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Sprinkler Thresholds: Is the UK Leading or Lagging?
08 July 2024
IN THE realm of fire regulation, in 2020 the UK emerged as a leader in Europe by reducing the height threshold guidance for sprinklers in new build residential buildings to 11 metres. However, when it comes to fire safety guidance in warehouses, the situation is quite different, as Alan Brinson finds out.

The UK is lagging far behind many of our European neighbours propping up the bottom of the table with regulatory guidance only calling for sprinklers in warehouses that exceed an enormous 14,000 m2-20,000 m2 in terms of area. When you consider the importance of business resilience and continuity, the far smaller guidance threshold areas in Europe mean that these markets are far better prepared to recover from devastating fires that threaten their businesses and economies.
Since the tragic events of the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, there has been increased attention to the benefits and use of sprinklers in residential buildings as a key fire safety measure. The recent changes to the regulations in Scotland and regulatory guidance in England have formalised that position.
During 2023, Northern Ireland consulted to follow this path which will see a common approach to sprinklers in residential buildings across the UK for such buildings over 11 metres. In the Republic of Ireland, the fire safety guidance was changed to require sprinklers in residential buildings over 15 metres tall. These moves are a significant change that has clearly placed fire sprinklers as a key element in the guidance for fire safety.
Situation in Europe
Comparing the situation across Europe, one might be surprised to discover that many leading countries only require sprinklers in flats at significantly greater heights. In Sweden, the threshold is set at 50 metres (16 storeys), while Germany mandates them for blocks higher than 60 metres (20 storeys).
Spain takes it even further, with a requirement at 80 metres (26 storeys), while France sets the bar at 200 metres (there are no blocks of flats this high in France). Notably, Italy does not have any height requirement. All of this positions the UK as a leader in employing automatic fire sprinkler systems to safeguard occupants in residential buildings.
However, when we shift the focus to single-storey industrial buildings like warehouses, an opposite trend emerges. In many respects, fire is fire. Similar fuel loads necessitate comparable amounts of water to extinguish or control the flames. In Europe, sprinklers are called for above warehouse sizes ranging from 4,000 m2 to 5,000 m2, while sometimes even smaller compartments attract guidance for sprinklers triggered by the height of storage arrays.
Recently, the Republic of Ireland moved its guidance to reduce the threshold to 1,000 m2 for warehouses with storage over 7.5 metres. Astonishingly, in the UK, this threshold stands at a much larger range of 14,000 m2 to 20,000 m2.
Fire safety regulations
The remit of fire safety Building Regulations in Britain is like that of the rest of Europe with a focus on ensuring the safety of occupants in the event of fire, access for firefighters and limiting the spread of fire between buildings.
Interestingly, our European counterparts implement controls on warehouse building compartment sizes precisely for the reasons of ensuring escape from the building, limiting fire spread and assistance with firefighting. This leads to the provision of sprinklers in larger compartments. It begs the question as to whether the UK possesses superior knowledge in this regard.
To illustrate the point, one of the largest warehouse fires in Europe occurred in the UK in May of this year. A 33,000 m2 warehouse burned down in Cannock. Despite the intervention of ten crews of firefighters from three counties, they were unable to stop the fire spreading to the extent of the building.
The smoke from the fire was visible from 20 miles away. The fire led to significant disruption to the local industrial estate neighbours who were either evacuated or unable to access their sites.
The warehouse did not have any form of sprinkler system installed. Reportedly, the building had been sub-divided to meet regulatory guidance. One has to ask how sprinklers would that have helped to control the fire?
Sprinklers make sense
Unless caught early, such high storage arrays generate fires that can overwhelm the structure and are beyond the ability of the Fire and Rescue Service to extinguish. Trying to halt the progress of the fire without the early intervention of water means a compartment would have to resist a substantial fire, but would still require significant Fire and Rescue Service resources.
It's for this reason that the presence of sprinklers makes sense. In the majority of European countries, this warehouse would have had to have sprinklers installed to mitigate such a situation and aid the Fire and Rescue Service. It’s notable that the recent update to the National Fire Chiefs Council’s position statement on sprinklers calls for the reduction of the unsprinklered compartment size of warehouses to 4,000 m2.
The UK is making progress in terms of sprinklers becoming the norm for fire safety and particularly so in places where people live, in public spaces and in tall buildings. The challenge posed by fire outbreaks in large compartment warehouses is obvious with sprinklers being a strong solution for such buildings. They should be used far more widely in the UK.
It continues to be the case that we can learn much from our European neighbours, as indeed can they from our own experiences.
Alan Brinson is Executive Director at the European Fire Sprinkler Network (www.eurosprinkler.org)
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