[holding answer 24 January 2007]: We include advice on sprinklers in our new guide on fire safety, Building Bulletin 100, “Designing and Managing Against the Risk of Fire in Schools”, which has been out to public consultation. Feedback from that exercise showed that more extensive guidance on sprinklers was wanted, and we commissioned further studies to be carried out.
Consultants are compiling case studies of school projects where sprinklers have been installed, covering both capital and running costs. They are also examining how installation costs might be partially offset by design freedoms, such as fewer fire doors, and what the impact of reduced insurance premiums could be. Other work is being done on developing a risk assessment tool for use with individual projects, and a cost benefit analysis of installing sprinklers in schools, sensitive to small variations in data.
The studies will be completed by the end of January and we will make them public. Some of the work will also be included in the final version of Building Bulletin 100, which we expect to publish before the end of May.