Fire officers criticise developers for leaving sprinklers out of city council's £40m Hanley civic centre?'
DEVELOPERS building a council's controversial new headquarters have been criticised by fire officers for failing to include a sprinkler system.
The first of Stoke-on-Trent City Council's two new buildings in Hanley will meet official regulations but will not include sprinklers.
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An artist's impression of the proposed civic centre in Hanley.
This is despite Staffordshire Fire and Rescue leading a national campaign calling for them to be required by law in all new buildings.
Fire officers say sprinkler systems can prevent six-figure repair bills at major buildings by extinguishing fires before they spread.
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They are also lobbying the Government for sprinklers to be fitted in all new houses – a measure now required by law in Wales – and want councils to set the example.
Manchester-based Genr8, which is building the city council's two new office buildings and the wider Central Business District (CBD), said it has been 'complimented' by the fire service on its designs and that sprinklers are 'unnecessary'.
But Chris Enness, deputy chief fire officer at Staffordshire Fire, told The Sentinel: "We are disappointed to learn of the decision not to include sprinklers in the city council office building.
"Clearly the council will ensure the building meets regulations but our view is that regulations are the lowest standard permitted to allow it to be occupied.
"At a time when all public sector services are facing financial challenges we feel a longer term view of building protection, the environment and ultimately our fragile economy is needed."
Staffordshire County Council faced criticism when developing its £38 million offices in Tipping Street, Stafford, which opened in November 2011 but are still undergoing repairs on faulty cladding.
Peter Dartford, chief fire officer, said: "We had two big incidents over Christmas. Firstly, the Twyfords factory fire on December 28, which was a complete burn-out that has left several businesses in jeopardy, despite our best efforts.
"Compare that to the fire at Autoneum, in Trentham Lakes, which was protected by sprinklers that fully contained it.
"We turned up and essentially helped with a clear up and the firm opened as normal the following day with no impact on production."
Genr8 partner Mike Smith said: "The fire safety installations have been designed by Arup Fire Engineering to the highest standards and to fully comply with all relevant legislation.
"North Staffs Fire Service fully accept this and have indeed complimented us on our design approach.
"Sprinklers are not necessary in the proposed buildings to either comply with statutory requirements or to increase safety."
12 Comments
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by Attila
Wednesday, January 23 2013, 2:41PM
“'March on Stoke'
Many thanks for those links and on the website you have setup.”
by Anon_mow_cop
Tuesday, January 22 2013, 11:21AM
“The National Motorcyle Museum at Birmingham didn't have a sprinkler system in and it burnt to the ground some years ago destroying some priceless motorcycles. I would have thought all public bulidings should have a sprinkler system in.”
by stokepotter
Monday, January 21 2013, 11:10PM
“Why blame the developer?. Surely it is the architects(unless they are part of the developers) and those idiots in the City Council responsible for checking the design of this white elephant that no (judging by the comments publicised so far) rate payer in this City wants, who should be critcised.”
by Mr_Jingles
Monday, January 21 2013, 10:04PM
“oops should have said incompetent. lol”
by Mr_Jingles
Monday, January 21 2013, 10:02PM
“Spoiling the ship for an hapeth of tar springs to mind. Totally incontinent planning.”
by buster16
Monday, January 21 2013, 7:53PM
“I wonder if some one at the council has already thought of a future insurance scam.”
by 21cent
Monday, January 21 2013, 1:11PM
“Non story.
Building is to be built with all fire precautions in place.... Another example of negative reporting.”
by I_Norris
Monday, January 21 2013, 12:05PM
“The Policy & Design Team at council now also raised concerns over multi couloured shapes they want changing to 2 coulours”
by mowcopman
Monday, January 21 2013, 12:00PM
“You'd think with £55m you could run to a few bits of plumbing?”
by WebMonkey1
Monday, January 21 2013, 11:32AM
“Oh my god, it's amateur hour down at the civic centre. The people behind this are meant to be professionals, they're getting paid big money. Complete loss of faith.”