Technical Guidance Document B: Fire Safety.

TGD B Volume 1 was substantially rewritten in 2024, replacing the 2006 TGD B for buildings other than dwelling houses. The Department reprinted it in January 2026 with a list of corrections incorporated, and that reprint is the current edition. It applies to works or material changes of use starting on or after 1 May 2025. The 2006 document can still be used where a planning application, Part 8 notice, fire safety certificate or strategic housing decision was in place on or before 30 April 2025, provided the structure of the external walls is erected by 30 April 2028.

Volume 2, Dwelling Houses, remains the 2017 edition, with a separate supplementary guidance document. Apartments are not dwelling houses: a block of flats is designed to Volume 1, Purpose Group 1(c).

Paragraph 1.9.12 is the core clause. It makes escape route and exit signs a requirement in every building the document covers and ties their visibility to the lighting design, with emergency escape lighting designed to I.S. 3217. It then lists the other signs the fire safety certificate will look for: hose reels, call points, fire doors (to Diagram 86 and Appendix B), push bar doors (to Annex A of I.S. EN 1125) and refuges. Further information on signs is referred to I.S. EN ISO 7010.

Section 5 adds signs for firefighters. Where a firefighting shaft or a stair for firefighting purposes is provided, each landing in the stair and each firefighting lobby gets a storey identification sign that identifies the floor by number. Additional firefighting facilities start in buildings with compartment floors, such as apartment buildings, where the topmost floor is more than 11m above ground (paragraph 5.5.4).

TGD B does not contain the flat indicator sign provisions of Approved Document B Volume 1 or Technical Booklet E, and it does not give letter heights or mounting heights for storey signs. Ireland also has no equivalent of England's regulation 8 for existing buildings. You can choose to use the ADB floor and flat sign format on an Irish block, but that is a design choice, not a TGD B requirement. Fire door signs are where Ireland is more specific than England: TGD B fixes the mounting band and the blue mandatory colour in the appendix.

Under BCAR, the assigned certifier and the design certifier sign off compliance with Part B, and the fire safety certificate application is where the fire safety strategy, including escape signage, is assessed. Treat that strategy as the minimum sign schedule, then add the operational signs the fire safety risk assessment and Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations require.