A family-run Dundee fire protection business has expanded into Manchester after its commitment to securing the highest levels of third-party accreditation and training helped it land some of the biggest jobs in Scotland.
Discovery Fire Sprinklers was founded in 2016 by experienced fire protection industry specialists, father and son duo Jim and James Bryceland. The firm started out offering support to residential and domestic projects, before later moving into commercial works.
Evidence of the company’s growth can be found in the high-profile schemes it is now involved in. Discovery Fire Sprinklers has recently worked on Drum Property Group’s £300 million Candleriggs Square development in Glasgow, with work also starting on GRAHAM’S 551-bed student accommodation build in Glasgow city centre, and a contract secured on Robertson Construction’s Plot 6 office block development at Dundee Waterfront for M&E contractor JGM.
“We knew that Scotland was to make it law that all affordable housing comes with sprinklers,” James told Project Scotland. “So, we started focusing on getting our accreditations to the highest level for residential and domestic and when the legislation came out in 2021, we’d already been third-party certified to the highest level.”
Third party certification is not mandatory in the fire protection sector, but acts to provide confidence to industry, local authorities, regulators, and specifiers that a contractor has been assessed for industry standards and product competency – with the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) issuing the certification on behalf of its accredited providers of third-party certification.
The International Fire Consultants (IFC), part of the global Kiwa Group, assesses Discovery Fire Sprinklers, which involves all of the firm’s work on site being assessed and office audits undertaken to ensure it is being carried out to the highest level.
Achieving the accreditations was no mean feat, with James and the rest of the team having to sit exams at West College Scotland, where they undertook the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association’s L2 and L3 course.
As a result of the accreditations, the firm was able to hit the ground running when the new Scottish legislation was introduced in 2021. Discovery Fire Sprinklers is set to work on over 2,000 properties this year alone, including Aberdeen City Council’s 536-home Cloverhill development and projects across Fife, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeenshire.
The company expanded its third-party accreditation last year to verify its ability to work on high-rise buildings, securing certification for the installation of wet and dry riser systems and commercial sprinkler systems alongside residential, which James revealed makes it the only business in the UK to hold all three.
This has allowed Discovery Fire Sprinklers to work on projects such as Candleriggs Square, where the firm installed two dry risers over 10 floors, as well as a wet riser and pump system with two large diesel pumps that service 17 floors. James said there were no hitches but admitted that it was ‘challenging’ at times, due to the number of people working all at once on the mammoth scheme. Next is the Bath Street accommodation project, which starts this month and covers 14 floors and 550 bedrooms, all with third-party certified design plans.
In Manchester, over 50 towers received planning permission in the city last year, with more in the pipeline. This was one of the drivers for the business choosing the city for its third office space, following the opening of bases in Dundee and Aberdeen.
James added that despite being a relative newcomer to the Manchester market, the business is already pricing for two very large jobs in the city. Confident the firm will make a name for itself south of the border, James explained that larger developers and construction firms aren’t interested in the cheapest price and instead want guaranteed quality and safety.
“It might take a year to get one of these projects kicked off, because that’s how long those big jobs take; they don’t happen overnight,” he said. “The jobs we’re tendering for are the biggest in height, but we’ve got them all over Scotland – we’ve got five or six of these same jobs in Scotland, just over a different height because Manchester builds up the way, whereas Scotland tends to build out.”
2024 is shaping up to be Discovery Fire Sprinklers’ largest to date. Other scheduled works include the Ellon Family Resource Centre project, and the redevelopment of Glasgow’s Lorne Hotel into student accommodation.
A project manager has also been recruited following a two-year search – allowing James to take some rest time after working long hours and most weekends during the firm’s rapid expansion!
“It’s going to help big time,” James said, on the appointment of Darren Maclean. “My job as MD is to get the work, but right now I’m looking after labour, attending site meetings weekly, doing quotations and specifications for all the jobs, and business development.”
Hailing Darren as a ‘great asset’ to the company, James revealed the opening of the new office, major project wins, and what he believes is the ‘best team’ in the sector helped attract him to the role.
“Darren hadn’t even started yet, but he asked if he could come along to some of the Glasgow jobs to speak to clients,” James revealed. “He’s got a good head on him; he will be a great asset to the company.”
