In England, the sprinkler rules for care homes will change from March 2025. How is this affecting industry and how can you prepare?

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Are sprinkler systems a legal requirement for care homes in England already?
The change to the English Building Regulations and sprinkler rules for care homes will require all new care homes to be protected by a sprinkler system. This is significant change from the current policy. Up until now, care home operators have had quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to sprinklers. In the government’s impact assessment, they explained that ‘there is currently no blanket requirement for sprinklers within care homes…’. Currently, Approved Document B mostly details the need for a sprinkler system as an enhancement to care homes. Requiring them only when:
- Bedroom doors do not feature self-closing devices;
- Protected areas contain more than 10 beds; or
- Bedrooms contain more than one bed.
Even so, many care providers, landlords, and insurers have seen the value of having sprinkler systems in care homes and have been installing them regularly without having a legal requirement to do so.
What is changing?
The change affects England, with Scotland and Wales already having sprinklers requirements in their regulations for care homes. The change is part of a series of improvements to fire regulations, including the change in November 2020 to require sprinklers in all apartment blocks over 11m high. The change for care homes differs however. Under the new building regulations the sprinkler rules for care homes will not include a trigger height. The new regulations will state that all new care homes will require sprinkler protection, regardless of height or occupancy.
Currently, installing sprinklers removes the need to have self-closing doors in bedrooms. However, the government plan to remove this allowance when the changes take effect. Similarly, the number of beds per compartment will be capped at 10. It should be noted that a fire compartment can contain multiple bedrooms.
In its impact assessment, the government did explain that they had considered allowing these allowances to remain, but they felt that doing so would fail to introduce ‘the comprehensive safety improvements sought’. It was felt that the strategy to be introduced offered a more holistic approach to safety. Structuring the regulations to require sprinklers while removing the allowances would prevent fire spread and support manageable escape scenarios.
Does this affect change of use?
The exact wording of the new regulation is yet to be confirmed but, checking our magic 8 ball, all signs point to yes. The wording used so far, for the new building regulations, is that the new sprinkler rules for care homes will affect all new homes. There’s nothing in the language which suggests that conversions will be treated any differently from new builds.
If you have an upcoming development which includes a conversion into a new care home, it would be prudent to work on the basis that this will affect your project too.
If there are any exceptions to this, they will most likely be projects which don’t currently require building control approval in accordance with the Building Regulations 2010 (e.g. those not changing the use to an institutional environment).

Why change the sprinkler rules for care homes?
The changes to the English Building Regulations and sprinkler rules for care homes are being introduced as part of a wider programme of safety measures which the department are introducing following the incident at the Grenfell Tower, in which 72 residents died when a fire broke out in 2017. The proposal also went to consultation between December 2022 and March 2023.
The consultation received 285 responses, mostly from organisations (58.2%). The remaining responses wither came from individuals or did not confirm their position.
63% of respondents, stated that they agreed with the proposed regulation to require care homes, of any height, to install sprinkler systems. Only 12% disagreed. The remainder didn’t answer.
The new building regulations and sprinkler rules for care homes also follows an average of 388 care home fires per year which occurred in England between 2012 and 2018. Applying this average to damage caused, and lives lost, the government have calculated that the new regulation would provide £19.7m of benefit to the industry between 2025 and 2034.


Table 14 from the MHCLG impact assessment on sprinkler rules for care homes.
The change also comes as care home provider, HC-One (who acquired the Bupa care homes in 2017), has been fined over £500,000 following the death of a resident in a fire which broke out at their homes. We understand the HC-One have since begun to roll out sprinkler systems in even their existing homes to prevent any further incidents, which shows the confidence which even the biggest companies have in sprinklers as a reliable solution.
While many care home providers, such as HC-One, now routinely install sprinkler systems without the regulations requiring them to do so, Rushanara Ali, the government’s building safety and homelessness minister, explained to parliament that the new regulations will provide businesses and investors certainty moving forward.
This is an encouraging position. Particularly given the case study, put together by Sprinkler Saves, which highlighted how different outcomes can be for homes with sprinklers compared to those without. Sprinkler Saves compared two fires, one at Newgrange Care Home in Hertfordshire, and another care home in Kent (which is unnamed but reported by Kent Fire and Rescue Services).
In the first: two people sadly lost their lives. In the second: no lives were lost and property damage was limited.
The evidence here should reassure even the most skeptical of stakeholders of the value of improving the building regulations and sprinkler rules for care homes in England.
When will this change happen?
The government has stated that the introduction will take effect from 2nd March 2025. This will be six months from the original announcement and so it is felt that this should give care providers sufficient time to prepare for the changes.
Existing developments, which have already significantly progressed, will continue to be able to apply the existing standard.
How does this compare to the regulations in the rest of the UK?
It remains the case the building regulations, and hence the sprinkler rules for care homes, are set by the devolved administrations. These changes are for England only. East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service has prepared the following infographic to help stakeholders understand their obligations.

England has arguably been lagging behind the rest of the mainland when it comes to sprinkler rules for care homes. At the time of writing, each of the other administrations have set the following sprinkler rules for care homes:
Scotland
In Scotland, the building regulations state that all care homes require sprinkler protection.
Wales
The Welsh building regulations also require all care homes to have sprinkler protection.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is now the outlier for sprinkler rules for care homes. Their building regulations include a height trigger of 30m, although they also restrict the maximum height for bedrooms.
How is the industry responding?
The response from industry has been overwhelming positive. This was to be expected following the government’s own consultation, which also showed overwhelming support for the proposals.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) in particular welcomes new provision for sprinklers in all new care homes, particularly given that they had published a statement in May urging the government to take this step:
‘The use of sprinklers in care homes reduces the likelihood of a fire spreading beyond the room of origin. This buys crucial time for evacuation and firefighting and can reduce the need for unnecessary movement of residents who may also be more vulnerable to fire due to age, mobility issues or cognitive impairments. There have been several high-profile fires in care homes across England in the last 10 years. In many of these cases there were no sprinkler systems in place and it was not possible for firefighters to fully mitigate the effects of serious fires that resulted in lives being lost, serious injury, and major property damage.‘
How will this affect care home provision?
The new changes are coming at a time when the care system itself is under stress. Nursing Times wrote, in 2017, that an extra 71,000 care home places would be required by 2025 (the same year in which the new sprinkler rules for care homes are to be introduced).
It seems the issue still hadn’t been fully addressed by 2023 and may have even gotten worse. In their Spotlight report, Savills UK (the real estate and property management company) stated that the number of care home places needed to increase by a further 144,000 over the next 10 years in order to keep up with demand.
The MCHLG impact assessment rightly determines that the increased cost to the development and maintenance of the homes (caused by sprinklers) is likely to be minimal. Expecting an increase of 5% on the installation cost, and 2% for the maintenance costs (we’ve actually demonstrated before that the cost of residential sprinklers cost less than carpet).
Regardless, this is still an additional cost which will add strain to an already strained market which hasn’t been able to keep up with demand.
For those care homes which are developed, the policy will no doubt improve the service offer to the residents. Even so, it would be remiss to assume that the additional cost would not reduce the number of projects which reach that stage. We encourage any care home developers to shop around to find the most cost effective solution which doesn’t compromise on quality. Reach out to us if you would like a quote. You can also check out our guide on what makes a good sprinkler proposal.
Are there any alternatives to sprinklers available?
When it assessed the impact of changing the sprinkler rules for care homes, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (formerly named the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Local Communities) specifically focused on the application of BS 9251: 2021.
It should be noted that consultation respondents also preferred BS 9251: 2021 as the recommended standard. 62% of respondents agreed with the proposal for BS 9251: 2021, while only 7% disagreed. The rest chose not to answer.
The Fire Industry Association have highlighted that there are other sprinkler standards which could have been considered, including mist. However, the third party certification schemes are more developed for BS 9251. In residential settings, mist can often require larger tanks than sprinkler systems, which offsets much of the benefit.
What support is available?
The Fire Protection Association has released a new sprinkler guide for responsible persons which could assist developers meet their fire regulation obligations.
s129 of the MCHLG impact assessment also discusses subsidising SMB care providers and developers sprinkler implementation process to avoid the impact being disproportionate. Unfortunately, it doesn’t expand on what these subsidies would be. They may be grants, loans, or tax exemptions. Only time will tell.
For the sprinkler systems themselves, we offer consultation, design, and installation services which would no doubt be of benefit to providers. We also offer a range of free resources in our knowledge centre. Contact us today for support.
What other changes to fire regulations are coming in for care homes?
It’s not only the sprinkler rules for care homes which are changing. The government has prepared a guide: New Regulations on Sprinklers in Care Homes and Updated Fire Classifications: What You Need to Know.
The change to sprinkler rules for care homes are being introduced alongside changes for apartment blocks, such as a requirement for apartment blocks over 30m to feature a second stairwell, for evacuation purposes.
How can care providers prepare?
The government has planned a six month transition period for developers to allow them to bring themselves up to speed with the new regulations and requirements. Even so, this isn’t a straight forward change for a lot of people and the support isn’t always available as some would like to to be.
To support investors, developers, and property owners: we have developed the sprinkler academy. This is a range of free resources designed to make the process of arranging for and maintaining a sprinkler system as smooth as possible. This includes our tank size estimation calculator and guides on third party certification.
For more bespoke support, design, installation, and maintenance services: please reach out to us directly and we’ll be happy to assist.
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