March 20, 2008

KEN SPIRA

Making sprinklers mandatory in high-rise residential buildings could be good for business, but it could also result in a sudden shortage of trained sprinkler-system professionals, some industry insiders warn.

Ontario building industry gives mandatory-sprinklers plan mixed reviews

DON PROCTER

correspondent

The McGuinty government’s investigation into whether sprinklers should be mandatory in all Ontario residential buildings over three storeys is receiving mixed reviews from the building industry.

In Toronto sprinkler contractors will see more work, which is “a good thing,” says Mario Fattore, president of University Plumbing & Heating Ltd., a major sprinkler contractor in the GTA.

But will there be enough qualified sprinkler fitters to meet the sudden surge in work?

“It could be that no one has enough people to do the all the jobs,” he says. “In the beginning there could be some problems.”

A shortage crisis could add months to building completion timelines, some industry observers suggest.

The province is holding public consultations and information sessions on changes to the Ontario Building Code that would require sprinklers in every new residential suite above three floors. Observers say the government’s target for the code change is Sept. 2009.

Currently, sprinklers are only required in parking garages and amenity areas.

Fattore says if the province pushes ahead with mandatory sprinklers, the amount of work his industry sees will depend on where sprinklers are specified. Living rooms, he believes, should be a priority but people smoke in bedrooms, and kitchens can be a critical space. “They might even want them in closets.”

The installation costs will be high because of a sudden flood of work on the market. Material prices will rise and project delays could be commonplace, he says.

Will developers be prepared for delays and additional costs?

One drywall contractor fears that the shortage of skilled sprinkler fitters would cause delays that trickle down to all the finishing trades that follow sprinkler installation.

“Instead of taking a year-and-a-half or two years to complete a building, it might take closer to three years,” explains Bob Pirocchi, president of 4 Star Drywall (99) Ltd.

In other parts of Ontario the story is different. Ken Spira, president of Guelph-based Spira Fire Protection Ltd., says he doesn’t see the additional workload causing a backlog.

His company does a fair number of multi-storey residences in the Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge area.

“I really don’t see any impact to any construction schedules,” he says. “If anything, because of the historical design-build concept by most sprinkler contractors, the increased focus that we put on co-ordination usually helps in orchestrating all the trades, thus speeding up the schedule.”

Furthermore, he says training enough apprentices for the extra work shouldn’t be a problem in the region. “We have a one-to- one ratio in our trade for apprentices and our training facility could handle additional classes if need be.”

He says other provinces that adopted the sprinkler standards didn’t face labour problems. The City of Vancouver, which has its own building code, is a case in point.

When it made sprinklers mandatory in highrise residences in 1990, the industry only required a 10 per cent increase in apprentices in the first year.

In Toronto, 4 Star’s Pirocchi says the additional work would likely require steel framed bulkheads. “I don’t think they can run them in stud walls and while they may have some bulkheading already in the suites for ductwork, they would likely have to introduce more for sprinklers.”

Condo highrises are a mainstay of 4 Star. Recently, it completed a 39-storey residence in Mississauga called One Park Tower. Towers like this only require sprinklers in underground garages and amenity spaces. Most often, they are installed in suspended ceilings or bulkheading.

The downside for drywall and other finishing trades is that scheduling work could be a nightmare, according to the contractor.

Currently, drywall contractors install fire-rated drywall membranes prior to the installation of mechanical/electrical work. They come back to do finishing drywall once mechanical/electrical work is completed. “If sprinklers are required, you are introducing another trade to the scenario,” says Pirocchi.

One developer isn’t waiting for sprinklers to be in the building code. Canderel Stoneridge Equity Group Inc. has announced that its 75-storey downtown Toronto tower planned for a construction in June at Yonge and Gerrard streets will be the first fully-sprinklered highrise condo in Toronto.

University Plumbing will likely bid on the contract. The contract cost could easily top $2 million, Fattore suggests.

Most residential highrises in Canada – outside of Ontario—have sprinklers in all suites.

From 1997 to 2006, 103 people died “in these types of multi-unit residential building fires,” according to Rick Bartolucci, minister of Community Safety and Correctional services.

Those stats, however, don’t specify the type or age of buildings, says Richard Lyall, president of RESCON, the Residential Construction Council of Central Ontario. Members in RESCON include the Metropolitan Toronto Apartment Association, the Toronto Residential Construction Labour Bureau and the Durham Residential Construction Labour Bureau and various non-union builders.

“We think new buildings are safe. Any data shows that there is a much bigger bang for the buck on doing something with smoke detectors than sprinklers,” he says.

He points out that the Ontario Fire Marshall’s office has reported that 67 percent of fire-related fatalities occur in older buildings with non-functioning smoke detectors. “There’s no effort at all (by the government) to address this.”

Lyall’s group believes hardwired, tamper-proof smoke detectors would do a better job than battery-operated detectors. And, perhaps large fines could be levied to any owner whose smoke detectors weren’t operating properly.

While some people think it is hopeless to try and stop the push for mandatory sprinklers, Lyall says the effort against it isn’t over until the end of the day. “I don’t think public safety is being served at all by this process at this stage.”

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