Stair Well

By definition a Stairwell is a shaft in a building, in which stairs are used to vertically link different floors. It is mandatory under building regulations, BS and EN standards to have stairs where there is more than one floor in addition to lifts etc. In low rise buildings they are commonly used, however for the upper floors in taller buildings, stairs are very rarely used and their purpose is therefore for emergency situations, for example a major fire.

On most projects, money is spent primarily on either the areas which will be most functionally beneficial, or which will maximise the perceived value. Stairs are one of the few areas where an individual architectural feature can be easily made, however how visible the stair is and the amount of use it will get is usually what affects the specification.