25 266814 ALT

Project Description

Alternative SolutionAs a result, the following alternative solutions are being suggested to deal with issues like the narrow footprint of this building and the positioning next to the adjacent buildings that limits compliance with B3 requirements for egress stairs and corridor widths, the grandfathering of the rear fire escape, the lack of a CACF room. 1. Corridor width: due to the width of the buildings, corridors typically do not exceed 1,100mm width. The clients on this floor will not be in medical beds and able to enter and leave freely. 2. Egress stair width: due to the width of the buildings, the stairs that are being reconstructed will not exceed 1,100mm widths. 3. Fire escape stairs: the existing rear fire escape will be maintained as an egress path for this floor. Alternate locations for interior stairs were explored but constraints from the adjacent buildings prevent any egress options outside of the existing front stairs, the back fire escape, and the newly proposed egress through the parking garage next door4. CACF Room: this building is only 5 storeys above grade. However, due to the 4th floor height and B3 occupancy, it can fall under the requirements of a high building which include a CACF Room. Many measures have been taken to comply and improve the performance of this building, such as venting all levels through new operable windows covering >1% of the exterior wall area, OBC compliant pressurized areas of refuge with 2-way video intercoms for communicating emergencies, new sprinkler system through the entire facility, intumescent fire spray of all floors and structural members to increase the fire resistance rating of all floors to 2 hours. The clients on the B3 floor are again not standard B3 occupancy patients and therefore do not truly require all these measures for safety. A CACF room provides very little gain in terms of safety, but compromises critical needs for space in the building that negatively impact any services that can be provided.

Permit Details