Published May 17, 2018
Protect24 Managing Director Mark Lyons has told ITN that fire sprinklers can no longer be seen as a luxury for social housing residents.
He insists fire sprinklers and fire protection measures are a necessity for tenants living in multi-occupancy social housing accommodation.
My Lyon and his Protect24 team are midway through a £5-million program to retrospectively fit sprinklers to 17 high rise tower blocks across the North West on behalf of the ForVia Group.
ITN News program Granada Reports spent the day filming on site with the Protect24 team and some of the first residents in the country to benefit from this revolutionary new scheme.
Mr Lyons, said: “Statistics tell us that in a properly installed, properly designed sprinkler installation we have had no reported deaths so it is a necessity.
“It may be a bold statement to say it is a necessity, but in reality, it is no longer a luxury to have sprinklers.”
ForViva became one of the first landlords in the country to commission retrospective fire protection measures for residents in the light of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
They do not have to install fire sprinklers because of the age of the buildings, which range from 10-to-20-storeys, but felt their tenants should be protected at all costs.
Nigel Sedman, Group Director of Homes at ForViva, said: “Overall this program is going to cost us about £6 million to fit sprinklers in all of our 17 blocks.
“We are supporting customers to feel safe in their homes, but now, not only do they feel safer but they are actually safer.”
The Granada Reports team were invited to see how the retrospective sprinkler systems and fire protection measures are installed.
The Protect24 engineers complete installation to each home within five days by drilling the holes required to lay a network of pipes which are then boxed in and become almost invisible to the eye.
For the residents, who watched the terrible scenes at Grenfell Tower, the sprinkler systems have allowed them to finally sleep at night.
Eccles resident, Patricia Redgrave said: “I started to wonder what would happen if it (Grenfell) happened here because we have had a couple of fires down below but they were put out more or less straight away. Now I can sleep with ease, knowing that if there was a fire I would be safe anyway.”
View ITN News Report
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