Sprinklers will be fitted in all 62 Bristol City Council tower blocks and dangerous cladding removed as part of £97million of fire safety measures, it has been revealed. The massive investment in the authority’s budget to make high-rise homes safe over the next 10 years is almost five times the amount previously allocated and follows two recent blazes, including the Twinnell House tragedy, and new requirements in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster.
But it means some planned work has been postponed or scrapped to help pay for it, with the laundry refurbishment programme extended by six years and upgrades to garages stopped altogether. A total of £32.7million will be spent installing sprinklers in every block by 2028, plus £23.7million to cover the ongoing costs of servicing and maintaining them over the next three decades.
When the council set its annual budget in February 2019, it included a five-year plan costing £7million to fit sprinklers in individual flats. This should have meant 25 of the blocks had them by 2024.
