GUIDANCE · OCTOBER 2026
Planning a loft conversion or a ground-floor extension in Scotland? Since 25 November 2024 you may not need automatic fire suppression at all. Here’s what changed, the conditions that come with it, and when suppression is still worth fitting.
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The short version
The Dispensation of Building Regulations (Automatic Fire Suppression Systems) (Scotland) Direction 2024 came into force on 25 November 2024.
It removes the Standard 2.15 suppression requirement from two common kinds of home project: certain ground-storey extensions, and certain conversions — the classic example being turning an attic into a room.
Extensions
A ground-storey extension to a flat, a maisonette or a social housing dwelling no longer needs automatic fire suppression.
The exception: if the dwelling being extended already has an automatic fire suppression system, the dispensation doesn’t apply.
Conversions
Conversions — including using an attic space as a room within a dwelling — are dispensed too. The Direction doesn’t apply where:
The conditions
The dispensation comes with conditions. Where the converted storey is more than 4.5 metres above the ground, you need a category LD1 fire detection and alarm system to BS 5839-6, and a protected enclosure with a short fire resistance duration.
Where the dwelling uses a common escape route — typical in a tenement — you need one of: a protected enclosure within the dwelling, a ventilated protected lobby between the stair and the dwelling, or a self-closing fire door with a medium fire resistance duration on the entrance door to the common escape route.
Still worth it?
The alternative measures can mean real building work in a finished home: new fire doors, enclosing a stair, or forming a lobby.
A mains-fed water mist system can be designed in while the conversion is open and fitted in the same pass, with slim pipework and no storage tank. For some homes that’s the simpler route; for others the alternative measures are. We’ll tell you which.
Residential and domestic water mist systems, designed to the standard Scotland’s building standards cite.
Fitted and commissioned by qualified plumbers, backed by 19 years of frontline firefighting.
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Send us your plans and we’ll tell you whether the Direction covers your project, which conditions apply, and whether water mist is worth considering.
