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Cinema and theatre sprinkler systems in Kettering

Theatre sprinkler systems, and cinema systems with them, serviced to BS EN 12845, with fire pumps, tanks and an emergency line at any hour.

Call 07927 555475
  • ISO 9001, the certification insurers look for
  • BS EN 12845
  • Free survey, fixed price in writing, no travel charge

What is different about cinemas and theatres

Theatre sprinkler systems, and cinema systems with them, usually come up with a new build or refurbishment, a change of operator, an insurer question, or a fire risk assessment on a building with a stage. Sentry Sprinkler Protection services sprinkler systems for cinemas and theatres, to BS EN 12845. This is the classification people get wrong most often. Annex A of BS EN 12845 lists cinemas and theatres under Ordinary Hazard Group 4, the top of the ordinary range, alongside concert halls and exhibition halls. A room full of seated people, acoustic treatment, drapes and a projection room is not the low risk it looks like, and a system designed as though it were is under-designed from the day it was commissioned.

  • OH4 sets the density and the water behind it

    The hazard group decides how much water per square metre the system must deliver and for how long, and OH4 asks for considerably more than the OH1 an office gets. That flows straight back to the pipe sizes, the pump duty and the stored volume. It is the reason a cinema cannot be priced or designed from floor area alone.

  • A stage is its own set of rules

    BS EN 12845 deals with theatres separately. Where there is a safety curtain between stage and auditorium, the curtain gets a line of drenchers on a quick opening valve, fed upstream of any control valve set. The stage itself gets a water spray installation with automatic and manual activation, or sprinklers where the stage is no more than 12 metres high. A multiplex without a stage skips this; a receiving house does not.

  • Back of house is where the fire load actually is

    The standard requires workshops, dressing rooms, scenery, storerooms and the spaces below the stage to be sprinklered. That is the scenery dock, the wardrobe and the understage, which between them hold more combustible material than the auditorium ever does. It is also the part most likely to have been reorganised since the system was designed.

  • You cannot take it down on a Friday night

    A venue with a full house has nowhere to put anybody, so isolation planning is the job rather than an afterthought. The standard is explicit: one zone at a time, down for the minimum the work needs, and the shutdown of a life safety installation avoided wherever possible. Dark days and mornings exist for this, and they get booked months ahead.

What brought you here?

Pick the one that sounds like your week. Each has a first step, and the survey is free.

  • We are building, fitting out or extending

    A new system, or an existing one altered to suit. The design is checked first, and the drawings and certificates come at handover.

    or use the form

  • The system we have needs servicing

    Quarterly, half-yearly and annual visits, each with a written report. One visit can bring a lapsed record up to date.

    or use the form
    Fire sprinkler servicing

  • An insurer or fire officer has asked for something

    Send us the letter or the report and the free survey starts from what it actually asks for.

    or use the form

  • We are not sure what we have

    Send a photo of the valve set and we will tell you what the system is and what it is due.

    or use the form

What we do for these buildings

This work, on our sites

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From first call to certificate

Four steps, the same on every job.

  1. A sprinkler layout drawing marked up on site during a survey
    01

    Free survey

    We look at the building and its records, and tell you what it is due.

  2. A sprinkler installation drawing open on a laptop on site
    02

    Fixed price in writing

    Every item priced line by line. No survey fee, nothing added afterwards.

  3. An engineer installing sprinkler pipework from a scissor lift
    03

    The work, on your dates

    Isolation agreed before anyone arrives, kept as short as the job takes.

  4. A bank of sprinkler alarm valve sets with gauges in a plant room
    04

    Certificate and record

    A certificate and a photographed defect list, ready for your insurer.

  5. Start

    Book the free survey

    Tell us the building. We will tell you what it is due.

    Book a free survey

Free survey · fixed price in writing

Tell us what you need. We will tell you what it takes.

Four quick taps and your details. A free survey and a fixed price in writing, with no survey fee and no obligation.

Call 07927 555475

Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm. Emergencies any hour.

What do you need?

Pick one. The next questions follow from it.

What kind of building is it?
How tall is the building?
What is happening?
Which part needs looking at?
Where is the project?
When is it due?
How soon do you need us?
Who do we ring back?

Usually the same working day. We never share your details.

No survey fee, no obligation. ISO 9001:2015 certified.

Cinemas and theatres: questions

Is a cinema really a higher hazard than a hospital?

Under Annex A of BS EN 12845, yes. Hospitals sit at Ordinary Hazard Group 1 and cinemas and theatres at Group 4. It reads oddly until you look at what is in the room: dense seating with foam and fabric, acoustic treatment on every surface, drapes, and in a theatre a scenery dock behind it all. The classification is about how fast a fire develops and how much water it takes to hold it, not about how the room feels.

We are a multiplex with no stage. Does the theatre guidance apply?

The stage specific requirements do not, because there is no stage, no safety curtain and no understage. The Ordinary Hazard Group 4 classification still does, and so does everything that follows from it on density, water supply and pump duty. The parts of the building that most resemble a theatre, the stores and the plant, are still where the fire load concentrates.

Our scenery dock has been reorganised. Does that matter?

It can matter a great deal. The standard requires those spaces to be sprinklered, and the design assumed a certain amount of material in a certain arrangement. Racking that went up, stock that changed or a new mezzanine can all leave heads covering the wrong volume. It is a survey question rather than a paperwork one, and it is worth asking before an insurer does.

When can the work actually be done?

Around the programme, and planned well ahead. Weekly and monthly checks fit into a normal morning. The annual needs isolation, which means a dark day or a closed screen, one zone at a time. We agree the isolation window, who needs telling and what the building is operating on while it is down, before the visit rather than on the day.

Forty more Questions and answers Certification, coverage, quotes, payment terms and how the work runs. Every interval, explained Written against the standards Intervals, riser testing, pump performance and what an insurer asks for.

Worth reading first

The published documents behind this page

Every interval and threshold on this page comes from one of these. Links go to the publisher, not to a copy of the document.

British Standards are copyright documents and most are bought rather than read free. We hold the ones we work to. If you need to know what one of them says about your building, ask us rather than buying it.

Certified, and audited on a schedule.

ISO 9001, certified by BRE Global and accredited by UKAS. Somebody independent audits how every job is planned, recorded and signed off, on a schedule.

BRE Global Certification and UKAS Management Systems 0007

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.

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.

5.0 on Google

4 reviews, and every one of them five stars.

Read them on Google
  • Lewis W. Sprinkler installation, warehouse

    Had them install a full sprinkler system across one of our warehouses, and couldn't be happier. They were professional from start to finish and the on-site team were genuinely friendly to work with. […] Highly recommend if you would need your building or warehouse properly fire-protected.

    5 stars on Google

  • Mike C. Weekly maintenance, testing and repair

    Sentry Sprinkler Protection have recently taken over the weekly maintenance, testing and repair of the […] sprinkler equipment. They are providing a excellent service, good value and they are also very helpful when on site.

    5 stars on Google

  • Sam E. Sprinkler pipework installation

    Couldn't recommend [Sentry] enough. Their work ethic, consistent efficient install of the pipework and overall approach to a project should be something every sub-contractor strives to mirror. Marius is incredibly approachable and methodical in his work with laydown areas kept very neat and tidy and all work carried out in a safe manner.

    5 stars on Google

What happens when you ring

You talk to Marius Bucur, who runs the company and prices the work. Not a call centre.

07927 555475

Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm. Emergencies any hour.

Rather type?

  1. A few plain questions

    Usually four: what the building is, what system it has, when it was last serviced and the postcode. If you do not know some of it, that is normal.

  2. A straight answer

    Whether it is a job for us. If a building would be better served by someone closer, we will tell you that too.

  3. A free survey, on your dates

    Then a fixed price in writing, line by line. No survey fee, no obligation, nothing added afterwards.

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.

Fastest. Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm. Emergencies any hour. 07927 555475
Based
37 Dickens Drive, Kettering, NN16 9EG
Covering
Kettering · Corby · Wellingborough · Northampton · Rushden · Daventry · Market Harborough · Bedford and England, from our base in Kettering
Office hours
Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm. Emergency line any hour.

What do you need?
Type of building optional
Who do we come back to?

    If it is urgent, ring rather than write. We are on the phone Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm, and outside those hours the same number reaches the emergency line.

    Or send it straight to us

    Email

    Or just ring 07927 555475 and talk it through. Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm. Emergencies any hour.