A look at fire safety developments in one of the most ambitious fire sprinkler projects in Birmingham’s history
It has been a year since Birmingham City Council's initiative to protect over 200 high rise buildings across the city with sprinklers.
The specified sprinkler system was BlazeMaster CPVC. It is the most specified non-metallic sprinkler system in the world, for many reasons:
- Easy to install quickly, quietly, and securely
- Less costly than steel systems
- Requires less space for installation
- Flame resistant
- Lightweight and durable
- Inherently resistant to pitting and corrosion
- Approved by UL, NSF and LPCB
Together with Triangle Fire Systems, Engie and the West Midlands Fire Service, BlazeMaster Fire Protection Systems offered a unique look behind the scenes as the installation project unfolded.
Today, we discuss the project’s completion and the life saving effects it has already achieved since installation, with Tristan Rhodes from Triangle Fire Systems.
The scale of the project
“Birmingham city council decided to sprinkler protect all of their high rise housing stock, which, at the time, totalled 205 blocks.
We've protected in the region of 9,000 individual dwellings, with around 65,000 sprinkler heads in those particular dwellings and in some common areas as well.
The vast majority of their housing stock in high rise blocks are now protected, throughout the city.”
- Tristan Rhodes, Triangle Fire Systems -
Over 205 high rise buildings
9,000 individual dwellings
65,000 sprinkler headsWhy BlazeMaster CPVC?
“The biggest factor in the choice of material was the supply chain. Having this volume of work requires a reliable supply chain to make sure we've got the materials to hand all the time, on time. We can't delay anything.
It's a very, very fast moving program. We were doing 64 flats per day, So we are looking at something in the region of 1200, maybe 1400 metres of pipe per day (just in the dwellings, that's not including the communal spaces as well.) So about 2000 metres per day on the whole project, in all sorts of sizes.”
64 flats fitted per day
Up to 2000 metres of CPVC pipe installed per day
BlazeMaster CPVC’s lightweight properties, along with its durability and time efficient solvent cement installation process makes projects scalable. As the retrofit project grew to 64 flats per day, BlazeMaster CPVC was able to keep up with demanding logistics.
“The other thing is cleanliness within flats; you have to be clean. So metallic pipe solutions aren't really an option; it's too noisy and too messy to be able to produce.”
As a viable alternative to steel, CPVC is also much quieter to install, requiring absolutely no loud machinery. This minimises disruption to occupants, requiring significantly less relocation and disturbances to ordinary life.
Reaction from the community
“There was a lot of reticence from tenants to start with, a lot of myths relating to sprinklers. The “Die Hard Effect,” we call it; somebody goes and presses a button and all the sprinklers go. Obviously that doesn't happen, but that's what people think happens.
As we've gone on, a lot of tenants were persuaded to have the sprinkler systems installed, and were comfortable doing that.
We've had some really positive reactions, particularly following real fires and real activations where tenants realise what impact the sprinklers have on their safety. They are very grateful that the system has been installed. A lot of people feel a heck of a lot safer than they used to.”
To hear more about the completion of the project and to hear about some of the real sprinkler activations that have already saved lives across these properties, listen to the full interview on the BlazeMaster podcast.