ISO 9001:2015
Certified by BRE Global, accredited by UKAS
An audited quality management system. It means the way a job is planned, recorded and signed off is itself inspected by somebody independent, on a schedule.
The same trade, measured against your building
A sprinkler system is designed against a hazard classification, not against a floor area. That classification comes from what the building is used for and what is kept in it, and it decides how much water the system must deliver, for how long, and what has to sit behind it. Below is what each kind of building carries, and the thing that most often goes wrong in it.
Classifications are from Annex A of BS EN 12845, which is normative. Its tables are minimums, which is why each one reads "at least": a designer assigns the real class from the actual building, and storage on site routinely pushes it higher.
Lived in and cared for
Nobody here can simply be asked to leave, so isolation is planned around the building rather than the other way round.
- Blocks of flats BS 9251, residential Above 11 metres a new block needs them. Everything after that is the maintenance record, and it is what a managing agent gets asked for. What this building needs
- Care homes BS 9251, residential A building full of people who cannot self-evacuate, on a maintenance regime that has to be provable without disrupting them. What this building needs
- Hospitals and healthcare At least OH1 Ordinary Hazard Group 1, and the only building type on this list where nobody can be asked to leave. Isolation planning is the whole job. What this building needs
- Cancer treatment centres At least OH1, with specialist rooms A hospital classification wrapped around rooms no general contractor should touch: MRI, radiotherapy bunkers and aseptic pharmacy. What this building needs
Worked in and traded from
What is stored decides the class, and what is stored changes without anybody telling the sprinkler system.
- Warehouses and distribution OH1 to OH4, or High Hazard for storage Racking, storage height and what you keep in it decide the design. Get those wrong and the system is under-designed from day one. What this building needs
- Offices Light Hazard, or at least OH1 Multi-let buildings where the landlord holds the common parts and the tenant holds the demise. Most of the trouble is the line between them. What this building needs
- Shopping centres At least OH3 Ordinary Hazard Group 3, and a building whose design changes every time a unit is re-let. The system rarely keeps up on its own. What this building needs
- Food processing OH1 to OH3, by product Three different hazard groups live under this one heading. Which one you are in depends on what you make, not on the size of the shed. What this building needs
Gathered in
Hundreds of people in one place at once, so evacuation is by the crowd. And a cinema carries the highest ordinary classification in the standard.
- Schools and colleges At least OH1 The DfE stopped pointing at BB 100 in January 2026. What replaced it sets a height threshold, three building types that always qualify, and a maintenance regime for everything already installed. What this building needs
- Cinemas and theatres At least OH4 Ordinary Hazard Group 4, the highest of the ordinary groups. Most people assume an auditorium is a low risk. The standard does not. What this building needs
- Museums and galleries At least OH2 The objection is always water on the collection. The arithmetic runs the other way, and it is worth seeing why before the decision gets made for you. What this building needs
Every classification, side by side
Two things surprise people here. A cinema sits at the top of the ordinary range, three groups above a hospital. And food production is not one answer at all: it spans three groups depending on what comes off the line.
| Building | Classification | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Warehouses and distribution | OH1 to OH4, or High Hazard for storage | BS EN 12845 · LPC Rules |
| Blocks of flats | BS 9251, residential | BS 9251 · BS EN 12845 · BS 9990 |
| Care homes | BS 9251, residential | BS 9251 · BS EN 12845 |
| Schools and colleges | At least OH1 | DfE Technical Manual · BS EN 12845 · BS 9251 |
| Offices | Light Hazard, or at least OH1 | BS EN 12845 · BS 9990 |
| Museums and galleries | At least OH2 | BS EN 12845 |
| Cinemas and theatres | At least OH4 | BS EN 12845 |
| Hospitals and healthcare | At least OH1 | BS EN 12845 · HTM 05-02 |
| Cancer treatment centres | At least OH1, with specialist rooms | BS EN 12845 · HTM 05-02 |
| Food processing | OH1 to OH3, by product | BS EN 12845 · LPC Rules |
| Shopping centres | At least OH3 | BS EN 12845 · BS 9990 |
Not on the list? The classification tables are also used as guidance for occupancies they do not name, so a building type that is not here still resolves to one of these. Tell us what it is and we will tell you which.
Approved, and audited on a schedule.
Two certifications, and the first one is the reason we could apply for the second. ISO 9001 is a precondition for LPCB approval, so this is a sequence rather than a collection.
LPCB approved
Loss Prevention Certification Board
The approval UK insurers look for on sprinkler work. A system installed by an LPCB approved contractor counts as genuine risk mitigation on your policy; one installed by anybody else may not.
Working to BS EN 12845, BS 9251 and BS 9990. If your insurer or fire risk assessor wants the certificates themselves, ring us and we will send them over.
Tell us the building. We will tell you what it is due.
No survey fee to find out where you stand. Describe the site and we will tell you which intervals apply and what the visit involves.