Specialist Design Services
Turnkey Solutions
With our extensive knowledge and understanding of the requirements for smoke control in both regulatory and building design, we offer the below turnkey solutions.
Before you decide which solution is most appropriate for your building type and requirements, we suggest you give Fire and Smoke Solutions a call, where we can help you obtain the most efficient solution for your budget and needs.
The below are the most common solutions to enable effective smoke control. We carry out site visits and consultations and depending on your building design, age and inhabitants we can determine the most suitable “SHEVS” (Smoke and Heat Exhaust Ventilation System) solution for your particular projects.
Natural Smoke Ventilation Systems
These are normally simple systems and can just be AOV windows or natural shafts and atria. More complicated systems and atria may require CFD modelling and analysis to develop the right solution.. They rely on the buoyancy of hot smoke and gas to drive a ventilation flow out of the protected space with natural inlet vents providing make up air.
Powered Smoke Ventilation
In cases where there is insufficient space for a natural shaft or travel distances are greater than code compliant distances then a mechanical fan based system must be used. They are also used for car parks and basement ventilation systems. Systems may comprise of multiple shafts and have reversible fans depending on the fire engineering requirement.
Pressurisation Systems
Pressurisation system work on the principle of pressurising the protected space so that air flow is away from the protected space protecting it from the ingress of smoke. Properly designed, installed and maintained pressurisation systems are accepted as providing the highest level of protection. Badly designed and installed systems have sometimes led to negative opinions about pressurisation systems but the same applies to all system that are not correctly designed, installed and commissioned to the correct standards and practices.
Commissioning & Testing Services
Ensuring that the smoke control system and all components are installed correctly and that the system operates as planned is a vital part of handing over a system. Unfortunately many systems are set to work and never properly functionally tested to assess and confirm their actual performance as required in BS7346-8.