Exits and fire safety in a shop or café fit-out

Exits and fire safety

Under the National Construction Code, every building must have at least one exit from each storey, and in a shop or café no point on the floor may be more than 20 m from an exit (up to 30 m to a single exit at street level), or from a point where you can head two ways to two exits, in which case one of those exits must be no more than 40 m away, under the Code’s Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions. Walls, counters and storerooms put in by a fit-out can change how those rules, and the ones on exit signs and emergency lighting, are met.

General information, not building or fire engineering advice. The clauses are from NCC 2025 Volume One, which each state adopts on its own date; your certifier or building surveyor applies the edition and state variations in force for your approval.

First, the class

Exit rules in the National Construction Code depend on the building’s class. A shop, café or restaurant is Class 6: in NCC 2025 the class covers buildings used to sell goods by retail or supply services direct to the public, and names eating rooms, cafés, restaurants, hairdressers and showrooms among them.

Which edition

The Australian Building Codes Board lists the dates NCC 2025 takes effect: 1 May 2026 in the ACT, Victoria and Western Australia, and 1 May 2027 in New South Wales and Queensland, with other arrangements in South Australia and Tasmania, and the Northern Territory shown as not adopted. It also warns that state and territory variations can change when, or whether, a provision applies. So a fit-out in Sydney approved this year may be assessed against an earlier edition than the clauses quoted here, which come from NCC 2025.

The clauses

These are Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions. Clause D2D1 says that where a Deemed-to-Satisfy Solution is proposed, the relevant Performance Requirements are met by complying with clauses including the D2 clauses below. Under clause A2G1, the Performance Requirements can be met by a Deemed-to-Satisfy Solution, a Performance Solution, or a combination of the two, so a design can depart from these clauses if it is shown to meet the Performance Requirements another way.

NCC 2025 Volume One clauses a Class 6 fit-out most often meets
Clause	What it says	Why it matters to a fit-out (this guide’s reading)
D2D3(1)	“Every building must have at least one exit from each storey.”	Which door is the exit, once counters, shelving and walls go in.
D2D5(3)	In Class 5 to 9 buildings, “no point on a floor must be more than 20 m from an exit, or a point from which travel in different directions to 2 exits is available, in which case the maximum distance to one of those exits must not exceed 40 m”; and “in a Class 5 or 6 building, the distance to a single exit serving a storey at the level of access to a road or open space may be increased to 30 m.”	A new back room, stockroom or kitchen can lengthen the route from its far corner.
E4D2	On any storey of a Class 5 to 9 building with more than 300 m² of floor area, emergency lighting must be installed in each passageway, corridor, hallway or the like on the path of travel to an exit, in any room over 100 m² that opens neither to a corridor or space that is lit for emergencies nor to a road or open space, and in any room over 300 m². It is also required “in a sole-occupancy unit in a Class 5, 6 or 9 building” where “the floor area of the unit is more than 300 m²” and “an exit from the unit does not open to a road or open space or to an external stairway, passageway, balcony or ramp, leading directly to a road or open space”. Separately, it must be installed “in every room or space to which there is public access in every storey in a Class 6 or 9b building” if the storey is more than 300 m², if any point on the floor is over 20 m from the closest doorway that opens straight onto a stairway, ramp, passageway, road or open space, if egress involves a vertical rise of more than 1.5 m (or any rise where the storey does not admit enough light), or if the storey is a path of travel from another storey that needs it.	Floor area and travel distance change when a tenancy is opened up or divided.
E4D5	“An exit sign must be clearly visible to persons approaching the exit”, installed on, above or next to each door listed in the clause, including a door that is, or is part of, a required exit on a storey where E4D2 requires emergency lighting.	Bulkheads, signage and tall displays can hide a sign.

NCC 2025 Volume One clauses a Class 6 fit-out most often meets

Clause

What it says

Why it matters to a fit-out (this guide’s reading)

D2D3(1)

“Every building must have at least one exit from each storey.”

Which door is the exit, once counters, shelving and walls go in.

D2D5(3)

In Class 5 to 9 buildings, “no point on a floor must be more than 20 m from an exit, or a point from which travel in different directions to 2 exits is available, in which case the maximum distance to one of those exits must not exceed 40 m”; and “in a Class 5 or 6 building, the distance to a single exit serving a storey at the level of access to a road or open space may be increased to 30 m.”

A new back room, stockroom or kitchen can lengthen the route from its far corner.

E4D2

On any storey of a Class 5 to 9 building with more than 300 m² of floor area, emergency lighting must be installed in each passageway, corridor, hallway or the like on the path of travel to an exit, in any room over 100 m² that opens neither to a corridor or space that is lit for emergencies nor to a road or open space, and in any room over 300 m². It is also required “in a sole-occupancy unit in a Class 5, 6 or 9 building” where “the floor area of the unit is more than 300 m²” and “an exit from the unit does not open to a road or open space or to an external stairway, passageway, balcony or ramp, leading directly to a road or open space”. Separately, it must be installed “in every room or space to which there is public access in every storey in a Class 6 or 9b building” if the storey is more than 300 m², if any point on the floor is over 20 m from the closest doorway that opens straight onto a stairway, ramp, passageway, road or open space, if egress involves a vertical rise of more than 1.5 m (or any rise where the storey does not admit enough light), or if the storey is a path of travel from another storey that needs it.

Floor area and travel distance change when a tenancy is opened up or divided.

E4D5

“An exit sign must be clearly visible to persons approaching the exit”, installed on, above or next to each door listed in the clause, including a door that is, or is part of, a required exit on a storey where E4D2 requires emergency lighting.

Bulkheads, signage and tall displays can hide a sign.

Victoria: who pays for essential safety measures

The Victorian Small Business Commission explains a change that took effect on 23 September 2020. Under a retail lease, a landlord can now pass on to the tenant, as outgoings, the costs of repairing and maintaining essential safety measures and the costs of installing them as part of a fit-out, and only if the tenant’s lease, together with the disclosure statement or the annual estimate of outgoings, allows it. The Commission gives as examples of essential safety measures: smoke detectors, sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, signs marking fire exits, and yearly safety inspections.

It adds that the change applies to new and existing leases but does not let a landlord recover costs already paid, and that a tenant can now agree to carry out repairs and maintenance on an essential safety measure. The source of the change is the Retail Leases Amendment Act 2020, an amendment to Victoria’s Retail Leases Act 2003. Read the outgoings section of your disclosure statement with this in mind; Sheet SF-01 covers disclosure.

New South Wales: the Fire Safety Code

The NSW Planning Portal says the Fire Safety Code lets three kinds of work be done as complying development: installing or extending a fire sprinkler system in a residential aged care facility, altering a hydraulic fire safety system, and fire alarm communication link works. The full development standards are in the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008. For a café that grows into more floor area, the planning department’s 2020 fact sheet says you also need to confirm the building’s fire resistance performance and the structural integrity of awnings.

Before the drawings are final

Ask your certifier or building surveyor which NCC edition and state variations apply to the approval.
Mark every exit, and the travel distance to it from the farthest point of each room, on the fit-out plan.
Check that exit signs stay clearly visible after signage, bulkheads and displays go in.
In Victoria, check what your lease says about essential safety measures before agreeing to pay for them.