Building regs impossible for old house loft conversion,

[springmachine]

We have a typical 2 up 2 down Victorian terrace.

Nice large square rooms that are approx 13x13ft.

The downstairs is knocked through and open plan with a modern steel staircase going through the middle.

Ideally we want to use the loft room as an office / sewing room type thing.

It already has a window to the gable end (end of terrace house), but the stairs are space saver loft stairs.

I'd like to replace e stairs with non space saving stairs but realise that no matter what happens the loft will never meet building regs - mainly because the staircase coming down from the loft can't have a direct sealed route to an exit.

Has anyone had a usable loft in similar circumstances ?

i thought the regs about a sealed staircase apply only to bedrooms. if you aren't using it as a bedroom, you may be ok.

If you want a loft and you have open plan / open stairs downstairs, I think some authorities will accept a sprinkler system in place of a closed off stairway.

Fire sprinklers would be the solution. Partial system or full depending on your building control officer and depending on what regulations they will allow you to use. There are fire engineered solutions that can be utilised.