Property fire protection for new school buildings - cost-benefit and pilot study

This paper presents the findings of a cost-benefit and pilot study that is aimed at developing a viable fire protection system to reduce the potential property loss in new school buildings in Victoria. As part of the study, school fire statistics from Victoria, NSW, New Zealand, USA and UK were examined and a cost-benefit model developed. Fire protection systems including smoke detection and sprinklers were examined for their potential benefits in reducing fire losses. The benefits and costs of the each system were analysed. It was found that systems designed and installed in accordance with the relevant Australian Standards do not represent viable solutions from a cost-benefit viewpoint. It was evident that for a system to be viable, it must be tailored specifically for the school buildings by lowering the costs. Consequently a tailored sprinkler system was developed that could be viable for protection of school building. Subsequent to the cost-benefit study, a pilot project was undertaken whereby the tailored sprinkler system was designed and installed in a new school. At the completion of the construction of the school, a post-occupancy evaluation was carried out on the pilot project. It was found that the total cost of the system installed was substantially higher than the break-even point for a viable solution. This was due to a combination of factors that arose during the project. Many useful lessons have been learnt from the process that allows any future implementation to be significantly improved. Despite the failure of the pilot project to achieve the low cost envisaged in its development, the tailored sprinkler system remains a viable concept. The key lesson from the pilot study is that, for it to be viable and be successfully implemented, more effort must be invested by various stakeholders to lower the costs. All stakeholders must also share the same objective, and cooperatively work and strive to achieve the same outcome.