Automist Compliance

Automist® smartscan is designed and installed in accordance with BS8458:2015, the British standard for residential and domestic water mist systems. Its performance has been independently validated through the BSI Verification Scheme. Certificate No. VC780009.

To explore Automist®’s compliance with BS8458:2015 please refer to: Page 14 of the Design, Installation & Operation Manual, The manufacturers declaration of Conformity and Page 2 of the BSI Verification Certificate.

BS9991:2024 (Usually for larger projects & flats)

This is a British standard for establishing general fire safety principles and identifies the needs for fixed fire fighting systems as part of a buildings safety strategy.

Clause 17 of BS9991 states that “This British Standard does not give recommendations for any type of fixed fire fighting system other than sprinkler systems. Guidance on the selection and key design considerations of other fixed firefighting systems is given in BS5306-0.”

BS5306-0:2020

This document now provides the guidance on selecting alternative fixed fire fighting systems. Table 1 of this standard confirms that water mist systems are acceptable in all domestic settings, provided that they comply with BS8458:2015.

BS8458:2015

As above, Automist smart scan is designed and installed in accordance with BS8458:2015 the British Standard for residential and domestic watermist.

Approved Document B

Approved Document B (Usually for smaller one off projects)

Approved document B specifically provides guidance for the use of non-standard systems.

Approved document B specifically provides guidance for the use of non-standard systems, explaining:

Although approved documents cover common building situations, compliance with the guidance set out in the approved documents does not provide a guarantee of compliance with the requirements of the regulations because the approved documents cannot cater for all circumstances including variations and innovations. Where the guidance within the approved documents has not been followed, the person carrying out the building works should demonstrate that the requirements of the regulations have been complied with by some other acceptable means or methods.

Building Regulation 7

Regulation 7 provides guidance on materials and their workmanship.

Regulation 7 states that you must use the appropriate materials for construction and how those who are working on the building must behave in a workmanlike manner. It outlines a number of ways to assess the suitability of a material for use for a specific purpose. Recently “Building a Safer Future: An Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety” by Dame Judith Hackitt contained a diagram outlining the process.

Plumis The manufacturer of automist have provided the manufacturers declaration of Conformity. Regulation 7 states that: “If the declared performance of a product is suitable for its intended use, the building control body should not prohibit or impede its use”.

BS7974:2019

This standard provides a framework for performance based fire engineering.

Automist can be utilised as part of a fire engineered strategy to achieve compliance in residential, domestic and commercial properties.

Worthy Mentions

Scotland

Automist® receives a successful ministerial view on the use of the product in Scotland stating: “Having carefully considered all the information submitted in the case, it is the view of the Scottish Ministers that the proposals do meet the requirements of Standard 2.15. This standard for reference is with regard to flats and maisonette’s, the standard states: “Every Building must be designed and constructed in such a way that, in the event of an outbreak of fire within the building, fire growth will be inhibited by the operation of an automatic fire suppression system.”

Independent Fire Engineered Study

Found that in open-plan homes with more than two stories;

Automist’s performance in open-plan homes is equivalent to or better than a domestic sprinkler system that conforms to BS9251:2021.

Advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) moddelling with 600 simulations run showed that automist provides fire safety comparable to accepted designs following guidance like Approved document B (ADB) or BS9991:2015

Automist is suitable for certain open-plan layouts that deviate from traditional guidance.

3rd Party Fire Testing

Automist has been independently tested by Warringtonfire (Exova Report 396498), which is accredited under BS EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 (UKAS 0249)

Additional Testing

Bespoke component testing has been conducted to ensure reliability and fire performance.