FIRE SPRINKLERS

That this House is concerned at the risk to firefighters' lives and safety caused by fires in industrial and commercial buildings; notes the recent findings of the Centre for Economics and Business Research which detail the high cost of fires in warehouses to business, to gross domestic product, to tax revenues, and to the environment; further notes that automatic fire sprinkler systems prevent large fires and so avert these costs which are needlessly borne by UK plc and the national finances; further notes the recent research by BRE Global showing fire sprinklers are cost beneficial in single-storey warehouse buildings larger than 2,000 square metres; further notes that the Building Regulations provide guidance for fire sprinklers to be installed in single-storey warehouse buildings of 14,000 square metres in Scotland, 20,000 square metres in England and Wales, and no limit in Northern Ireland, so the vast majority of warehouse buildings in the UK are not required to be protected from fire by fire sprinklers; further notes that the benefits of fire prevention with fire sprinklers are not widely known and that there are common misconceptions about their operation; and urges the Government to promote more actively the benefits of fire sprinklers in industrial and commercial buildings, to incentivise the business community to install fire sprinklers and to review the existing guidance contained in Approved Document B of the Building Regulations in light of the new evidence.