Construction Week Birmingham is a premier industry event that brings together professionals, experts, and businesses from the construction and building sector. It offers a unique platform for networking, showcasing innovations, and sharing knowledge within the construction industry. (Read More on their website.)

The Dry Risers Direct team had the opportunity to engage with industry leaders, explore cutting-edge technologies, and gain insights into the latest trends and developments in construction. We are committed to staying at the forefront of the industry, and our participation in events like Construction Week Birmingham helps us achieve that goal.

The NEC in Birmingham was the birthplace of UK Construction Week in 2015 and the tradeshow has grown to become the UK’s largest built environment event, held annually in the first week of October. We look forward to returning in future years.

Construction Week Birmingham

Dry Risers Direct designs, installs, maintains and tests dry riser systems and services fire sprinkler systems and privately owned fire hydrants. In addition we also install wet riser pipework.  All our dry and wet riser installations and fire hydrant work conforms to BS9990 2015 and all other relevant British Standards and legislation. Please get in touch on 0800 689 4034 or drop us an email enquiries@dryrisersdirect.co.uk to speak to an expert or request a quotation.

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With the cost of living crisis starting to take effect, we are unfortunately starting to see an increase in Dry Riser thefts. As you can understand, this can have huge consequences not realised by the thieves. A critical fire fighting piece of equipment that has been left in a vandalised state WILL put lives at risk.

Ultimately, if someone is determined enough to steal dry riser components, they will. But, we can make life more difficult which hopefully means the would be thieves will focus their ill gotten gains elsewhere. 

If you are the unfortunate victim of Dry riser theft, Dry Risers Direct Ltd can offer both visual and physical deterrents.

Once informed of a theft, we prioritise the call and RED FLAG as ‘A1’ on our service management system . We inform the local Fire service as soon as possible of a non-working piece of fire fighting equipment and inform them when the system is brought back on line. We hold extensive local stocks with 6 service and 3 installation vans capable of rerouting to ensure the fire safety of your building is brought back in line as soon as possible.

The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) are aware of these thefts and have informed all members to be aware and record vehicle number plates and carry out ID checks on all dry riser valves arriving at their sites.

Once our Engineers are on site they will assess what is required, replace from van stock or our depot, fit, retest to 12 Bar and recertify. Once signed off, we contact the local fire service to inform them of the rectification of the system. All this often happens within one working day.

A few of our options available and definitely worth coinsidering are;

• Titanium shear bolts on Flanged Outlets.
• Positioning threaded outlets so they can not be fully rotated and removed (except by professionals from the trade) but still comply to BS9990:2015 and offer full accessibility.
• https://www.dryrisersdirect.co.uk/product/dry-riser-anti-vandal-landing-valve-cover/

Dry Riser Anti-vandal Landing valve cover

https://www.dryrisersdirect.co.uk/product-category/dry-riser-valves/  

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Dry Riser Maintenance frequency:

• Dry risers are required to have a 6 monthly visual check,
• Every 12 months a water test should be carried out to 12 bar for 15 minutes.

This is a legal requirement dictated by BS9990:2015 which is the British Standard that details requirements for dry riser testing and maintenance in the UK.

The 6 monthly visual check which is primarily an anti theft or anti vandalism check. This should be carried out by a competent person with the records stored in a safe place, should they be required by the local authorities. The annual water test should be carried out to 12 bar for 15 minutes. A professional company with the correct equipment, processes and H&S records should be utilised.

Dry Riser testing frequency and dry riser maintenance requirements: Dry Risers Direct know the answer and are here to help.

Phone: 0800 689 4034  Email: enquiries@dryrisersdirect.co.uk

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Dry riser design and installation is governed by British Standard BS9990 2015. It is a legal requirement that any new dry riser should meet these standards. In summary:

• Dry risers should be installed in buildings where the floor is between 11 & 50 meters above ground level. This is roughly equivalent to buildings of between 3 – 17 stories;
• Operating pressure of 12 bar;
• The run of horizontal connecting pipe is a maximum of 18 m in length.

There are many more details involved which are summarised on our pages about dry riser regulation. 

Commissioning of Dry Risers

Dry riser testing and commissioning is essential to ensure the equipment is is good working order. The importance of a working dry riser can not be underestimated. The Fire brigade depends on dry risers in their fight against fire. If they cannot quickly and easily access the equipment or if it is faulty it may hamper their attempts to fight the fire so further endanger lives. 

Once a dry riser installation is complete the contractor must provide an Installation Certificate to comply with BS9990 to the Responsible Person or building manager. The Responsible Person must arranged for the dry riser to be maintained to comply with BS9990. This requires a visual inspection every 6 months and a pressure test every 12 months. After each of these tests a report and certificate should be issued as evidence that the Dry Riser is maintained and working. We have produced guide for the servicing testing and maintenance of dry risers to explain this process.

Imagine our shock when we heard about a building that was over 6 years old and contained a dry riser that would never have worked (reported by the Building Safety Register).

It started with a comment from a resident about an ‘out of the blue’ £25,000 bill for repairs to their dry riser.

A new managing agent had requested a pressure test for the dry riser and it failed. Further inspection revealed that the dry rise had never been fully installed and pipework was missing. Additional work was required to complete the installation resulting in the unexpected bill.

How can we ensure installation and testing of dry risers meets regulation?

Improved awareness and enforcement of the installation and testing regulations for dry risers is required to ensure that such failures are prevented. Utilising technology to improve record keeping is one solution. The Building Safety Register was set up in June 2019 to improve the management of building safety.  They campaign for the creation of Building Safety Logbooks for all buildings. 

Dry Risers Direct fully support this imitative and are proud to provide all the required documentation and certification to satisfy the regulations.

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Established as a market leader nationwide, Dry Risers Direct offer installation, maintenance and testing of wet and dry risers and fire hydrants throughout the UK. 

Dry Risers Direct started trading in 2015 and since then have grown steadily to become the market leading expert in Dry Risers in Britain. “Good customer service has always been our number one priority. Our business success relies on looking after our customers and retaining their business year after year. We always have and always will aim for 100% customer satisfaction.” Says Adrian Prichard the founder and CEO.

The company expanded into testing and maintenance of privately owned fire hydrants and also fire sprinkler servicing. More recently they have also added fire hose reels and fire extinguisher testing to the services that they offer. “This enables us to work more efficiently with regional teams of engineers who are cross skilled in delivering services across a ranged of fire safety infrastructure and equipment. Further improving the service and value we can offer to our customers” explains Adrian.

Our size enables us to be among the best equipped in the industry. All our engineers are experienced and carry a wide range of spares and replacement parts. This means that we are prepared for the many surprises that greet us on the customer sites that we visit. Enabling us to achieve a high first time fix rate on any repairs and success when testing non-standard or difficult installations.

For further information on our nationwide dry riser services don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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We often speak to building managers or property owners who are confused about exactly what their responsibilities are regarding the servicing, testing and maintenance of dry risers. Much of the information available is confusing, incomplete, out of date or inaccurate. For this reason we have worked together with other industry professionals to produce and maintain an independent Dry Riser Servicing Guide.

This is intended as a handy reference for anyone responsible for managing a building which has a dry riser in it. Helping them to be confident that they have a complete up to date summary of the requirements and have the peace of mind to know they are in compliance. 

If you are a fire engineer or a fire safety professional please feel free to download this guide and use it or share it in the course of your work. If you have any suggestions or would like to contribute to improve this document please feel free to get in touch with us. We regularly update this document to ensure that it remains an accurate and valuable independent guide.

Download Dry Riser Servicing Guide.

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A sunny afternoon on the top of a 20 storey high rise block in Manchester. Why? We were carrying out 12 Bar Dry Riser wet pressure tests. Where we found issues, we had the spares on hand to conduct remedial work (with the consent from the property owners / manager).

Why choose Dry Risers Direct Ltd? We are CHAS (health and safety) and Constructionline Gold Accredited. We are National and Local! We have fully equipped vans and experienced engineers near to you. We look after national contracts and one off properties. We also carry out our own remedial work. Many companies farm this out without a full under standing of the faults. Finally we can incorporate several other fire suppression services such as;

Residential and Domestic Sprinkler servicing

Hydrants

Fire Hose Reels

https://www.dryrisersdirect.co.uk/dry-risers/dry-riser-service/

into one or two visits reducing your costs.

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This is a brand new site, with the engineers reporting excellent working conditions. Two installation teams were put on site to ensure the project timelines were met. In total, five days were required from starting to install to commission and sign off.

It is a legal requirement that all dry riser installations require a wet test every 12 months. Only a flow and pressure test can confirm that water will be delivered as expected when the riser is called upon in a fire emergency.

Dry risers do help saves lives and you could be prosecuted if they have not been regularly tested and inspected in accordance with BS9990:2015.

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Hydrants Direct Ltd https://www.hydrantsdirect.co.uk is a sister company to both Sprinklers Direct Ltd https://www.sprinklersdirect.co.uk and Dry Risers Direct Ltd https://www.dryrisersdirect.co.uk

All three companies are well established and respected national installation and service providers in their respective fields. With a combined expertise of over 100 years, the group of companies offer specialist knowledge, financial stability and core expertise in the passive fire sector. The group of companies to offer multiple discount structures on properties aiming to have a single source supplier for these key firefighting areas.

Sprinklers Direct Ltd

Hydrants Direct Ltd

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Today we were called in to verify a Dry Riser test failure carried out by a company that did not conduct remedial or installation work. After much searching we eventually found the reason it had failed. MDPE pipe had been incorrectly specified and installed in the under floor section. Under a 12 Bar wet test the plastic pipe had fractured and split. This resulted in the need to install a new horizontal feed. This new feed had to be installed in a new location due to under floor access issues.

Dry Riser Servicing

Dry Risers Direct specialise in the installation, testing and maintenance of dry risers. Please do not hesitate to get in touch and our experts will be happy to discuss your requirements and provide a free quote.

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