History & Current Position
The National Fire Sprinkler Network was formed after a meeting of the NFSA (National Fire Sprinkler Association) Conference in Glasgow in 1998. Tess Kingham MP (Gloucester) had been invited to address the conference following a Maiden Speech in Parliament in which she outlined her support for fire sprinklers as a means of the protection of life, property and the environment from the ravages of fire.
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Together with Tess, Peter Jones (Former CFO Gloucestershire), Peter Holland (CFO of Lancashire) and the late Bernadette Hartley (a political researcher for Tess) set up the National Fire Sprinkler Network as a vehicle to achieve their common aims. At their first meeting (in London on 28th July 1998) Peter Holland became the first Chair serving from until 2008. The Network has met every quarter since the NFSN won its first campaign on large, single-storey superstores. From January 1st 2000 all such buildings with a compartment size of over 2000m2 have to be sprinklered.
The NFSN was also successful in February 2007, at its Parliamentary Seminar in London, with Schools Minister Jim Knight MP, a former patron of the Network, announcing that all new schools (save for a very few low risk ones) would be expected to be fitted with automatic fire sprinklers (subject to a risk assessment). He also made available the schools risk assessment tool kit on CD to those attending.
The NFSN (along with colleagues in the European Fire Sprinkler Network (EFSN), the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association (BAFSA) and the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA), is now pursuing campaigns on single-storey warehouses, care homes for the elderly, hospitals, single private new dwellings, Houses in multiple occupation, existing domestic dwellings for vulnerable people, hotels and underground car parks. In conjunction with the recently formed Business Sprinkler Alliance these groups have set up the Sprinkler Co-ordination Group to ensure that we work effectively together to achieve our common aims.
The NFSN has contributed fully to the recent consultation reviews for the Approved Document associated with Building regulations Part ‘B’ Fire safety, and BB100 Designing and Managing the Risk against Fire in Schools.
The Network will remain free from commercial interest and view the development and increase in the application of fire sprinkler technology as an enhancement of the public good. Please feel free to contact us with any queries you may have at nfsn@btconnect.com.
Iain Cox QFSM, MA, BSc(Hons), MCIPD
Chair National Fire Sprinkler Network,
Chief Fire Officer Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service
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