Room definition
Approved document B, Fire Safety, Volume 1 Dwelling houses, defines a ‘room’ as: 'An enclosed space within a building that is not used solely as a circulation space. The term includes not only conventional rooms, but also cupboards that are not fittings and large spaces such as warehouses and auditoria. The term does not include cavities such as ducts, ceiling cavities and roof spaces.'
The Scottish Building Standards, Part I. Technical Handbook – Domestic, Appendix A Defined Terms, suggests that room means: ‘…any enclosed part of a storey intended for human occupation or, where no part of any such storey is so enclosed, the whole of that storey, but excepting in either case any part used solely as a bathroom, shower room, washroom, toilet, stair or circulation area.’
For more information, see Types of room.
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