Residents win fight to save fire sprinklers in Wiltshire

The Selwood Housing Group housing association has made a spectacular U-turn in its decision to remove fire sprinklers from homes in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Last month residents were outraged when the housing association announced plans to scrap the sprinklers at 212 homes on the Studley Green estate. Residents learned that fire sprinklers in their homes were to be removed due to the cost of upkeep. Tenants were devastated by the news and said the removal of fire sprinklers from their homes would be putting their lives at risk. At the time, one tenant reported to ITV, “How much do you put on a life? God forbid if something happened when they’ve gone who’s going to be held accountable?” The sprinklers were installed as part of a pilot project in Trowbridge 20 years ago, but the pilot was never extended to all homes in the Selwood Housing Group. The association initially decided to remove the fire sprinklers as they argued they were too expensive to maintain and the money would be better off spent building new homes. At the time the former Chairman of Selwood Housing said he was unconvinced of the money argument. In a report to ITV he argued that the cost of £40 per year to maintain the fire sprinklers over their expected working life of 50 years was less than the cost of taking them out.

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