We have come a long way with Covid-19 since 2020 and now, almost two years on, it feels like we are finally at a stage where we can live with the virus and return to our usual work and social routines. The last time we wrote about the maintenance of smoke control with regards to the pandemic was in March of 2020, when the first lockdowns had just been announced. In that blog, we reminded people that the testing and maintenance of life safety installations in buildings is mandatory under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. Therefore, regardless of whether the buildings you managed would be in constant use or mostly empty, it remains imperative that a regular maintenance programme is adhered to in buildings of all types, be they commercial, industrial or residential.

As you will be aware, there has been an intense focus on building and fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. In response to this Dame Judith Hackitt chaired an independent review of building regulations and fire safety which has led to the new Building Safety Bill being put forward.

If you own or manage a commercial or residential property, you are ultimately responsible for the safety of the building's occupants and providing fire safety systems that are properly maintained and functioning.

When it comes to corridor ventilation, two things must be taken into consideration: effective smoke evacuation in the event of a fire and preventing overheating, for day-to-day comfort ventilation.

Smoke control in high-rise residential buildings is an important and, sadly, topical issue. Having recently written a post about the talk that I gave to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers on smoke control in general, I now want to focus on high-rise residential buildings , a subject that I also addressed with the engineers and, in particular, in the talk I gave to Northern Ireland Building Control Officers in Armagh.

Owing to the different types of occupancy patterns, the Building Regulations rightly provide differing guidance for commercial and residential buildings.

So, when a building changes use, assuming that the developer is not prepared to alter the layout of the stair, it is likely that Building Control will insist on a fire engineered solution leading to the highest degree of protection in terms of the smoke control system. 

Smoke is the biggest killer in a fire, and an effective smoke control system is critical to preserving life and property. On the other hand, the pursuit of energy efficiency has led to increasingly airtight buildings, which poses new challenges in preventing overheating in common areas.

It is possible to address both smoke and environmental ventilation with one solution: for example mechanical shaft systems have seen great developments in recent years and are now capable of providing a highly effective performance while taking up less space than other types of shaft system.

The complexity of product and design standards relating to smoke and heat control systems, which are in constant evolution in response to regulations and experience in the field, may seem daunting, but help is at hand!

There has been a trend towards fitting sprinklers in residential buildings, driven partly by the fact that this can enable the relaxation of other fire safety measures, including the extending of travel distances.

We are also aware of a couple of incidences where sprinklers have been used to justify omission of smoke control in residential corridors. We believe this to be a dangerous trend.

M&E consultants, facilities managers and building occupiers all want buildings that consume less and less energy and cost as little as possible to run. Set against this is the need to maintain a healthy internal environment which has adequate ventilation. How do we reconcile the opposite requirements of air tightness for energy efficiency and ventilation for air quality? How do we minimise installation and operational costs in our designs?

Join me, from 12.30-13.30 BST on Friday 19 September 2014, as I present a free webinar on how to design in energy-efficient ventilation systems in new and existing buildings. 

The inquest into the Lakanal House tragedy concluded last week and the published verdict and recommendations raise important concerns regarding fire safety in local authority tower blocks, and particularly in aged housing stock.