Sprinklers In Historic Buildings

BAFSA’s chief executive, Ali Perry, has welcomed the news this week (05/10/23) that an expert working group is to be set up by The Scottish Government to consider if fire sprinkler systems should be made compulsory in historic buildings that are converted into hotels.

The Scottish Government’s decision comes in the wake of The Cameron House Hotel fire in Loch Lomond in December 2017, which resulted in the deaths of two men. A Fatal Accident Inquiry into their deaths heard that sprinkler systems could “significantly slow the spread of flame and would extend the margin of safety for available escape time”.

The inquiry heard it was a “real or likely possibility” that if sprinklers had been installed and had “worked to inhibit the extent and spread of the fire and smoke”, Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson would “have been able safely to escape the building”.