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Building Regulations (Amendment) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I should declare that I am involved in the property and insurance markets. I, too, thank and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, on introducing this Bill. His objective is to reduce death and injury from fires in new-build housing in England and I can assure him that we certainly welcome such a goal. As the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, has already said, regulations already ensure that new residential blocks more than 30 metres high must be fitted with sprinklers. New schools, residential care homes and new large single story retail buildings will all be similarly protected under changes to the building regulations. The Bill would extend the use of sprinklers to new residential and substantially renovated homes. We on these Benches are certainly receptive to new and innovative ways of increasing fire safety. The noble Lord, Lord Harrison, has put his arguments convincingly. However, if the Minister is minded to support this Bill, I would like to play devil's advocate and ask him whether he has considered the following points. As we have heard, the installation of sprinklers in all new homes would incur an immediate capital cost, which may have unintended effects on the housing industry, especially in the current market. There will also be ongoing costs to maintain these systems. The estimated cost of installing a low-cost sprinkler system in a new home is around £500. Would this fall on the developer or, more probably, be passed on to the initial purchaser of the property? I hope to hear from the Minister about how the water supply can affect the operation of sprinkler systems. Automatic sprinkler systems may have their water supplied independently of domestic or industrial supplies and need not be metered, dependent on the provision of adequate safeguards against fraud. Has the noble Lord thought about how this fraud could be monitored, and with whom the responsibility for such enforcement would lie? In 2007, a Communities and Local Government report stated that the minimum service supply pressures that water authorities must achieve are well below those required by residential sprinkler systems. This problem would need to be addressed or we could end up with sprinklers that cannot do the job properly. To determine whether the required water pressure and the flow continue to be available, regular maintenance is needed to ensure that performance tests are carried out, at an estimated cost of £75 to £100 a year. Does the Minister feel that all the households affected can afford that? In addition, a recent report by the Fire Protection Association states: ""Any future deficiency of the automatic fire sprinkler system due to changes in the water supply characteristics shall be the responsibility of the property owner to remedy at their own expense"." So that is yet another significant extra charge for the householder somewhere down the line. One might expect there to be an offset of these costs through lower insurance premiums. Will the Government discuss this possibility with the Association of British Insurers? I understand that most sprinkler systems are wet pipe systems, meaning the piping is always filled with water. As the recent spate of cold weather should remind us, those pipes can freeze and burst. Who would be responsible for ensuring that home owners are informed about methods to keep sprinkler systems from freezing? Indeed, what might those methods be, and at what cost? Would there need to be a duty imposed upon the home owner to make immediate repairs in the event of damage, at a cost? Would there be a responsibility on home owners to have these systems inspected prior to the reselling of the dwelling, and who would be expected to cover the costs, the vendor or the purchaser? Does the Minister have any information on what effect that might have on the housing market, which already has to contend with the cost of HIPs, EPCs, stamp duty and the rest associated with house sales? As the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, pointed out, the changes he proposes to the building regulations will only affect new buildings and major refurbishments, but will not have an impact on the existing building stock. Given that 85 per cent of existing homes will still be in use in 2050, does the Minister agree that it may be worth holding off on the proposals in this Bill until the economy is more stable and fire suppression systems are sufficiently advanced as to warrant their installation en masse? Does he further agree that the Government ought to consult with the construction industry, the insurance industry and representatives of the fire service to consider what can be done to better understand the fire performance of modern methods of construction building types and how to reduce the risks associated with them? Here I am talking about open plan layouts and construction materials. The proposals in this Bill certainly merit consideration, and as I have made clear, the Conservative Party is certainly open to innovative suggestions to improve fire safety. However, I have raised a number of questions about the cost, implementation and maintenance requirements of installing sprinkler systems in individual homes. I had not intended to dampen the general enthusiasm for this Bill and I am sure that my queries are not insurmountable. I look forward to the Minister’s response.