It has come to the VBA's attention that building practitioners have been designing and approving European laundrieswithin residential buildings without providing sprinkler protection where they are not more than 2.5m² (AS 2118.1 – 2017) or 3.0m² (AS 2118.4 – 2012), as required by the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DtS) Provisions of the National Construction Code (NCC) 2022, Volume One.
Whilst a European laundry can be considered a cupboard, one of the prerequisites for excluding sprinkler protection from these areas is that the space is not used for the storage of flammable liquids. As it is extremely likely that these spaces will be used by owners to store flammable liquids, such as cleaning products, practitioners should form the view that regardless of the size of the cupboard, sprinkler protection is required by the DtS Provisions.
Where it is proposed to exclude sprinkler protection from a European laundry, this must be undertaken using a Performance Solution that demonstrates there will be little or no risk by omitting sprinkler protection within the laundry space.
