The LWF Blog
Fire Safety Engineering for Design – Sprinkler Installation Planning – Part 245
July 28, 2025 10:42 amLWF’s Fire Safety Engineering blog series is written for Architects, building designers and others in the construction industry to highlight and promote discussion on all topics around fire engineering. In part 244, LWF talked about sprinkler installation planning. In part 245, we continue to discuss the potential impact of early consideration of the relevant premises on sprinkler installation design.
The emergency plan for a building or site should incorporate what will happen if a fire occurs and there is water run-off from the sprinkler system and other firefighting activities. This is particularly important in environments where there is a pollution risk from chemicals or soluble materials, or where synthetic foams have been used in firefighting action.
When a building is under construction, it is common for fires to occur. For this reason, it is prudent to get any sprinkler installation online and working as soon as possible to protect the progress of building works. This involves ensuring there is a ready water supply at an early stage and may require a temporary connection to the local main for water and a temporary power supply (such as a diesel generator) if electric pumps are used. It may be better to use diesel rather than electric fire pumps.
Where it is not possible to proceed as indicated, as a minimum, the Fire Service should be provided a breaching inlet to allow them to utilise the system. Before this can happen, the sectional completion should be implemented to avoid open pipe ends or blanked off sections of pipework.
Installation design for a sprinkler system will address all elements of the proposed system in detail, prior to installation.
The first element for consideration is spacing of sprinklers and location for placement. This is a very important area, as the resultant design can impact upon speed of response to a fire and the overall effectiveness of the sprinkler protection in place. Ultimately, sprinkler design affects the severity of the fire incident and the impact on the building.
The most important elements of the sprinkler design are speed of operation and the provision of sufficient water discharge into the fire area.
In part 246 of LWF’s series on fire engineering we will discuss sprinkler installation design, continuing by discussing the factors affecting design, including the building’s construction features. In the meantime, if you have any questions about this blog, or wish to discuss your own project with one of our fire engineers, please contact us.
Lawrence Webster Forrest has been working with their clients since 1986 to produce innovative and exciting building projects. If you would like further information on how LWF and fire strategies could assist you, please contact the LWF office on 0800 410 1130.
While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.