The Architect’s challenge – locating a hydrant booster assembly

One of our regular clients approached us with a challenge. In a new residential building the fire protection system design called for a hydrant booster. The location of the hydrant booster presented a design problem – could it be located away from the building, or if not, could they incorporate it into the building yet still make it safe to use in the event the building was on fire?

A hydrant booster consists of valves for connection by the fire brigade to increase the pressure and volume of hydrant water for fire fighting. A hydrant booster is required if the buildings is of more than 500m2 of area.

Where can the booster be located?

To be accessible and useable the booster is required to be in sight of the main entrance of the building but must be either 10m away from the building or it must be protected or shielded from any fire in the building. It needs to be accessible by fire fighters and their vehicles and must be located such that the fire fighters and their equipment are not exposed to the fire they may be fighting. It must be accessible by the fire brigade vehicles in the street.

Where there is insufficient space in front of the building, the booster assembly is often recessed into the external wall of a residential development near the main entrance. In this case the wall, at least 2.0 meters each side and 3.0 metres above, provides a shield to users of the valve outlets.

This provided an architectural challenge for our client; the building was too close to the street to allow a remote location for the booster and the design did not have sufficient uninterrupted wall space within sight of the entrance that was large enough to incorporate the booster cabinet as well as the surrounding fire shield. Windows would penetrate the fire shield zone.

In this case we recommended additional fire safety measures to protect any openings in the wall near the booster in accordance with instructions from the fire brigade.

The fire brigade needs to be consulted to obtain a concession. If the building is also designed with Performance Solutions then they will also need to review these prior to any advice they give on these matters.

Designers need to be aware that this can take up to 4 months to obtain a concession from the brigade.