Fire safety remains top of the agenda following the Dame Judith Hackitt Review and the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster. Whilst much of the debate has centred around the use of combustible cladding and the need to improve fire safety management systems, there are strong calls from the industry to tighten the law on the installation of fire suppression methods too.
Antony Corbett, product manager for Geberit Piping Systems, examines the case for mandatory sprinkler installations into existing properties.
You don’t have to look hard to find evidence of public support for tighter regulations on the use of sprinklers in new and existing buildings following the Grenfell Tower disaster. The National Fire Chiefs Council, RIBA and the London Assembly Planning Committee are amongst the organisations to have called for a change in fire safety laws surrounding sprinklers. Jeremy Corbyn and Dany Cotton, Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, have also expressed their support for mandatory sprinkler installations since June 2017.
Dame Judith Hackitt’s review into Building Regulations and fire safety laws may have focused on fire safety management, but in all the debate around cost, process, red tape and product, one fact can’t be ignored; sprinkler systems save lives. It is no coincidence nobody has ever died from a fire related incident in the UK in a building with a working sprinkler system. In fact, research by the National Fire Chiefs Council shows that sprinklers are 99 per cent effective at containing, controlling or extinguishing fire when activated.
The opportunity
The English Housing Survey shows that there are 425,000 flats situated in high rise blocks in England, including 189,000 rented from local authorities or housing associations. However, just 6.5 per cent of buildings over five storeys or 18 metres high have sprinklers.
This is because of the simple fact that current regulations do not require it. Despite varying regulations applying to new domestic properties across the home nations, nowhere in the UK is it a requirement to retrospectively fit sprinkler systems into existing buildings.
Overcoming barriers
Part of the issue is that for too long the construction industry has had this perception that retrofit installations are messy, disruptive, unattractive and most importantly too expensive to ensure viability.
With modern systems, however, this simply isn’t the case. Press-fit systems offer fast, reliable connections, with no hot works, lightweight piping and a clean finish. There are cost savings too – BSRIA calculates that the installation efficiencies of press-fit can deliver cost savings of approximately 27 per cent when compared with screwed steel pipework.
Whatever the outcome of the Grenfell Tower inquiry, press-fit sprinkler installations – when manufactured to the required standards and installed by approved contractors – offer a viable, cost-efficient and proven fire suppression system.
Welsh Assembly Minister Ann Jones campaigned successfully for sprinklers to be installed in all new domestic buildings in Wales. She sums up the benefits of sprinklers in Geberit’s new white paper, ‘Pressing matters: Breaking the barriers to retrofitting sprinkler systems in existing building stock’, which serves as a valuable resource for the trade to showcase the opportunity, innovation and reliability of modern sprinkler systems to their own customers.
She said: “There can be no doubt that the installation of a sprinkler system offers a degree of security and protection of one’s home and many precious memories. It has a good environmental footprint and also reduces the burdens on public sector funding. But above all, no one has ever died from a fire related incident where a sprinkler has been installed.”
Looking forwards
Even now, in advance of any potential change in regulations, many local authorities are already taking matters into their own hands and giving approval for mass retrofit sprinkler installations across their high-rise housing stock. In Birmingham for example, the City Council has recently approved a project to install sprinklers in all 213 of its tower blocks, despite initial funding concerns; and with the jobs available, your customers need access to the right products.
By taking advantage of press-fit sprinkler systems, contractors and their customers can benefit from fast, reliable connections, with no hot works, lightweight piping and a clean finish – not to mention cost savings over other pipe fitting method.
There is no reason why life-saving sprinkler systems can’t be installed retrospectively in a safe, clean and cost-effective manner.
For more information about sprinkler systems, including current regulations and details of press-fit systems, download Geberit’s free white paper from https://www.geberit.co.uk/campaign/pressing-matters/.
