Hugo Nebula wrote:

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 17:20:59 +0100, a particular chimpanzee named
Chris J Dixon randomly hit the keyboard and
produced:


How is it that so many "designer" homes, often of the type shown
on TV or in the glossies, completely ignore these requirements?
I've lost count of the number of times I have had a dig in the
ribs from SWMBO for muttering *Building Regs" on seeing them.


I do the same (although the only SWMBO is the cat, and she isn't
really paying attention).

Ironically, you CAN rip out a stair, guarding and all in an existing
dwelling without having to replace it with anything which is no worse
than the existing, and not fall foul of the Building Regulations.


I am not at all sure that is true. If making a 'material alteration' you
are required to esnure that the alteration is to standards. If you
merely repair iot, then thats true. But putting a new staircase in - it
HAS to comply IMHO.

Staircase design was the biggest bugbear of my house in fact. I had to
move the fireplaces off center to accomodate the main one. The second
staircase going up to a low half storey under the eaves could only go up
the house center, to meet height requirements, and ended up as a virtual
spiral. You can bend the rules to breaking point with a slightly narrow
staircase that winds. It uses the absolute miniumum of floor area.

It seems that you can have plenty of low ceilings in rooms, but not in
staircases :-)