Hi, We are in the process of remodelling our house. We are replacing spacesaver stairs with a traditional staircase up to a part mezzanine loft bedroom. The previous occupants negotiated the fire regs buy installing a sliding fire door and drop down ceiling (hooked up to a smoke alarm). During the remodelling we have had to decrease the mezzanine depth thus making the drop down ceiling too small and redundant. I want to maximise the amount of light on the landing (that comes from the loft velux) but meet the fire regulations for a habitable loft bedroom. Current suggestions include half wall with angled glass wall above. Steel frame with glass inserts. plus balustrade. Any ideas on how to tackle this would be much appreciated.

I have been given planning permission for a habitable room in the loft. One of the planning rules stipulates that the window opening must be at least 1.7m above floor level. I can't get my head around how you would get out of the room if there was a fire below and you could not use the stairs. I guess you could smash a window but not sure my 5 year old would be strong enough. Has anyone had any experience of such rules? Any help would be much appreciated.

Yes - there is! (and I presume that when you say 'back bedroom' you mean bedroom 3...). You have two options: Option 1- Make the new bedroom 5 slightly narrower than the existing bedroom three, include a 600mm wide window to the top left corner of bedroom three with a lean to roof over the study and utility room below. Option 2- Install a louver shutter over the added side window and accompany your application with a letter of justification as well as consent from your neighbours two houses down on the affected side. The consent has to be from the owner of the property so if the houses next to you are rental tenancies you will have to track down the title holders of the property. Another more extensive renovation option would be to add the bedroom next to bedroom 3, accessing it from behind the bathroom wall. This extension will of course also extend downwards and leave you with a walled roof top courtyard between bedroom two and the added bedroom 5, in the space directly outside the bathroom. All bedrooms will have windows facing away from the neighbours and can open onto the courtyard space but as mentioned this is a extensive renovation. Let me know if you need further assistance, I'll be more than happy to advise you further. You can contact me through our site - betterspace.co Good luck, Ed.

I think the building regs people will say that you are reducing the fire and smoke resistance of the building and reducing the safety of the escape route. If you choose to ask the building regs people I think they will say that it has to be a window with fire glass (unless you can find your preferred shutters with the 30 mins fire enclosure which in my humble opinion is unlikely)