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.
- 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 we do for these buildings
- BS EN 12845 Sprinkler servicing The full BS EN 12845 routine, from the weekly gauge and alarm check to the annual service. Fire sprinkler servicing
- BS EN 12845 Fire pumps Electric and diesel sets proved under flow, not just started and signed off. Fire pump servicing
- BS EN 12845 Sprinkler tanks The water supply behind the system, inspected, cleaned and replaced when it is past it. Sprinkler tank maintenance
- Any hour 24/7 emergency A leak, a failed pump or a discharged head, answered out of hours. Emergency sprinkler repair
From first call to certificate
Four steps, the same on every job.
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01Free survey
We look at the building and its records, and tell you what it is due.
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02Fixed price in writing
Every item priced line by line. No survey fee, nothing added afterwards.
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03The work, on your dates
Isolation agreed before anyone arrives, kept as short as the job takes.
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04Certificate and record
A certificate and a photographed defect list, ready for your insurer.
- Start
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Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm. Emergencies any hour.
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Step 1 of 5 is done. Here is how the rest goes.
- Request sent Done
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- 5 Work done
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.
Worth reading first
- Compliance BS EN 12845, in plain English BS EN 12845 is the European standard for the design, installation and maintenance of fixed fire sprinkler systems in commercial and industrial buildings. It is the document that sets the weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual routines a UK sprinkler system has to be kept to.
- Sprinklers How often should sprinklers be serviced? Under BS EN 12845, sprinklers are checked weekly by the site, checked monthly for water and fuel, tested quarterly, given an interim contractor service every six months and a full service once a year, with the pump proved under flow.
- Sprinklers How a fire sprinkler system actually works Each sprinkler head is held shut by a heat-sensitive glass bulb or fusible link, so only the heads directly over a fire open. The resulting flow drops the pressure in the pipework, which starts the pump and operates the alarm.
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.
- BS EN 12845Fixed firefighting systems. Automatic sprinkler systems. Design, installation and maintenance
The standard commercial and industrial sprinkler systems are designed, installed and maintained to. It sets the weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual routines.
BSI
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.
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
3 reviews, and every one of them five stars.
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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
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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
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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
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.
Request received
We’ve got it from here.
Step 1 of 5 is done. Here is how the rest goes.
- Request sent Done
- 2 We call you Next
- 3 Free survey
- 4 Fixed price
- 5 Work done