I agree with most of the respondents that requiring the maintenance of compliant egress paths during renovation of an occupied building is the Architect's responsibility. One can accomplish this in multiple ways. If phase demarcations are clearly defined, then one can be highly specific about the scope of the temporary work, showing it on the drawings as part of phasing plans and specifying it under some section like Temporary Facilities. If the phase demarcations are less clear and will be subject to the contractor's strategy, you can specify performance requirements and require that the contractor provide a egress plan for approval.
I would not consider defining the need for temporary means of egress as encroaching on the contractor's means and methods any more than requiring phases in the first place is. We recently completed a large multi-phase re-skin of an occupied high-rise in which the entire temporary building enclosure was fully shown and specified. Leaving this to the contractor as a matter of means and methods would not have satisfactorily protected our client. Our specifications actually contain many protective directions with respect to the contractor's methods - think of things like prohibiting the use of hammering devices for demolition in certain circumstances. I would place this issue in that category.
As to whether this is an additional service, it really depends on when the need for phasing and multiple egress schemes arose. If the need was know at the time of the proposal, I would tend to consider this work a part of basic services. If you are in a competitive environment and are worried about it, you might want to ask this question during Q&A to level the playing field. If the need evolves during the design and was not originally anticipated, I would feel justified in asking for additional fees depending, of course, on the complexity of the effort and size and scope of the job.
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John Kohlhas AIA
Principal, Director of Operations
NORR
Philadelphia PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-17-2021 04:59 PM
From: d'Andre Willis
Subject: Architect's responsibility for egress routes
I'm looking for input on an Architect's responsibility for determining whether appropriate egress routes are available from occupied areas of a building during a renovation and expansion project in adjacent areas. Would the Architect be responsible for determining whether the project as designed has eliminated necessary egress routes, and, if so, responsible for designing and documenting temporary egress routes? Would this be an additional service? The B101-2007 document does not seem to address this question.
Thanks!
d'Andre Willis, AIA, LEED AP