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A stunning new appartment complex in one of the most picturesque regions of Norway has been fitted with a residential sprinkler system to help protect its occupants.
The kyrresborg – or king’s fortress – is named after King Olav Kyye, who founded the city of Bergen in 1070 AD. The apartment complex is built on seven floors with a gross floor area of around 12,000m 2, including parking and shopping facilities. The building , which is situated in the Sandviken port area of Bergen, houses 82 apartments, which vary in size between 25 m 2 and 130m 2 and there are two luxury apartments on the top floor.
While there was no legal requirement to do so, the developer, in consultation with the fire authorities, specified a sprinkler system which would allow for trades-off in the design and in some passive fire protection measures. The sprinkler installation company chose the BlazeMaster CPVC system as suitable for the project and its tight construction timetable. In fact the developers experienced administrative delays which caused the construction to run behind schedule, but the speedy installation of the sprinkler system helped get the project back on track.
A total of 560 residential pendant and sidewall nozzles from Tyco were used, and have been fitted in apartments and common areas alike. The sprinkler heads were designed to be fitted discreetly rather than be totally concealed, to blend in with the decor of the new apartments.
In view of the installation of the sprinkler system, only one protected escape route was required for the complex. In addition, other trades-off included less use of passive fire protection and simplified protection of cable and pipe penetration of fire compartments (30 minutes’ instead of 60 minutes’).
Detection
The sprinkler system is integrated with a general alarm system which sounds throughout if a sprinkler activates. The sprinkler heads themselves effectively act as heat detection systems but in addition, individual apartments are fitted with one or two battery operated smoke detectors.
One of the reasons sprinkler systems are not more widely installed in Europe is their perceived cost. BlazeMaster estimates that the installation of such a system is between 1 per cent and 4 per cent of the total project cost, depending on the size of the project and how ‘exclusive’ the apartments are. This cost can be broken down into the following components: 20 per cent engineering; 35 per cent materials; and 45 per cent installation costs.
The main construction of the complex is made of concrete – that is all walls, roofs and floors between apartments. Internal walls are gypsum wallboards on steel or wooden frames, while the facade is of wooden construction with non-fire resistant windows, Each apartment entrance door has 30 minutes’ fire resistance.
According to BlazeMaster, when used together, smoke detectors and sprinklers can reduce the loss of life by up to 97 per cent, an increase of 50 per cent over using smoke detectors alone. Norway was one of the first European countries to require smoke detectors in homes, and today around 50, 000 residential sprinkler systems are installed there each year.
BlazeMaster pipe and fittings are manufactured from BlazeMaster CPVC, a high performance material which is recognised for its inherently low fire propagation and smoke development properties. It is said to be listed and approved for more light-hazard NFPA 13 construction applications than any other non-metallic system, to contain and even extinguish a fire in less time than it can take the fire service to arrive. The systems are designed to save lives but, because they control fires quickly, they can also significantly reduce property damage.
You don’t have to look very far to see why fire safety is taken seriously in Bergen. The city has suffered several fires in its history and, with the exception of a church and a castle, none of the buildings there are more than 300 years old.
SCANDINAVIAN NEIGHBOUR’S NEW SPRINKLER RECOMMENDATIONS
The European Fire Sprinkler Network says a report published in May 2008 by the Finnish Accident Investigation Board into the fire at the Pitkaniemi Hospital on 25 January 2007 found that the fire, which took place in the psychiatry ward, was started deliberately by one of the patients. Staff managed to evacuate ten of the 18 patients, while the fire brigade evacuated the other eight.
18 people were injured in the fire, of whom 15 were patients and three were staff, while damage to the buildings is estimated at 500,000 euros. The report found that the consequences could have been much worse if the head nurse had not by chance found the fire “almost immediately”. The Pitkaniemi hospital has decided to fit sprinklers by the end of 2008.The report made five broad recommendations to:
– develop patient legislation to improve safety.
– draft risk management instructions for nursing homes and other nursing institutions.
– equip nursing homes and other nursing institutions with an automatic sprinkler system.
– draft target-specific overall response times.
– improve fire safety for the storage of outdoor clothing.
Nursing homes are a high-risk fire safety occupancy and many countries have experienced tragic fires in these buildings. On the 29 April this year, a fire in a retirement home in Lisbon, Portugal killed two elderly female residents and injured another 27.