A-2 occ load < 50

[BSSTG]

Greetings,

2012 IBC applies 303.1.1

303.1.1 Small buildings and tenant spaces.

A building or tenant space used for assembly purposes with an occupant load of less than 50 persons shall be classified as a Group B occupancy.

We have a small café going in a mixed occ building of about 7500 sq ft. If the café, which would normally be an A-2, is classified as a B per the note posted above because is has an occ load of 48, would it be required to be separated by fire barriers or such? I think not.

I would say that if the occ load is under 50, and the rest of the building is Group B. then no separation requirements would apply nor would sprinklers be required.

Am I correct in my interpretation?

The rub.

My figures show the occ load at over 50 but less than 100 making the space Group A-2. If that is to be the case then the whole building would be required to be sprinklered as the fire area exceeds 5000 sq ft. OR we would need to have fire area delineation with fire barriers etc. to avoid sprinklering the building.

Opinions?

BSSTG

 

[cda]

How many sq ft is the actual dining area?

How many sq ft is the kitchen?

 

[JBI]

With an A-2 OL over 50 the space needs to be classified separately and regulated separately.

With a fire area OL over 100 that includes an A-2 of 50 or more, then you would apply either the non-separated mixed use provisions and sprinkler the entire fire area OR

the separated mixed use provisions and possibly avoid the sprinkles altogether (assuming the A-2 OL is still less than 100).

 

[BSSTG]

Folks

Yea my point is that the occ load will probably be greater than 50 and less than 100 I'm almost certain. I have no precise dwgs to go by. I've emailed the architect and asked for some justification, dwgs, whatever to come up with a good occ load. We shall see. Point is that if the occ load is < 50 than most of the challenge goes away. Over 50 and we need 2 exits, the space is classified A-2, and we have to look at separation as the fire area would be about 7500 sq ft which kicks in the sprinkler requirement if it is not separated.

The other challenge may be trying to separate an A-2 from the rest of the building. This building has been spliced and diced in the past.

I'll post up when I hear from the architect.

BS

 

[skipharper]

If sprinkler goes away by creating separate fire areas the A needs 2 hour separation from B, M, etc.

 

[BayPointArchitect]

Coincidently, I just had an architect ask me the same question related to new construction. A convenience store (M occupancy) with a sandwich shop (B occupancy) having 44 seats (+/-). In this particular case, the architect is okay with creating a 2 hour rated wall and a pair of double doors with magnetic hold opens to compartmentalize the 6,000 S.F. building into two smaller areas.

Very marginal situation.

 

[BSSTG]

Well, the architect had the occ load at 48 in the seating area. I measured and came up with 43 which works even better. Total occ load will be 48 figured with kitchen etc. No separation required IMO and only 1 MOE too as the common path of egress does not exceed 75'. Occupancy will be Group B instead of A-2 as it is under 49 persons. Works for me. The only drawback might be if they want to add on in the future. Oh well, I hope to be retired by then!

BS