From the Business Sprinkler Alliance (BSA), one of our exhibitors.

The recent fire that tore through a 6,000m² mixed-use building on the Brucefield Industrial Estate in Livingston has highlighted the huge challenge faced by firefighters when fire breaks out. The blaze rapidly engulfed a business and several adjoining units, necessitating significant fire service resources and road diversions.

The extensive fire on Saturday, December 7^th required nine appliances, including two aerial ladder platforms, two pumping appliances, and a bulk water carrier from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) to bring it under control.  While thankfully there were no injuries, the industrial unit was destroyed, impacting several businesses including an adjacent gymnastics club. 

Highlighting the dramatic visuals of the destroyed building, Tom Roche, Secretary of the BSA said: “What caught my attention was the sheer destruction of what was a simple industrial building. The number of units involved and need for additional water highlight how even limited buildings require significant resources to quell them. The scale of the fire service platform beside it demonstrates the enormity of the challenge faced by firefighters. It underscores how quickly these fires escalate when buildings are not protected by automatic sprinkler systems.”

Roche emphasised the critical importance of early fire suppression, explaining that while the average response time to a primary fire in the UK is eight minutes and 50 seconds¹, the actual development of a fire can begin long before the first appliance arrives. Delays in discovering the fire, assessing its nature, and notifying the fire service can allow the fire to grow unchecked. Upon arrival, firefighters must evaluate access, water supplies, and the safety of the scene—all while the blaze continues to intensify.

As a fire grows, the resources needed to tackle it also increase. Larger fires demand greater amounts of water and personnel, with efforts often limited to external firefighting due to the scale of the inferno and associated risks. The UK fire services are already noting challenges with the available water in the supply network for hydrants. “This scenario is precisely what we see with fires in unsprinklered industrial buildings. They escalate rapidly, overwhelming fire service resources and leading to catastrophic damage,” Roche explained.

In stark contrast, incidents involving buildings equipped with sprinkler systems demonstrate the dramatic difference these systems can make. When fire broke out at a Winsford Packaging Factory in January 2022, the fire was contained by the premises’ sprinklers, preventing significant damage and allowing the Fire and Rescue Service to manage the situation quickly. Similarly, a fire at a Lutterworth Warehouse in March 2022 that started in storage racks was suppressed by sprinklers, enabling firefighters to extinguish it with minimal disruption to operations. The business was able to resume operations the following day.

“The outcomes of these sprinkler-protected fires are notably different from the large-scale devastation we saw in Livingston,” Roche added. “Automatic sprinkler systems activate early, containing or extinguishing a fire before it can spread. They are an essential component of a fire protection strategy, reducing the burden on fire crews, minimising property damage, and helping businesses recover faster.”

Call for sprinklers

The BSA is advocating for the wider adoption of sprinkler systems across the UK’s built environment, including industrial and commercial buildings. Fires like the one in Livingston serve as a reminder of the true cost of inadequate fire protection. Beyond the immediate destruction of property and business interruption, these incidents disrupt local economies, jeopardise jobs, and place enormous pressure on emergency services.

“Automatic fire sprinklers are a proven solution to mitigate fire risk,” Roche stated. “It is time to prioritise their inclusion as a key part of the fire strategy at the earliest stages of the design process, ensuring a safer and more resilient future for businesses and communities alike.”

Iain Cox, Chair of the Business Sprinkler Alliance

In today’s built environment, where safety and sustainability dominate industry conversations, there remains a lack of knowledge and some surprising misconceptions amongst industry professionals about sprinkler systems which tragically prevent them from being installed.  Despite all of the evidence about how effective sprinklers are in controlling and extinguishing fires across residential, commercial and industrial buildings, why is there a knowledge gap amongst professionals who are responsible for their implementation? 

This knowledge gap was evident at the 2024 UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF), where participants from various stakeholder groups, including developers, consultants, and financiers, admitted to discussing or making decisions about sprinklers without truly comprehending their benefits or how they operate.

Whilst we have been aware of this knowledge gap for some time, it is baffling that such critical fire safety measures are being debated without a fundamental understanding of their capabilities and effectiveness, especially when this information is readily available.

Sprinklers are one of those things that are taken for granted or dismissed. People either understand them and see the true benefits of them, or quickly dismiss them as a mere cost without really exploring the opportunities they provide. From improving life safety to business protection, continuity and sustainability, the introduction of automatic sprinklers offers many positive benefits and they have a long and successful history. 

How do they work?

Sprinklers are heat-activated fire protection devices that have been in use for 150 years.  The key component is a glass bulb containing a temperature-sensitive liquid, which acts to hold a plug in place that prevents the water in the pipes from being released.

In a fire event, temperatures will rise at the ceiling causing the liquid in the glass bulb to heat up and expand. At a predetermined temperature the expansion of the liquid breaks the glass bulb. Without the temperature-sensitive glass bulb there is nothing holding the plug in place, allowing water to flow through the sprinkler head.  As water exits the sprinkler, it strikes a deflector creating a distinctive umbrella shaped spray pattern.This design efficiently distributes water over the affected area, helping to control or extinguish the fire.

In terms of how they work, it’s as simple as that. Importantly, only the sprinklers directly exposed to the fire’s heat will activate. This targeted approach effectively combats the fire and ensures water is delivered where it is needed. 

They do not respond to smoke and there are no wires attached to it. It’s all down to heat. This is why someone having a cigarette in a building or someone burning their toast will not cause the sprinkler system to go off. Another prevalent misunderstanding is that all sprinklers activate simultaneously. Sadly, this is the stuff of movies and Hollywood. Only those near the fire operate in a standard sprinkler system.  

The evidence shows that sprinkler systems have an operational reliability of 94% and demonstrate when called to work they have a very high reliability. Furthermore, it is evident that when they do operate, they extinguish or contain the fire on 99% of occasions across a wide range of building types.¹

When considering sprinkler systems, it’s vital to apply careful thought, seek expert opinions, and recognise their dual role in protecting both property and lives. Sprinklers should be viewed as a long-term investment in safety, not merely a one-time expense. 

For more information about the Business Sprinkler Alliance visit www.business-sprinkler-alliance.org

Tom Roche, Secretary of the Business Sprinkler Alliance who will be exhibiting at Facilities & Estates Management Live.

As many reflect on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and its recommendations, it’s important to recognise that the issues brought to light extend far beyond high-rise residential buildings. The challenges highlighted by this tragedy and highlighted in the report are not confined to one type of building or one type of issue, but permeate across our entire built environment.

Anyone watching may have seen a focus on high-rise buildings but if they looked close enough they will see that the changes put in place since the tragedy and called for in the Report are across the built environment. After all, if there are challenges with high rise structures why would there not be challenges with offices, warehouses and other buildings. The same contractors from the same industry groups used similar methods whether they be raw materials, regulations and guidance.

One only has to look at the Building Safety Act, born from the Grenfell tragedy in 2022, which has introduced wide-ranging responsibilities for designers and contractors. Importantly, and perhaps less well understood, these apply to all buildings, not just residential high-rises. This broader scope reflects a fundamental truth that the issues we face in fire safety and building regulations were systemic and universal.

One of the items that we have highlighted for some time is the widespread misunderstanding of building regulations and guidance. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry report makes this finding. It highlights that the Approved Document B (ADB), the go-to guidance for fire safety in common buildings, is often misinterpreted or applied incorrectly against the functional requirements of the Building Regulations. This confusion isn’t limited to residential buildings, we see it manifesting in industrial and commercial structures as well, and that causes problems. There are different risks in those buildings, but they still need to be addressed proportionately.

For instance, we are currently investigating a case of a series of large buildings with no internal subdivisions and no sprinkler system. They are beyond the scope of the guidance, Building Regulations and their functional requirements still apply. How does this happen under the current guidance?  The answer lies in the misinterpretation of that guidance and dare I say, a lack of enforcement. The scenario repeats the same issues that contributed to the Grenfell tragedy – misunderstanding of regulations and failure to meet functional requirements. So we need to be honest to see that there are some broader issues, perhaps with differing potential consequences.

The construction industry has long operated on a principle of compliance, meeting the minimum required and as the Report highlights without always fully understanding the intent behind the regulations. Government and industry can show they have acted. Yet many promised actions are yet to materialise and those regulatory items that are currently in operation are showing the signs of growing pains. It comes as no surprise the construction industry is facing a reckoning. With only 50% of submissions to Gateway Two in the new safety regime making it through, and 20% of submissions to Gateway One being rejected, it’s clear that the industry is struggling to adapt to the new reality. This pain is necessary but also indicative of how far we have to go.

One area we have watched closely has been the approach to guidance. A programme was established, an outline plan and now an ageing update still sits on a lonely page on a government website. Much has been promised. It has been good to see positive action on instructing research, engagement and output. There are a collection of items on externals walls, sprinklers in high rise residential buildings, alert systems, a second staircase and lately the removal of national classes with sprinklers in care homes. However, the plans promised so much more. 

However, as I read the Grenfell Tower phase 2 report I have to admit my heart sunk. It rightly highlights what has been apparent for some time that the guidance is not clearly understood by all stakeholders and once again asks for change. It highlights that research, funded by the public purse, struggles to find the light of day. What has become of research awarded from contracts in the last five years? Perhaps an update will be forthcoming as part of the response to the Inquiry report from Government in March 2025. I am left to ask myself again whether it is change we need or total reformation of the guidance. Madness I here some cry, but wait, I have just told you and if you look carefully we appear to be in a loop on guidance doing the same things expecting a different answer. 

If you still think reformation is madness at least indulge me a little more. Should we not at least be asking whether our requirements and guidance are truly delivering the outcomes we desire? I sat in a conversation this morning where we discussed access to buildings and yet we still have not got our minds around egress for some of the most vulnerable. I stare at a picture of the flats in Dagenham and think about the other buildings over the last seven years that have been destroyed by fires leaving hundreds homeless and yet we treat them as some type of success. 

In my world of commercial property, those large compartment buildings that are destroyed by fires and sit for months as rusting hulks after the fire has been wrestled into submission by most of the resource of one regional fire service. Is this a form of success? I cannot help but wonder if we are missing an element of resilience as much as we should? In an era of climate change and evolving urban landscapes, resilience should be at the minds of our building design and safety considerations.

The lessons from Grenfell are not confined to one sector of our built environment. They call for a fundamental reassessment of how we approach building safety across the board. It’s time to stop looking through the narrow end of the telescope and start viewing the bigger picture. Only then can we hope to create a truly safe and resilient built environment for all.

For more information about the BSA visit the www.business-sprinkler-alliance.org