Experts to ponder whether historic hotels should be fitted with sprinklers

The Scottish Government is to set up a working group in the aftermath of the Cameron House fire in which two men died.
Two men died in a blaze at the five-star Cameron House hotel (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Katrine Bussey2 October 2023
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

An expert group is to be set up to consider if sprinkler systems should be made compulsory where historic buildings are converted into hotels – with the Scottish Government announcing the move in the wake of a hotel fire which resulted in the deaths of two men.

Simon Midgley and Richard Dyson were killed in a blaze which engulfed the five star Cameron House Hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond in December 2017.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry into their deaths heard that sprinkler systems could “significantly slow the spread of flame and would extend the margin of safety for available escape time”.

The inquiry heard it was a “real or likely possibility” that if sprinklers had been installed and had “worked to inhibit the extent and spread of the fire and smoke”, Mr Midgley and Mr Dyson would “have been able safely to escape the building”.

Following that inquiry, the Scottish Government set up a short-life working group to consider the recommendations made.

It has now confirmed it will set up an expert working group “to review the mandating of automatic fire suppression systems where historic buildings are being converted into hotels”.

Membership of the new group will be agreed by the end of this month, with its remit to be in place by the end of December 2023.

In the final report from the short-life working group – which brought together the Government, tourism bodies, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and others – the Government stressed its “thoughts remain with the families of Simon Midgley and Richard Dyson”.

The report added added: “This report and the changes being made are a consequence of the families’ work to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.”

As well as setting up the new expert working group, ministers will amend guidance in technical handbooks on building standards to “promote the use of automatic fire suppression systems for such conversions to mitigate risks”.

This change will be made this year, the report said.

In addition, from the end of October 2023, the Scottish Government must be notified of future conversions of historic buildings which are to be used as hotel accommodation.

We will work at pace to deliver the recommendations of the working group

Scottish Government spokesperson

This will allow ministers to monitor applications and provide advice to local authority building standards, the report explained.

The Scottish Government will also work with organisations including the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Local Authority Building Standards Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland to promote “key fire safety messages” making clear the dangers associated with historic construction techniques and how these can result in fire spreading in hidden voids in a building.

This will be ongoing action, with the first workshop to take place before the end of 2023.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government expresses its deepest condolences again to the families of Simon Midgley and Richard Dyson, who lost their lives as a result of the devastating fire at Cameron House.

“We will work at pace to deliver the recommendations of the working group.

“An expert group will be formed to address long-term measures on fire suppression and hidden voids and cavities, in the interim we will put into place measures to raise awareness of risk and to monitor relevant conversions of historic buildings to hotels.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in