With the consideration of small residential apartment or penthouse development facing the constraints of limited land area, Civil Defence Department allows the provision of single exit staircase for building with habitable height not more than 28m provided the following conditions are met:
- The single exit staircase shall serve not more than four apartments or penthouses at each storey level, and
- Provision of exits from each residential apartment or penthouse shall comply with the NFPA requirements, and
- Travel distance from the most remote exit door to the exit staircase from each apartment or penthouse shall not exceed 15 m, and
- Exit staircase shall comply with the requirements of NFPA for exit staircases, and
- Approach to the exit staircase shall be through pressurised fire fighting/smoke-stop lobby of minimum 10 air changes per hour, and
- Approach from the exit door of residential apartment or penthouse to the fire fighting lobby /smoke-stop lobby shall be through pressurised corridor, and
- The exit door of the apartment or penthouse shall be of minimum 1 hour fire resistance rating, and
- Sprinkler shall be provided throughout the building.
Note: Above is extracted from QCDD-FSS (Qatar Civil Defense – Fire Safety Standard). Information may not be complete and intended to be used as quick references only.