Student Accommodation Curtains

What fire rating do student accommodation curtains need?

Curtains in halls of residence, purpose-built student accommodation and student HMOs are specified against BS 5867 Part 2, the British Standard for the flammability of curtains, drapes and window blinds. Student bedrooms are sleeping accommodation, so the fire strategy will normally call for Type C, the more demanding of the two contract types and the one that also has to keep its performance after a defined cleansing procedure. That matters here: curtains in student housing are laundered between every tenancy and often more.

The building's fire risk assessment is the authority. Every fabric on this page carries a current BS 5867 Part 2 test report; use the BS 5867 Type C curtains collection to filter to Type C where the assessment requires it.

Choosing curtain fabrics for student housing

This collection is deliberately narrow: blackout plains in the lower fabric bands, because that is what a student bedroom needs and what an operator can afford to replace across several hundred rooms. What shapes the specification:

• True blackout. Students sleep at irregular hours and light leakage is a recurring complaint in accommodation surveys. Blackout fire retardant curtains exclude light through the cloth itself, so there is no lining to separate or fail. Making up with a generous overlap and return ends does the rest.
• Robust headings. Curtains here are pulled by hand, hard, every day. Eyelets on a pole or wave on a channel track survive better than pencil pleat on hooks, and are quicker for maintenance staff to rehang.
• One fabric across the building. A single colourway across every room means a damaged curtain is a stock item, not a scheme decision. Order a surplus at the outset: dye lots vary between production runs and a perfect match a year later cannot be promised.
• Laundering. Every fabric we list is inherently fire retardant, so the rating is in the fibre and survives the summer turnaround wash year after year. Check the product page for temperature guidance.
• Common rooms and study spaces. These do not need blackout; the wider school and university range covers dimouts, prints and textures for shared areas.

Specifying and ordering

Every curtain is made to measure in the UK. Choose the fabric, enter your drop and width, select a heading (pencil pleat, eyelet, wave or pinch pleat), and the configurator prices it immediately. For a whole block, or where you would rather send us a room schedule, request a quote and we will price it as a single job with volume pricing, rather than leaving you to multiply an online price by three hundred.

Student accommodation work is concentrated in the summer void period, so tell us the handover date early and we will confirm what lead time is achievable. Fire test certificates are supplied for the fire risk assessment and O&M files, and samples are available on every fabric.

Student accommodation curtain FAQs

Do student accommodation curtains have to be fire retardant?

Yes. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the responsible person must control fire risk, and because bedrooms are sleeping accommodation the fire risk assessor will normally expect curtains to meet BS 5867 Part 2 Type C. Every fabric on this page is tested to BS 5867 Part 2.

Do the same rules apply to a student HMO?

Licensed HMOs fall under the Fire Safety Order for their common parts and the landlord's fire risk assessment will usually extend the expectation to bedroom curtains. Local authority licensing conditions vary; if in doubt, specifying to BS 5867 Part 2 removes the question.

How quickly can you replace individual curtains?

Where you have standardised on a fabric we can make up replacements to the same sizes from the original order record; tell us the room and we will match it.