The London Fire Brigade has made numerous warnings about the importance of fitting sprinklers in property developments, but advice is still being ignored.

An audit of purpose-built flats refurbished in 2016 found only two out of 15 blocks had fitted sprinklers.

London Fire Brigade commissioner Dany Cotton said, “To ignore Brigade fire safety advice is reckless and the government needs to act now to stop that happening.

“Our spot check shows that the building industry cannot self-regulate on sprinklers and so the government must step in.

“Although we are telling developers that sprinklers will save lives, in most cases we can’t force developers to fit them and it’s very difficult to follow up on whether our life-saving advice was incorporated into the build.”

London Fire Brigade are calling for a change in the law to ensure sprinklers are a core part of fire safety measures, not only in new builds but in older buildings too.

It is their recommendation that sprinklers must be fitted in all-purpose built blocks of flats and all homes and buildings with vulnerable residents.

Dany Cotton explained, “Developers should be required to include sprinklers in more buildings. Sprinklers are not a luxury, they save lives.”

Original Source
London Fire Brigade