Pulte Homes, a national construction company, is currently working on Legacy Farms, a 1000-unit residential development project, that consists of single, duplex and multi-family dwelling units in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, a suburban town 26 miles west of Boston, and the location of the starting line of the Boston Marathon.

When the project was in the planning stages, the Fire Department expressed a concern about response time and adequate water supply for firefighting. The Planning, Zoning and Building Officials in town were concerned about the number of units and density of the buildings, as well as the impact on town resources.

The larger multi-family dwellings on site were required to have fire sprinklers under the State Building Code. Concerns about project density and adequate water supply for firefighting operations prompted local planning, zoning, building and fire officials to discuss design advantages and developer incentives which led to the agreement to installing residential fire sprinklers in the 1 & 2 family dwellings. The developer listened to the concerns of town officials and as a result Pulte Homes agreed to install residential fire sprinkler systems in all the properties, including the detached one and two-family dwellings, which were not required by code to be sprinklered under the Massachusetts Building Code .

The remote location of the project, on an open rolling countryside did not present an obstacle to providing or installing the fire sprinkler systems. The fire protection engineer designed the system in each 1 & 2 family dwelling in accordance with NFPA 13-D. The multi-unit buildings are protected by NFPA 13-R systems.

Both the town and the developer benefitted from the installation of the residential fire sprinklers through Design Advantages and Incentives, which allowed for ‘trade ups’ in dead-end road length, elimination of a required second access/egress road, reduced road widths, decreased building separation and increased density.

The fire sprinkler installation work was performed by Meridian Fire Protection of Derry, New Hampshire. The costs of materials and installation for the fire sprinklers were recouped by the developer and offset through savings realized through the design advantages and trade-ups. And as a result, the occupants of these dwellings will enjoy an enhanced level of fire and life safety in their homes.