premises?’ As the Ocado warehouse fire had just happened, we received many responses, most of which were positive – 88% ‘in favour’ (with 62% ‘strongly in favour’). Around 86% commented on the reliability and effectiveness of systems, as well as their proven track record of suppressing or extinguishing fires. I was slightly surprised that the percentage in


Viewpoint T


Ian Walters, principal consultant at the FPA, considers sprinkler use, after a recent industry survey


HE FPA recently asked newsletter subscribers: ‘Do you support the increased use of sprinklers in single storey industrial, commercial and storage


favour wasn’t higher (12% ‘disagreed’ and 1% ‘strongly disagreed’),but I’m probably biased, having been in the industry for 40 years! Prior to joining the FPA, I spent 15 years in the fiercely competitive sprinkler system sales market working with varied clients, particularly in the London commercial sector. I’ve heard several times that more is spent per m2


on carpets than


on sprinklers. When you think of the importance of installing a properly designed, British Standard compliant and robust system, can it be justified that more is allocated for carpets in a new office block than for sprinklers, wet risers or dry risers? Those all exist to save lives and property – does that make it an attractive comparison? Of course, projects must be delivered to budget,


but curtain walling systems for a new London office block could cost about £100m compared to sprinklers, which might cost only 2 to 5% of that. In my experience, orders are usually placed on the cheapest systems, usually in competition between three or four companies, and the main contractor will then negotiate (insist on) a discount – 1 to 2% off curtain walling costs would go a long way towards paying for sprinklers! However, discounts on fire systems come straight


off the bottom line, and put pressure on delivery teams to bring projects in on budget. Throughout the tender period, quantity surveyors and consultants try to ‘engineer’ designs, omitting protection wherever possible (via permitted exceptions in order to comply, and providing certain conditions are met) such as for stairs, toilets, service risers or voids; or through value engineering (cheaper heads than specified). The level of detail can be eye watering, usually shaving off only a few thousand pounds – I wonder if carpets are subject to this level of interrogation! Cutting prices always increases the possibility of compromises and cutting corners, and also


increases pressure for quicker and cheaper designs, manufacturing and installation, all while trying to deliver a safety critical installation where the emphasis should be on producing a code compliant, reliable, robust system to a high quality. Buildings are increasingly being built quicker, but designing and installing sprinklers is complex; perhaps not compared to space exploration or medical research, but this still involves a team effort, and there are a lot of steps and provisions required including design, fabrication, installation, testing and commissioning. If you compare the price of sprinklers with


carpets, surely you must consider them inexpensive. There is a rough similarity between fire alarm and sprinkler system prices, but an alarm will only tell you there’s a fire – it won’t put it out. Sprinklers will operate, raise the alarm, put water on the fire and suppress or control until firefighters attend. If that takes 15 minutes, then without sprinklers that’s 15 minutes of potential fire growth and it may be too late to save the building. I’ve always thought therefore that sprinklers provide a reliable, adaptable method of protecting a wide range of premises, goods and processes. Remarkably, the basis of current systems bears similarities to those specified in the Rules of the Fire Offices’ Committee for automatic sprinkler installation, 29th edition, the standard used when I started. A lot since has changed or evolved, but the basis of rules determining head spacings, pipe sizes and bracketry hasn’t changed very much. There are now zone checks and a wider range


of heads, Victaulic joints, powder coating and plastic pipework. Alarm monitoring has increased, and maintenance requirements are more stringent, while requirements for life safety systems introduced duplication of valves, pumps and tanks, forming additional measures to improve system reliability and availability. So while things have advanced, generally systems remain similar in some respects to the earliest from around 200 years ago. Hopefully you can see why I’m in favour, why I think sprinklers are worth it, and why I’m slightly surprised the survey results weren’t even more positive. Let’s hope there’s a time soon when sprinklers will be above carpets on the shopping list!


Ian Walters is principal consultant at the FPA. For more information, view page 5


www.frmjournal.com JUNE 2019 1


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