London Fire Brigade has welcomed the London Assembly Planning Committee’s report on sprinklers, which has been published this morning.

Navin Shah AM led a review into whether Automatic Fire Suppression Systems (AFSS) should be made mandatory in London’s homes and the report entitled ‘Never again: Sprinklers as the next step towards safer homes’ includes recommendations that the Government should:

• Develop a road map with clear milestones towards making AFSS compulsory in every residential building in England
• Amend Building Regulations to make installing AFSS in all new-build residential developments above 18m in height mandatory
• Update the building regulations to require all new care homes and sheltered housing to be fitted with sprinkler systems in England

The Brigade’s Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety Dan Daly said: “Even small fires can kill and soon develop into large fires unless they are stopped.

“We have long campaigned on the importance of sprinklers and we need to ensure sufficient and appropriate protection measures are in place to safeguard people where they live and suppression systems should be part of those considerations.

“We welcome the London Assembly’s report and support the recommendations it makes.

“Sprinklers are the only system which detects a fire, suppresses a fire and raises the alarm and we believe they are vitally important.

“Since 2016, sprinklers have been compulsory in all new dwellings in Wales – and it’s time we caught up with those standards in England.”

The Brigade would like to see sprinklers installed in:

• All new residential developments over 18m in height to be fitted with sprinklers
• Existing residential blocks over 18m in height to be retrofitted with sprinklers
• Sprinklers to be mandatory in all new school builds and major refurbishments
• All new residential care homes and sheltered accommodation to be fitted with sprinklers
• Existing residential care homes and sheltered accommodation to be retrofitted with sprinklers