England Must Update Fire Suppression Standards in Schools

Recently published research from the National Fire Sprinkler Network (NFSN) has shed new light on the financial and social impact of school fires in England. The report estimates the cost of school fires is more than £100 million per year, not just from direct building damage, but in disruption to education and loss of resources.

Fires in Schools Are More Common and Costly Than You Think

The research from the National Fire Sprinkler Network (NFSN) shows that school fires are far from rare events. On average, six to seven school fires occur every week in England where at least one classroom is damaged. Over a 14-year period, that amounted to 6,276 fires, an average of 448 incidents every year.

The financial impact is equally striking. Direct and consequential costs, including property damage, fire and rescue service response, temporary accommodation and pupil relocation, exceed £126 million annually. That equates to roughly £282,200 per fire on average, and that figure doesn’t account for the broader educational and social consequences. Government estimates suggest that a single lost school day equates to £750 in reduced future earnings per pupil, demonstrating that disruption to education carries long-term economic implications.

Taken together, these figures make one thing abundantly clear. Fire in an educational setting affects far more than simply damage caused to bricks and mortar.

Sprinklers work and the numbers prove it

The same NFSN research provides compelling evidence about the effectiveness of sprinkler systems. Over the same 14-year period, more than 97 percent of school fires 6,122 out of 6,276 incidents occurred in buildings where no automatic fire safety system was present at all. Importantly, this figure refers to the absence of any automatic system, not specifically sprinklers. Only 154 fires occurred in buildings where some form of automatic fire protection was installed and of those, sprinkler systems were present in 119 incidents.

The performance data from buildings containing sprinkler systems is particularly strong. Where sprinklers did operate, they extinguished or contained the fire in 98% of cases. This demonstrates that when automatic suppression is installed and functioning correctly, it provides a highly reliable layer of protection that significantly limits fire growth and damage.

These figures reinforce that where sprinkler systems are present, they perform exceptionally well in controlling incidents at an early stage but, unfortunately, nowhere near enough schools have automatic suppression systems in place.

So why are so many Schools still without Suppression Systems?  

Given the strength of the evidence presented in numerous reports, it raises an important, yet worrying question, why do so many schools still not have automatic suppression systems installed? The current wording of Building Bulletin 100: Design for Fire Safety in Schools (BB100), the design guide for fire safety in schools in England, states that there is an expectation that sprinklers will be installed in new school buildings, however, implementation tells a vastly different story.

Research highlighted in the Fire Protection Association article Sprinklers Save Schools shows that between 2015 and 2021, just 8.5 percent of new schools built were fitted with sprinklers, equating to 21 out of 248 newly built schools. In major refurbishments during the same period, only 14.7 percent included sprinkler systems, 69 out of 468 projects.

BB100 is non-statutory guidance produced by the Department for Education to help designers and clients meet fire safety objectives beyond the minimum requirements of the Building Regulations. It covers fire detection, means of escape, compartmentation and other fire safety features specific to educational buildings. Importantly, because BB100 sits outside the statutory Building Regulations, the expectation it sets does not create a legal requirement for sprinklers. This means that, despite BB100’s guidance, many schools have been designed and built without automatic fire suppression when the project team judges sprinklers as “not required” or “low risk,” or when funding constraints influence design choices.

In practical terms, BB100 encourages the consideration of sprinkler systems as part of good fire safety design, but it stops short of mandating them universally across all mainstream school projects in England.

In 2021, the Government consulted on updates to BB100. However, the outcome was limited in scope, with recommendations to mandate sprinklers only in new special educational needs schools, new school buildings over 11 metres in height and new boarding accommodation. This leaves a significant proportion of mainstream school projects without a compulsory requirement for automatic suppression, despite the overwhelming evidence supporting their effectiveness.

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has long called for sprinklers to be required in all new and refurbished school buildings in England, aligning with standards in the rest of the UK. That position reflects the growing body of evidence demonstrating how effectively sprinklers reduce fire spread and limit damage. A more consistent regulatory approach would help close the gap between policy intent and real-world implementation, ensuring suppression systems are built into school design from the outset.

How does England compare to the rest of the UK

A comparison with the rest of the UK also highlights how policy approaches differ when it comes to sprinkler installation in schools. In England, as outlined earlier through BB100, sprinkler systems are encouraged but not universally required, meaning installation often depends on project decisions or funding considerations.

By contrast, both Wales and Scotland have taken stronger steps to embed automatic suppression into school design. In Wales, sprinkler systems are effectively mandatory in new schools and major refurbishments because they are tied to Welsh Government funding for education infrastructure. Scotland has gone further still, with building standards requiring automatic fire suppression systems in new school buildings so that fire growth can be controlled at an early stage.

The National Fire Chiefs Council has long called for sprinklers to be required in all new and refurbished school buildings in England, aligning with standards in the rest of the UK.

The evidence from recent fire data and the clear differences in policy across the UK demonstrate that the current approach in England demands further review. While BB100 sets an important framework for fire safety design in schools, the gap between guidance and widespread sprinkler adoption remains significant. With Wales and Scotland embedding automatic suppression more consistently into school infrastructure, there is a compelling case for revisiting and strengthening the requirements within BB100 to ensure England aligns with better practice across the UK. At Ventro Group, we believe fire safety in any educational building should not depend on project discretion or funding constraints but be consistently built into standards to better protect pupils, staff and assets for the long term.