Evacuation Diagrams for High-Rise Buildings in Australia

High-rise buildings represent the most complex evacuation planning challenge in the built environment. The sheer number of floors, the reliance on fire stairs rather than lifts, the presence of multiple tenants with different needs, and the requirement for staged rather than simultaneous evacuation all demand a level of detail in evacuation diagrams that goes well beyond a standard low-rise commercial building.

This guide covers everything building managers, facilities managers, and tenants in Australian high-rise buildings need to know about evacuation diagram compliance under AS 3745:2010 and the National Construction Code.

What Counts as a High-Rise Building in Australia?

Under the National Construction Code (NCC), a high-rise building is defined as a building with an effective height exceeding 25 metres. Effective height is measured from the lowest ground level adjacent to the building to the topmost floor level. This typically corresponds to a building of approximately eight storeys or more, though the exact storey count varies depending on floor-to-floor heights.

High-rise buildings are classified as Type A construction under the NCC, which imposes the most stringent fire resistance requirements of any construction type. These include fully protected exit stairwells, pressurised stair shafts in many cases, fire-isolated corridors, and automatic sprinkler systems throughout. Each of these features affects how evacuation diagrams are drawn and what they must show.

For evacuation planning purposes, the relevant distinction is not just the 25-metre threshold but the practical consequence: in a high-rise, lifts cannot be used for evacuation, and the entire building cannot evacuate simultaneously down a single stairwell. These two facts drive almost every difference between high-rise and low-rise evacuation diagrams.

Phased and Staged Evacuation

The most fundamental difference between high-rise and low-rise evacuation is the concept of staged or phased evacuation. In a low-rise building, a fire alarm typically results in total building evacuation: everyone leaves via the nearest exit and goes to the assembly area. In a high-rise, this is impractical and potentially dangerous.

Australian high-rise buildings use a staged evacuation protocol typically structured as follows:

• Fire floor: the floor where the fire or alarm originates evacuates immediately
• Floor above: the floor directly above the fire floor evacuates concurrently (heat and smoke rise)
• Floor below: the floor directly below may also be evacuated as a precaution in some protocols
• Remaining floors: occupants remain in place (defend in place) and await instructions from building wardens via the warden intercom system
• Progressive evacuation: additional floors evacuate in sequence as directed by the fire control room or fire brigade, working from the fire floor outward
• Full evacuation: if the fire escalates, a full building evacuation is ordered

This staged approach changes what evacuation diagrams must communicate. A diagram in a high-rise building must not simply say "go to the assembly area." It must convey that occupants on unaffected floors should await warden instructions, and that the primary action on most floors is to move to the refuge area or fire stair landing rather than immediately exiting the building.

The staged evacuation protocol is part of the Emergency Management Plan (EMP) required under AS 3745, and the evacuation diagrams must be consistent with and complement that plan.

Fire Stairs vs Lifts

Every evacuation diagram in a high-rise building must clearly communicate that lifts must not be used during a fire emergency. This instruction should appear on every floor-level diagram, ideally with a graphic symbol showing a lift with a cross through it alongside the fire stair symbol.

The location of all fire-isolated exit stairs must be prominently shown on each diagram. In a large floor plate (say, 2,000 square metres or more), there may be two or more fire stairs at different ends of the floor. Diagrams must show the route to each stair and indicate which is the primary route from that specific location.

Some high-rise buildings also have a dedicated fire-fighters' lift (sometimes called a fire control lift or emergency lift). This lift is reserved for use by the fire brigade during a fire. Diagrams should show the location of this lift but make clear it is not for occupant evacuation use.

Refuge Areas

Under the NCC, high-rise buildings must provide areas of refuge on each floor or at each fire stair landing. These are areas where people with mobility impairments who cannot use the stairs can wait safely for assistance from the fire brigade or trained wardens.

Evacuation diagrams in high-rise buildings must show the location of all refuge areas on each floor. This requirement is particularly important in buildings with a high likelihood of occupants with mobility limitations, such as hotels, aged care facilities that happen to be in a high-rise setting, or medical suites.

The procedure for assisting occupants to refuge areas should be documented in the Emergency Management Plan. The evacuation diagram itself shows the location; the warden training covers the procedure.

Warden Intercom Systems

Most commercial high-rise buildings in Australia have a Warden Intercom System (WIS), sometimes called a Warden Communication System (WCS). These are the red telephone handsets found in fire stair landings, corridors, and lift lobbies. They allow floor wardens to communicate with the building's fire control room during an emergency.

The location of all WIS points must be shown on evacuation diagrams. This is both an AS 3745 requirement (as emergency equipment) and a practical necessity: wardens need to know exactly where to find the intercom during a high-stress situation. Diagrams should show WIS locations as a standard symbol, typically a telephone handset icon.

What High-Rise Evacuation Diagrams Must Show

High-rise evacuation diagrams must include all the standard AS 3745:2010 mandatory elements, plus several high-rise-specific elements:

• Floor plan of the level showing the full layout of offices, corridors, and lobby areas
• "You Are Here" marker accurately positioned for the diagram's installed location
• All fire-isolated exit stairwells clearly marked with stair identification (e.g., Stair A, Stair B)
• Direction of travel to each fire stair
• Refuge area locations on the floor
• Warden intercom system (WIS) point locations
• Fire extinguisher, hose reel, and hydrant locations
• Manual call point (break glass) locations
• Fire control room location (typically shown on ground floor and lobby diagrams)
• Instruction to not use lifts during emergency
• Staged evacuation instruction or reference to floor warden procedure
• Assembly area location (shown on lower floor and lobby diagrams)
• Emergency contact numbers including 000 and building management
• Building name, floor level reference, and full street address
• Date of creation or last review

Orientation is particularly challenging in high-rise buildings with large or irregular floor plates. The standard AS 3745 rule applies: "up" on the diagram must match the direction a person would walk forward from the viewing position. In a corridor with diagrams at each end, this means the two diagrams are mirror images of each other, even if they show the same floor plan. Every diagram must be individually oriented to its installed location.

Per-Floor Diagram Requirements

In a high-rise building, each floor is treated as a distinct location for evacuation diagram purposes. A single generic diagram cannot serve multiple floors, because:

• The "You Are Here" position changes on every floor
• Tenancy layouts may differ between floors
• The nearest exit stair from a given point may change if the floor plate is not identical throughout the building
• Some floors may have mechanical plant rooms, plant lobbies, or reduced floor areas that change the available routes
• Refuge area locations, WIS points, and fire equipment may be in different positions on different floors

Within a single floor, multiple diagrams are required at different locations: at the lift lobby, at each end of the main corridor, in large tenancy suites, at each fire stair entrance, and in back-of-house areas. A typical single floor in a commercial high-rise tower might need 4 to 8 individual diagrams, depending on the size and layout of that floor.

Smoke Compartmentation

High-rise buildings are divided into fire and smoke compartments by fire-rated walls, floors, and doors. These compartments are designed to limit the spread of fire and smoke and give occupants time to evacuate to a place of safety.

Evacuation diagrams should show the location of fire and smoke doors on the floor plan, particularly in corridors where the presence of a smoke door affects which direction occupants should travel. In some high-rise layouts, a corridor is divided by a smoke door, and occupants on one side of the door may reach a different fire stair faster than those on the other side.

Understanding smoke compartmentation also helps explain why staged evacuation works: the fire compartment containing the fire is designed to contain the event long enough for the staged evacuation to proceed safely floor by floor.

Tenant vs Building Management Responsibilities

Multi-tenancy high-rise towers create a division of evacuation diagram responsibility that can be a source of confusion and compliance gaps. The general principle under AS 3745 is:

• The building owner or building management is responsible for base building diagrams: fire stair landings, lift lobbies, common corridors, car parks, and the ground floor lobby
• Each individual tenant is responsible for diagrams within their own tenancy, because the tenant controls the internal fit-out and knows the layout of their space
• Where a tenant occupies an entire floor, they are responsible for all diagrams on that floor including the lift lobby entry and any shared areas on that floor
• Lease agreements should specify these responsibilities clearly, but in the absence of a specific clause, the WHS duty of care falls on both parties to ensure occupants are protected

A common compliance gap occurs when base building diagrams are current but individual tenant diagrams are years out of date following a fit-out. Conversely, some tenants update their internal diagrams but the base building diagrams in the fire stair landings have not been touched since the building was constructed. Both conditions leave the building non-compliant.

Building managers of multi-tenancy towers are strongly advised to include evacuation diagram review obligations in tenant lease agreements and to conduct periodic checks of all diagram locations across the building, not just the common areas.

Fire Control Rooms

High-rise buildings typically have a dedicated fire control room (FCR), usually located at the ground floor level near the main building entrance. The FCR houses the fire indicator panel (FIP), the building intercom system, the warden communication equipment, and in some buildings the CCTV monitoring system.

During a fire emergency, the FCR is the coordination centre for building wardens and the fire brigade. The chief warden operates from the FCR, directing floor wardens via the WIS and communicating with attending fire fighters.

Evacuation diagrams in the lift lobby and ground floor entry should show the location of the FCR. The FCR itself should have a full set of all building floor plans for the fire brigade's use, which is a separate requirement from the AS 3745 evacuation diagrams but equally important.

Helicopter Landing Areas

Some high-rise buildings in Australia, particularly older commercial towers and some modern mixed-use developments, have designated helicopter landing areas (HLAs) on their roofs. These are intended for use by the fire brigade in a rescue scenario, not for general building evacuation.

Where an HLA exists, its location should be noted in the building's Emergency Management Plan. For evacuation diagram purposes, the HLA is not a primary evacuation route and should not be shown as an escape option on standard floor diagrams. It may be shown on a building overview diagram held in the FCR.

How Many Diagrams Does a 20-Storey Building Need?

To illustrate the scale of high-rise evacuation diagram requirements, consider a typical 20-storey commercial office tower in an Australian CBD:

• Ground floor lobby and entry: 4 to 6 diagrams (main entry, lift lobby, fire stair entries, back-of-house access)
• Floors 1 to 18 (typical office floors): 5 to 7 diagrams per floor = approximately 90 to 126 diagrams
• Each fire stair landing (2 stairs x 20 floors): 40 stair landing diagrams
• Basement car park: 4 to 8 diagrams depending on layout and number of levels
• Plant floors or mechanical floors: 2 to 4 diagrams each

For a building of this description, the total number of individual evacuation diagrams is typically between 140 and 200. Each one must be individually oriented to its installed location with the correct "You Are Here" position. This is why high-rise evacuation diagram projects are always quoted on a per-floor or per-diagram basis rather than as a flat building rate.

Maintaining this volume of diagrams is an ongoing commitment. Each time a floor is refitted by a new tenant, the diagrams for that floor need to be reviewed and updated. Each time fire equipment is relocated during maintenance, the affected diagrams need to be updated. A proactive building manager schedules diagram review as part of the routine Essential Safety Measures compliance programme.

Specific Compliance Issues in High-Rise Buildings

The most frequently cited compliance issues found during fire safety inspections of Australian high-rise buildings are:

• Tenant fit-out diagrams not updated following office renovations, resulting in incorrect "You Are Here" positions and wrong exit routes
• Fire stair landing diagrams missing or damaged and not replaced
• Generic floor diagrams that are identical across multiple floors, without individual "You Are Here" positioning
• Diagrams that show lifts as an evacuation option (they must never be shown this way)
• No mention of staged evacuation protocol or warden instructions
• WIS point locations absent from diagrams
• Refuge area locations not shown on any floor diagram
• Assembly area shown on internal floor diagrams (it should only be shown on ground floor lobby and lower floor diagrams where the assembly area is visible or reachable)
• Out-of-date emergency contact numbers, particularly after building management changes

Order High-Rise Evacuation Diagrams with EvacPath

EvacPath creates AS 3745-compliant evacuation diagrams for high-rise commercial buildings, residential towers, hotels, and mixed-use developments across Australia. We work entirely from your floor plans. No site visit is required, which keeps per-diagram costs low on large-volume projects.

We understand the specific requirements of high-rise evacuation planning: staged evacuation notation, per-floor orientation, WIS point locations, refuge area placement, fire stair identification, and the tenant vs building management split.

Pricing: A$70 per diagram. Basic Package A$280 for up to 4 diagrams. Standard Package A$420 for up to 8 diagrams. For large high-rise projects with 20, 50, or 200 or more diagrams, contact us for volume pricing. All diagrams are delivered as print-ready PDFs in 3 to 5 business days. No site visit fees. No travel charges.