms (NZS 4514); Type 2 manual call points; Type 3 heat detectors and call points; Type 4 smoke detectors and call points; Type 5 a Type 4 or 7 whose smoke detection inside household units and suites sounds locally; Type 6 sprinklers with a Type 2 alarm; Type 7 sprinklers with a Type 4 or Type 5 alarm; Type 9 smoke control in air handling; Type 15 Fire and Emergency lift control (NZS 4332); Type 18 building fire hydrants (NZS 4510). Alarms are to NZS 4512, sprinklers to NZS 4541, NZS 4515 or NZS 4517.

Occupant loadC/AS2 Appendix B

The greatest number of people likely to occupy a space: its floor area over Table 1.2.4.2's factor, or the sleeping or care spaces counted, or the fixed seats counted.

Critical radiant flux and flammability indexC/AS2 4.12 · BPS 8.1

Critical radiant flux, in kW/m², is how much radiant heat a floor covering can take before flame spreads across it; Table 4.12.3.1 gives a minimum. The flammability index rates thin flexible materials such as fabrics and membranes; 4.12.5 gives a maximum.

Hold-open deviceC/AS2 Appendix B

A device holding a fire door or smoke control door open in normal use and released by an automatic fire detection system, so the door's self-closer shuts it (3.9.7).

Occupants counted by the bed1.2.4.5, 1.2.4.6

For SM and SI with bed spaces, C/AS2 already allows for other people being present, so a load counted by the bed needs no further calculation (1.2.4.5). For SI a bed is a person under care or detention, whether on a bed, a recliner, a dentist's chair, a treatment table or any other furniture they occupy for treatment (1.2.4.6).

An all-out evacuation1.1.2.3, 1.1.2.4

C/AS2 provides for everyone leaving at once. Only SI and early childhood centres are given a delayed evacuation, and even SI gets none of the features a stay-in-place strategy needs: operating theatres, intensive care, hyperbaric chambers, delivery rooms and recovery rooms are outside the document.

Complex buildings1.1.2.1, 1.1.2.2, 1.1.3.2(d)

A building with any of 1.1.2.1's complex features, or with features C/AS2 provides no solution for (1.1.2.2), is outside C/AS2, and is designed with C/VM2 or another way (1.1.3.2). The scope face asks about the three a reader is most likely to meet.

NZS 4515 for a Type 7's sprinklers2.2.3.1

For SM educational accommodation and for SI, the sprinkler part of a Type 7 system may be to NZS 4515 for life protection, where the building is within that standard's scope (2.2.3.1).

What a Type 5 isC.2.5.1, C.2.5.2, C.2.5.3

A Type 5 is a Type 4 or Type 7 whose smoke detection inside household units and suites sounds only locally, with a hush facility within reach; it is permitted only with heat detection from the main system in any unit not already sprinklered, and it never extends to exitways, common spaces or other firecells, which keep a full Type 4 or Type 7 (C.2.5).

Single storey buildings2.3.1.2

Structural elements of a single storey building need no FRR unless one is required for some other reason (2.3.1.2).

Ladders3.2.2.11

3.2.2.3(a)'s widths do not apply to ladders where C/AS2 permits them (3.2.2.11).

Activities in exitways3.5.4.2

Some activities may be in an exitway (3.5.4.2): where every firecell the safe path serves has another escape route; the building has an occupant load of no more than 500 with a Type 4 or 5 system, or more with a Type 7; the activity and its occupants do not impede the route; and the activity is visible from the exitway, directly supports the risk group it serves, and takes no more than 6 m², sanitary fixtures aside in both.

External walls that need not be rated3.6.2.2

Parts of an external wall beside an escape route through an opening in it need not be rated where the direction of escape to a single final exit diverges from the wall at no less than 45° in plan; where routes to alternative final exits diverge at no less than 90° and do not both pass the same firecell afterwards; for household units and suites with full-height glazing onto a balcony giving more than one route from the exit door; and for shopfronts whose final exit is onto the footpath (3.6.2.2).

Fire on several sides4.2.1.2

A primary element wholly within a firecell that supports fire separations may need assessing for fire on several sides at once (4.2.1.2).

Primary elements that need no FRR4.2.2.1, Figure 4.2.2.1

Primary elements need no FRR outside an external wall 2 m or more from the relevant boundary where the wall's protected areas shield them, or where they are added to strengthen an existing building and carry only wind or earthquake loads (4.2.2.1).

Fire stops without insulation4.3.2.5

A fire stop around a penetration needs no insulation rating where combustible materials are kept 300 mm from the penetration and the fire stop (4.3.2.5).

Ceiling spaces as firecells4.3.5.1

A large roof or ceiling space may be a firecell of its own above several occupied firecells if its ceiling is a fire separation rated from below; the vertical separations below it may then stop at the ceiling (4.3.5.1).

Direct support functions4.5.1.8

Direct support functions, such as sanitary facilities and tea making for the occupants but not cooking, may be in a group sleeping area without fire or smoke separations (4.5.1.8).

Flytowers, walkways and gantries4.10.3.1

Intermittently occupied flytowers, walkways, maintenance platforms, ladders and gantries that the public does not use need no fire rating where no more than 10 people have access at once (4.10.3.1).

Cavity barriers next to the ground4.11.2.2

No cavity barrier is needed below a floor next to the ground where the concealed space is less than 1 m high, or is not normally accessed and has no openings where litter can collect (4.11.2.2).

Surfaces the finish requirements do not reach4.12.4.1

4.12.4.1 lifts the surface finish requirements from small areas of non-conforming product totalling no more than 5 m² in a firecell; switches, outlets and cover plates; pipes and cables; handrails and trim up to 5% of the surface they are on; damp-proof courses, seals, caulking, flashings, thermal breaks and ground moisture barriers; timber joinery and solid timber, glulam and LVL structure (exposed panels and permanent formwork under floors not included); individual doorsets; openable wall partitions within its limits; marae of traditional Māori construction materials; and CA roof lights within its limits.

Unsprinklered classrooms4.12.4.2

Unsprinklered firecells of classrooms, passageways and corridors in educational buildings need not meet Table 4.12.1.1 where the occupant load is less than 250, the firecells are on the ground floor served by at least two exitways or final exits, and surfaces are Group Number 2-S or better from 1.2 m above the floor and 3 or better below it (4.12.4.2).

Trampers' huts4.12.7.1, BCH/AS1

Trampers' huts used for overnight accommodation in remote places, other than backcountry huts under BCH/AS1, may be lined to Group Number 3 where no more than 20 occupy them and every sleeping space has at least two escape routes (4.12.7.1).

C/VM2's tables as an alternative5.2.4.3, C/VM2

In place of Appendix E.2, C/VM2 Appendix C's horizontal fire spread tables (design scenario HS) may be used for the unprotected area or the separation distance, its unprotected area tables and its wing wall and return wall tables together (5.2.4.3).

Chimneys needing no flue liner7.3.1.5

Flue liners are not needed for brick chimneys of two 90 mm skins of brickwork with a 65 mm grout-filled gap, ordinary concrete chimneys, or pre-cast pumice concrete chimneys (7.3.1.5).

The same as C/AS1Part 7, C/AS1 Part 7, C/AS1 Table 7.3.1.1

C/AS1's Part 7 is C/AS2's: its Table 7.3.1.1 prints the same three constructions with the same thicknesses, and its hearths, clearances and flue linings read the same. A fireplace is detailed once for either document.

Cavity barriersC/AS2 5.5.3.1

Cavity barriers are required in external wall cavities at every floor level, per 4.11.2.

EavesC/AS2 5.3.3

Where the wall is rated, the eaves take the same FRR or the wall extends to the roof underside; where the wall is unrated but the eaves come within 650 mm, both eaves and wall must be rated. Guttering need not be rated.

Where a roof becomes a wallH1/AS1 Definitions, roof; E2/AS1 Definitions, roof and external wall; E2/AS1 1.1.1.1 c); C/AS1 and C/AS2 Definitions, external wall

H1/AS1 and E2/AS1 define a roof the same way: a surface at 60° or less to the horizontal. C/AS1 and C/AS2 come at the same line from the other side, defining an external wall as any exterior face within 30° of vertical, and say that this includes a roof. Both definitions take in 60° itself, so a face pitched at exactly 60° is a roof for energy efficiency and weathertightness and an external wall for fire. Steeper than 60°, it is not a roof to H1/AS1, and C treats it as an external wall. E2/AS1 goes further than a definition: its scope is limited to buildings whose external walls are vertical and whose roofs are 60° or less (1.1.1.1 c)), so a building with any face between 60° and vertical, a mansard for one, is outside E2/AS1 altogether, and its weathertightness has to be shown some other way, such as an alternative solution.