Old fire sprinklers in Parliament pose risk, PSA demands urgent action

A Treasury report says Parliament's fire sprinklers are at risk of failing. Photo / RNZ, Demelza Leslie

By Phil Pennington of RNZ

Old fire sprinklers throughout Parliament are at risk of failing.

A Treasury report from a few months ago reveals the problem, and Parliamentary Service confirmed it – before then insisting the system is fully operational.

Officials approved planning for a medium-risk fix-it project this year but it still needed funding.

“The existing fire sprinkler system – required for a BWoF [Building Warrant of Fitness] – and the heating infrastructure system, both of which are operated across existing Parliamentary buildings, are end of life and at risk of failure.”

Parliamentary Service said it was managing a project to replace all fire protection sprinkler pipework throughout Parliament House.

“The pipework is old and has a risk of failure and leaks,” said chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero in his first statement to RNZ.

“It’s a long-term project spanning several years but we are already seeing improvements in the system after completing some key areas.”

The Public Service Association (PSA) union was surprised at this and called for an urgent meeting, saying it had been kept largely in the dark.

Parliament is no stranger to fires, the Great Fire of 1907 being the largest. A night watchman “thought he heard rain on the roof, but when he went to check, he found a substantial blaze had broken out”, one history said, with other fires inside in 1992 and 2015 (and on the lawns during the occupation of 2022).

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons responded to Gonzalez-Montero that its delegates were only told of “general problems” with the fire system and about general maintenance.

“The serious risk of failure uncovered in this report has not been adequately focused on,” she said in a statement.

“Safety-related asset management should be properly planned for – it is not acceptable to put workers, MPs and visitors at risk during a fire to skimp on the maintenance budget.”

When Gonzalez-Montero was asked by RNZ about this, he responded that no person was at any risk.

“We are performing this work in stages and have been for almost two years now with many large portions of the building completed,” he said in a second, later statement.

“During this time, the building’s fire protection system remains fully operational and compliant. Any drop in performance, or sensors going offline, would trigger warnings to our facilities team.”

The building had a BWoF.

The overhaul work was fully funded, he said.

However, the Treasury report in early 2025 said, “Budget funding sought”.

Subsequently, Gonzalez-Montero said that Parliamentary Service had until recently been funding the sprinkler upgrade from baseline funding.

“This was recently transferred to a new appropriation to ringfence it.”

This then meant the Treasury report captured it.

The proposed fix also covered strengthened ground floor windows to improve intruder resistance.

“It is not acceptable for the solution to take years, this work is urgent,” said Fitzsimons.

“There is no room for any risk of failure when it comes to fire safety.”

At a meeting with Parliamentary Service, it was agreed this would be discussed in the health and safety forum at Parliament, she said.

– RNZ