“We’re finding new ways to protect against old risks.”
In 2018 the National Trust in the UK allowed Zurich to install the first-ever fire safety sprinklers in one of its historic properties. The challenge was to bring engineering expertise, know-how and safety to a site requiring maximum sensitivity.
“Testing is incredibly important when installing fire safety sprinklers. Properly installed and maintained, sprinklers can save lives, property, mitigate business interruption and even protect the environment by reducing air pollution from smoke and contamination from water used to douse a fire.”
We are pleased to help a customer preserve the past for future generations
Built in 1784, Quarry Bank in Styal, Cheshire, UK, is an amazing historical treasure that includes one of the best-preserved textile mills of the Industrial Revolution. But old mills can be notorious fire hazards. To protect the site, Zurich needed to find a way to respect the property’s historical integrity while making it safe and accessible to all of the over 200,000 people who visit it each year.
We are proud to have worked with the National Trust to install the first-ever modern fire safety sprinklers in one of their historic properties, while helping to maintain the historical integrity of the site. Zurich’s solutions at the mill included not only helping to install the sprinklers, but even seeing to it that the color of the pipes matched with walls, ceilings and other spaces where they were placed. We also found somewhere to hide a massive modern diesel-powered engine to feed water to the sprinklers, concealing it in an old coal shed.
More information:
www.zurich.com/en/knowledge/articles/2018/11/safeguarding-the-trust
Always transforming
Zurich was founded in 1872 as the reinsurance arm of the Insurance Association of the Swiss Marine Insurance Company. At the outset, Zurich insured cargo for the country’s growing Swiss textile industry. Today we still play a vital role in helping society and our customers to protect against risk.