Natural Ventilation Systems
Natural Ventilation Systems
Natural Ventilation Systems are cleverly designed for drawing toxic gasses and smoke from the source of fire, out of the building. Once the fire alarm is triggered, a signal is sent to the Natural Ventilation System which in turn triggers the AOVs (Automatic Opening Vents). In this case, that would be a Shaft and/or Facade vent on the floor of origin, and Head Of Stair and Head of Shaft. All remaining vents remain shut, allowing for a drawing effect of the shaft from the point of smoke origin, out of the building, without contamination of any other parts of the building.
Natural Ventilation Systems are best suited on:
Low Rise Buildings
Natural systems are best suited for shorter buildings due to the risk of smoke-logging in the shaft. We’d recommend no higher than 18m.
No Extended Corridors
Natural systems can be used on code-compliant buildings. In particular, you can’t have extended corridors.
Buildings With Excess Space
Natural systems require a 1.5m2 shaft through the building which can’t be used by any other services.
Whether a building can rely on a Natural Ventilation System or whether it requires a Mechanical Ventilation System is governed by a number of factors.
- How many staircases the building has
- How big the staircases are
- How many apartments the building contains
- The length of corridors through the building
- Height and amount of stories in the building
- Available space in the building
With fully qualified consultants, ADL Group conducts a full Fire Strategy on each building we onboard ensuring that the building in question receives the exact safety measures it requires.
ADL Group has successfully installed and commissioned, and provides ongoing maintenance to Natural Ventilation Systems for numerous clients, both in new build developments and retro-fitted to permitted development sites.