Completed in 1870, the Melbourne Town Hall is at the heart of the city’s cultural and civic activity and stands as one of the city’s most significant architectural landmarks. Within the Main Hall, ornate coffered ceilings, the largest concert organ in the Southern Hemisphere and murals by Napier Weller all date back generations. When the City of Melbourne decided to upgrade the building’s fire protection system, it prioritised specialists who could navigate the delicate balance of modern safety requirements, a live operational facility and heritage preservation.

The project encompassed both the Council office areas and the Main Hall itself, requiring the replacement of approximately 7,000 sprinkler heads while maintaining the building’s operational requirements and protecting its priceless heritage features. “We had to carefully consider the history of the site including the circular leadlight dome in the Council Chambers and ornate 21-metre ceilings in the Main Hall,” says David Haynes, Operations Manager at Walker Fire Protection. “Several of the sprinkler heads slated for replacement dated back to the 1940s, requiring careful planning and preparation to accommodate all potential scenarios involved in their removal.”

Water at heights

Walker Fire Protection drew on its success at 2 Treasury Place, another heritage-listed building in Melbourne’s CBD, where it pioneered the use of ‘Dropmaster™’ technology for similar work. This innovative vacuum system would prove crucial to the success of the Melbourne Town Hall project.

“When draining a fire sprinkler system, some water always remains in the pipe that drops to the sprinkler head,” explains David. “The Dropmaster™ is attached to the sprinkler system and creates a vacuum within the pipe. It literally siphons and holds that water back, so when you change the sprinkler head, there’s no water leakage and no mess.”

This seemingly simple innovation addressed one of the most significant challenges in heritage building sprinkler works – preventing water damage to sensitive environments while ensuring minimal disruption to daily operations.

Understanding the unique demands of working within a functioning civic building, Walker Fire Protection developed a comprehensive strategy that prioritised care over speed. The team deliberately over-resourced the project and shifted its focus to heritage protection.

The project was structured around a flexible timeline that accommodated the building’s ongoing civic functions, including concerts and official events. This required careful coordination with City of Melbourne staff, working out of hours and the use of specialised equipment, including elevated work platforms that could safely navigate around the Town Hall’s pendant lights and glass ceiling features.

Overcoming heritage complexities

Working with sprinkler heads that had been in place for over 80 years presented unique technical challenges. With many of the original fittings corroded and difficult to remove, there were heightened concerns about potential pipe thread breakage.