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Clarion, the UK’s largest housing association, has started a trial of a new sprinkler-type system as part of a ramping-up of fire safety initiatives.
The 125,000-home social landlord revealed the move in its annual accounts and report today, saying it had begun “trial installations of a misting system in one of our sheltered housing units”.
It added: “Once the trial is complete, we will consider whether it can be used in other buildings as part of a risk-proportionate approach, considering factors such as the height of buildings and the vulnerability of residents.”
Speaking to Inside Housing today, Mark Hattersley, chief financial officer at Clarion, said: “We know fire risk post-Grenfell is absolutely a priority not just for housing associations but also for legislators.
“Sprinklers are quite regularly referenced and we’re just exploring trial systems and options which could be adopted in buildings in future.”
Explaining why Clarion was testing a misting system as opposed to conventional sprinklers, he said: “Rather than deluging a fire with lots of water and doing lots of damage to your building, [a misting system] is more of a fine mist of water.
“The intention is it still treats the fire in the same way in terms of extinguishing it without damaging the property to anywhere near the same extent [as sprinklers].”
Clarion has worked with fire authorities in Hertfordshire to test the system by setting fire to a model living room. If the trial in a sheltered housing unit is successful, the system could be rolled out to more of Clarion’s stock.
A spokesperson for Clarion said that the association would use “a risk-proportionate approach” to decide where the system would be installed.
Clarion reported a 2% drop in pre-tax surplus to £154m in the year to March 2018. Turnover slipped 1.5% to £816m, meaning Clarion’s surplus has fallen in all three years it has published accounts.