Published September 27th, 2018
Residents of Cornwall’s only high rise flats have welcomed a decision to install automatic fire sprinklers in their homes.
Park House, on the western side of St Austell, was built in the late 1960s and comprises 67 flats spread across 12 floors. The iconic blue and white 36-metre high building is owned by leading Cornish social housing provider, Ocean Housing, which is investing £220,000 in the project.
The company isn’t legally obliged to retrofit the sprinklers, but wanted to reassure its residents post-Grenfell that the building had the highest possible standard of fire protection.
“Sprinkler systems are widely recognised as the single most effective method of fighting the spread of fire in its early stages,” said Ocean’s head of health and safety, Ralph Garth.
“People living in high rise blocks of flats will understandably feel concerned about their safety, particularly in the wake of the Grenfell fire. We want our customers to feel protected in their homes, which is why we’re providing this additional layer of fire safety.
“Key to the scheme is that there’ll be minimal disruption during the work. Each flat will take around half a day to finish so residents won’t even have to leave their homes if they don’t want to.”
Ocean’s held a series of myth busting open days at a vacant flat at Park House to explain the installation process and demonstrate how unobtrusive the sprinkler heads are.
“You wouldn’t even know the sprinklers are there until someone points them out to you,” said 84-year-old grandmother Rose Cocks, who’s lived at Park House for more then 20 years.
“I think what Ocean’s doing is absolutely marvellous. When we saw what happened at Grenfell, we couldn’t help but worry that the same thing could happen here.
“I would never want to move from Park House, so it’s good thing that Ocean is continuing to make improvements here.”
The work, which is due to start in October, is expected to last around three months.
