Topics: Smoke Control, Regulations, Smoke ventilation, Pressurisation
Car Park Ventilation: Q&A
First of all a big thank you to those who attended my webinar last Friday on 'Car Park Ventilation'. If you missed it or would like to watch it again, a recorded version is available here. Many questions were asked after the presentation and I decided to post them here for everybody’s benefit.
Topics: Smoke Control, CFD, Smoke ventilation, Car Park Ventilation, CPD
Getting the design of car park ventilation systems right is essential 
to the safety of a car park, as they must provide both day to day ventilation for the people using it and protection against fire, as required by Building Regulations. However, it’s not as straightforward as you might think.
Simple guidance on "free areas"...
Guidance on the ventilation requirements for car parks to meet the Building Regulations’ requirements is available in Approved Document B (ADB) and Approved Document F (ADF) for England, and their equivalents in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Topics: Smoke Control, Regulations, Smoke ventilation, Car Park Ventilation
In principle the fact that sprinklers are designed to control fire and smoke ventilators to control smoke would suggest that they are a perfect combination. However, for years there has been on going controversy regarding the interaction of sprinklers and smoke ventilators, suggesting that combining them could result in neither of them operating to its full potential. This white paper debunks this argument and explains why a combination of sprinklers and smoke ventilators should always be considered:
Topics: Smoke ventilation, Whitepaper, Sprinklers
As National Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week approaches (19-25 November), we ask what is the best approach to designing a car park ventilation system that guarantees good air quality at all times.
The requirements
Topics: Regulations, Smoke ventilation, Car Park Ventilation
The publication of BS 9999 and BS 9991 has been a breath of fresh air in some ways, but of course not everything new is perfect.
Topics: Smoke Control, Regulations, Smoke ventilation, Pressurisation, Smoke shafts
As a designer or specifier, you want to be sure that your smoke ventilation system will provide fire safety in all situations. If your design includes a pressurisation system, there are a few pitfalls to avoid. Here are seven good practices that will help you avoid them and design an effective pressurisation system:
Topics: Smoke Control, Regulations, Smoke ventilation, Pressurisation
Fires do not often break out in power stations, but they do happen. And when they do, it can prove very challenging to bring them under control, as the recent fire at the Tilbury Power Station in Essex showed.
Topics: Smoke Control, Regulations, Smoke ventilation, Power Plants
Discussions about the relative merits of open or closed control protocols have been ongoing in the fire alarm and smoke detection markets for years but up until recently, this debate has not really affected smoke ventilation systems, and actually it’s a surprise that it has arisen now.
One important task when trying to choose a fire alarm system, whose function is simple, is to ensure that smoke is detected efficiently and that, when it is, the fire alarm goes off. However, a smoke ventilation system has to do far more.
Topics: Smoke Control, Smoke ventilation
Buildings are becoming increasingly airtight to meet energy efficiency and low carbon emission regulations, such as the Approved Document L (ADL). This means that, when designing the building’s smoke control system, it is essential to include not only means of extracting the smoke, but also ways to let the air in.
Why is that so much more important with airtight buildings?
Topics: Smoke Control, CFD, Regulations, Smoke ventilation