DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Complete novice here about to embark on our first renovation project... I'm sure these things are probably super obvious to anyone in the know but we are clueless and the regs seem so confusing!

We are proposing to convert our 1 bed flat to two beds and I have some concerns over fire escape routes from the new bedroom and ventilation from the kitchen as a result of our proposed layout ideas. The property is a ground floor semi-detached flat (attached along bathroom/kitchen side) and there are flats above and below.

I've attached pictures of the current layout and 2 alternative proposed layouts - one involves opening up the kitchen and living room, which I think may cause fire escape issues from the newly created bedroom. The other would mean keeping the structure virtually the same and erecting a partition wall in the kitchen to create a bedroom but this would mean the kitchen became windowless and I don't know what the ventilation/fire escape implications of this might be....

We currently have a gas supply to the hob in the kitchen. If we were to enclose the kitchen so that it became windowless, how would we comply with the ventilation requirements? Would we need to switch to electric?

If we were to open up the space between the living room and kitchen, would we be able to comply with fire regs to provide a fire escape room from the new bedroom area? To note, the flat exits to a communal hall and not to the street.

We would be so grateful for any advice! Building control have been thoroughly unhelpful so far!