incorporating

Guidance
to Shafts for
Smoke Control
A useful guide to practical smoke shaft
principals and specifications
Smoke shafts - an overview

Scope of this guide

‘Smoke shaft’ is the common term for ventilation
systems in the lobbies of tall buildings, used to
maintain tenable conditions in the common escape
routes in the event of a fire in the building.

This document is a practical guide to the implemen-

tation of smoke shaft systems for regular multi-sto-
rey buildings up to 20 storeys in height.

For mechanical ventilation, those with a single shaft

extracting from a lobby with make-up air being
drawn from the stairwell.

NOTE - Complex bespoke designs, for example those

using twin shafts with reversible fans, fall outside the
scope of this guidance and the design of such would
require the services of a suitably qualified fire engineer.
 &

Smoke shafts - origins

Smoke shafts originated from re- natural ventilation – with the out- IN COMMON USAGE
search carried out by BRE and put being commonly known as the
presented in a report in 2002 en- ‘BRE Shaft’. The desire to reduce Systems such as these are now
titled ‘Smoke Shafts Protecting Fire
the space occupied by the venti- the most commonly employed
Fighting Shafts, Their Performance lation system led to the develop- smoke control measure for
and Design’. ment and common acceptance high-rise buildings, overtaking
of mechanically ventilated shafts the other available approaches,
This report specifically looked at to provide both firefighting and namely automatic opening vents
firefighting shafts and proposed means of escape protection. and pressurisation.
Standards

Guidance for natural smoke shafts the Building Regulations and are As there is no single common
is contained in paragraph 2.26 of treated as a fire safety engineered standard applying to these prod-
Approved Document B of the Building approach. ucts they are typically approached
Regulations. using the appropriate parts of sev-
This means that although they are eral related documents.
Unlike the other methods men- now very common, there is still an
tioned previously, mechanical air of mystery surrounding what is In addition, the Smoke Control
smoke shafts do not yet appear in in fact a very simple extract system. Association document Guidance
on ‘Smoke Control to Common Es-
cape Routes in Apartment Buildings’
(Revision 2, October 2015) offers
a comprehensive guide to smoke
shaft applications for residential
buildings.

This guide applies the SCA guid-

ance to the most common situa-
tions, offering a quick and reliable
route to a robust solution.
 &

Approved Document B (ADB) of the Building Regulations is applied to the stairwell ventilators, lobby
ventilators, system triggering method and ventilator free area measurement.

European Standard 12101 Parts 3, 6, 7, 9, and 10 are referenced for fans, ducts, control equipment and
power supplies.

PD 7974-6:2004 is used to identify acceptable conditions for the escape of occupants of buildings.
Expert design guidance

Smoke shafts are essentially a sim- is needed for mechanical systems.

ple ventilation system designed to
extract any smoke leaking into a Typically the required conditions
common lobby to protect the within the lobby would be based
escape stairs. Typically, a vertical on the tenability criteria in PD7974
builder’s work duct rising through part 6. The tenable criteria de-
the building would be used to ex- scribed in the guidance are:
tract smoke from the lobbies and
each lobby would have a damper l VISIBILITY (5m for small enclo-
connected to the builder’s work sure and 10m for large enclosure
- extended travel distance would
duct.
require a 10m visibility);
l TEMPERATURE (smoke tem-
For natural shafts, the head of the
the fire alarm system or smoke perature is less than 120°C - some
shaft is terminated with an auto-
detectors. say 60°C in a moist environment);
matic opening ventilator. Mechani-
l And a requirement by London
cal shafts use extract fans, mount-
FIREFIGHTING Fire Brigade that the lobby/corri-
ed on the roof and connected to
For buildings with a storey over dor returns to a smoke-free envi-
the builder’s work duct with sheet ronment within 2 minutes of the
18m high, firefighting access would
metal ducting. last occupant’s escape through the
also need to be taken into account.
This would usually mean that the stair before the onset of firefight-
An automatic opening ventilator system is designed to cope with ing. BS 7974 recommends design
would be mounted at the top of the door to the fire room being fire sizes for a range of applications.
the stairwell and the complete open to the lobby, representing
system would be controlled by an firefighting conditions. For natural systems, a larger smoke
addressable control system that shaft may be required for non-resi-
provides automatic operation of In practice this simply means that dential buildings with larger ventila-
the ventilation by interface with a higher extract volume flow rate tors. See page 16 for details.
CFD to select flow rate &

Computational Fluid Dynamics such selection for most buildings,

(CFD) are often used to ascertain particularly residential where one
the volume flow rate required to lobby is very similar to another.
maintain the design conditions
within the lobby; this was essen- At SCS Group we have available
tial in the early days of adoption of data from dozens of models and
such systems as each situation was have aggregated this into a matrix
in effect a new scenario. to develop suggested extract rates
years of common usage, there is for buildings within the parame-
However, after more than five a bank of data available to inform ters of this guide.
Replacement air
The automatic opening ventila-
tor above the stairwell is used to
provide replacement air for the
smoke shaft.
There is a risk of lobby depressuri-
sation when using mechanical ex-
tract in confined spaces like resi-
dential buildings, which could make
is difficult to open exit doors from
the lobby. Common methods to
overcome this are pressure sens-
ing fan control or reverse hanging
the stair/lobby door.
Pressure sensing fan control mon-
itors the pressure between the
stair and lobby and controls the
extract fan speed such that the
maximum pressure difference re-
mains within acceptable levels.
BS EN12101 Part 32015 suggests
precautions to be undertaken
when using inverter drives to con-
trol fans in fire mode. These in- When the extract system is op- There is no risk of depressurisa-
clude the addition of output filters erating the pressure difference is tion with natural smoke shafts.
used to suck the door open allow-
ing fresh air to enter the lobby.
The pressure at which the door is
pulled open is set by adjusting the
door closer.
This can be a simple and effective
and to derate fan motors by 20%. solution if it is acceptable for the
These precautions substantially exit doors to open against the es-
increase the cost of the control cape travel direction.
system.
To ensure effective smoke clear-
Automatic opening of the stair/ ance, the extract shaft should be
lobby door uses a motorized ac- located as far away as practicable
tuator or door closer to open the from the stairwell, which is the
stair door, usually a small distance, source of replacement air. This is
to ensure a flow of air into the particularly important in build-
lobby without allowing smoke to ings with extended travel dis-
enter the stair. tance where the exhaust position
would ideally be at least 5m away
It is possible to hang the stair/lob- from the stairwell vent to prevent
by door such that it opens into the smoke being drawn into the build-
lobby. ing.
Environmental ventilation &

Heat build-up in corridors, partic- a temperature control function

ularly in residential buildings with to the control strategy such that
energy centres providing heating, ventilators are opened on excess
can be problematic and it is possi- temperature in a predetermined
ble to use the smoke control sys- sequence to evacuate heat.
tem to dissipate some of this heat.
For mechanical ventilation, the
There are various approaches in smoke fans would be inverter
use, from running the smoke fans at controlled and run at low speed
low speed and opening the smoke to deliver a notional air change
lobby dampers proportionately, to rate within the lobby, typically 4
adding smaller environmental fans air changes.
and dedicated dampers above the model of the building should be
ceiling. undertaken and appropriate cool- Automatic rain-sensing control
ing measures implemented which would also be required to prevent
Such approaches are obviously would be outside the scope of this the stairwell ventilator opening in
limited by the outside air tem- document. poor conditions.
perature and are not guaranteed
to reduce corridor temperature in A typical pragmatic approach to All day-to-day ventilation functions
all conditions. If this is likely to be ventilation using the smoke con- must be overridden in an emer-
a significant issue then a thermal trol equipment would be to add gency condition.
System components

Builder’s work shaft

The extract shaft or duct shall
meet the requirements for fire re-
sistance for a period at least equal
to the highest period of fire resis-
tance through which the ductwork
passes, when tested and classified
in accordance with prEN 13501-3.
In practice this will usually mean
a minimum of 1 hour’s fire resis-
tance. the shaft rising vertically with min-shaft then floor grids may be re-
imal changes in direction or shape quired at intermediate kevels and
The internal surface should be throughout its travel. The recom- these should maintain a minimum
smooth and the maximum air mended size for ease of connec- free area of 1.0m2. Shafts should
leakage should be 3.85m3/hour at tion to roof extract equipment is extend a minimum of 2.5m above
50Pa pressure difference, as speci- 800mm x 800mm. the ceiling of the highest floor, be
fied in the pressurisation standard at least 0.5m above and 2.0m dis-
EN12101 Part 6. A pressure test For natural shafts ADB specifies tance from any roof structures. In
should be undertaken to prove the a minimum internal free area of non-residential buildings requiring
leakage prior to installation of the 1.5m2, with a minimum dimen- firefighting protection (those with
system. sion in any direction of 0.85m. a storey above 18m) the shaft free
The recommended internal shaft area required is 3.0m2 (recom-
For mechanical shafts, the min- dimensions for ease of roof vent mended dimensions 1.5m x 2.0m)
imum free area is typically 0.6m2 sizing are 1.2m x 1.3m. Where and the construction should be
with an aspect ratio of 2:1 with there is a risk of falling into the 2hr fire resistant.
System components
Stairwell ventilator
Smoke exhaust plant
For mechanical shafts, ex-
tract fans should comply
with EN12101-03 and a
standby fan is required in
case of fan failure.
The selection of the appro-
priate temperature rating
should be dictated by the
results of any design cal-
culations or CFD model-
ing, however, based on previous C for 1 hour will be suitable for be 1.5m2.
project data, a rating of 300 deg
&
The ventilator above the stair-
well will primarily be used as
an air inlet for the smoke shaft
and should have a minimum free
area of 1.0m2 when measured in
accordance with diagram C7 of
ADB.
The ventilator should comply
with EN12101-02.
most residential situations.
Ventilators at the head of
natural shafts should be to
the same standard as stair-
well ventilators, complying
with EN12101-02.
For residential buildings
a free area of 1.0m2 is re-
quired, while for firefighting
shafts the free area should
System components

Lobby ventilators
The ventilator connecting the lobby two common approaches are to use For firefighting smoke shafts, the
to the builder’s work shaft may be a an E30Sa fire door (with an electri- ventilator free area is increased to
door type or a damper. cal actuator) or a smoke 1.5m2.
damper, neither of which
The basic requirements will be fully certified for the In mechanical systems, the free area
are for it to open on application but which offer is calculated according to the re-
the fire floor to exhaust pragmatic solutions. The quired extract volume, and is typi-
smoke and for the re- actuators should be drive cally around 0.6m2.
maining floors to remain open, drive closed rather
closed,preventing smoke than a spring-return type. The ventilator should be positioned
spread and maintaining as close to the ceiling as possible
fire compartmentalisa- For natural shafts in all res- within the lobby, and at least as high
tion. There is no specific idential buildings the free as the top of the door from the lob-
standard for these products so the area of the lobby ventilator is 1.0m2. by to the stairwell.

Power supplies and wiring

The system should have a sec- EN12101-10. This may be from ture rating for the application. For
ondary power supply in case of either an independent electric- most residential systems FP200
ity utility supply or a generator
mains failure in accordance with or equivalent is suitable for sen-
back-up supply.
sors and devices, while FP400 is

Electrical wiring should commonly used for power sup-

be of a suitable tempera- plies to extract plant.
System components &

Control system
The control system should comply smoke control system, or through Manual control switches for fire-
with EN12101-09 where applica- interface with a building smoke fighter use should be located
ble, and sensitive equipment such detection system compliant with adjacent to the fire service ac-
as inverters and PLCs should be BS5839 part 1, L5 classification. cess point and be clearly labelled
located out of the fire zone. ‘Smoke Extract’.
Manual call points should be or-
The control system may be de- ange and, where located adjacent Where the system incorporates
signed specifically for the build- to a ventilator on a fire floor, a higher extract duty for firefight-
ing, or be a modular standardised should simulate an ing access, manual boost switches
product that can be configured to alarm on that floor. should be positioned on each
the building.
floor for fire brigade
use.
Most residential applications will
suit the modular approach, with
local zone control panels located
throughout the building commu-
nicating with a central processor
usually located at the fan position,
and a HMI panel at a convenient
location that is used for commis-
sioning and testing.

Triggering of the system may be

from dedicated smoke detectors
purely for the operation of the
Installation & commissioning

Installation should be undertaken by a

specialist contractor who understands
the working relationship of each in-
stalled element of the shaft system.
Prior to handover, the commissioning
process needs to be able to prove the
effectiveness of the system in a variety
of test operation scenarios, in accor-
dance with the agreed ‘cause and effect’.

Guidance exists to govern the quality

of installation and the extent and scope
of commissioning, for example:

BS 7346-8:2013 Part 8 - Installation: BS 7346-8:2013 Part 8 - Commissioning:

“The nature and quality of the installation work
needs to be such as to ensure the integrity of the
smoke control system and minimise the duration
and extent of any disablement of the system during
maintenance or modifications.
Penetration of construction (e.g. for the passage of
cables, conduit, trunking or tray) ought to be made
good to prevent the free passage of fire or smoke,
regardless of whether the construction has a rec-
ognised degree of fire resistance.”
“The process of commissioning involves thorough
testing of the installed smoke control equipment,
including interactions with other systems.
The responsibility of the commissioning engineer
is to verify that the system operates in the man-
ner designed and that the installation workman-
ship is of an adequate standard. It is therefore
necessary for the commissioning engineer to be
provided with the agreed specification for the
system.”
Service & maintenance &

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety)

Order 2005 (RRO) dictates that a
building’s “responsible person”
(generally a building owner, man-
ager or FM) has to ensure proper
operational service and mainte-
nance of smoke control systems.

Smoke shafts are life-critical as-

pects of a building’s operation so
their proper maintenance is vital.
Many components come under
the scheduled service recommen-
dations of BS 9999, and the latest
standard on smoke control (BS
7346-8:2013 Part 8) states that:

“Smoke control equipment

competent person with specialist While one aspect may be appar-
should only be maintained by a
knowledge of smoke control sys- ently operational, it must also be
tems, adequate access to spares suitably operational in relation to
and sufficient information regard- the rest of the system.
ing the system.”
Software maintenance, too, is im-
It is important to bear in mind the portant, and the latest updates
fact the smoke control systems should always be installed to en-
are more than just a parts list. sure maximum performance.
Examples - mechanical shaft

Mechanical shaft systems are partic-

ularly suitable for buildings where
space constraints prevent the use of
simpler solutions.

A provisional design can be achieved

in minutes by selecting modular
components:

l Builder’s work shaft

l Lobby vent

l Roof extract unit

l Control system
Examples - natural shaft &

Natural shaft systems rely on the buoyan-

cy of hot smoke and the inlet of fresh air
to extract smoke in the case of a fire.

With mechanical intervention, the shaft

will generally require a larger footprint
than the equivalent mechanical system.

A simple system will typically comprise:

l Builder’s work shaft of 1.5m2 free area

l Lobby vent

l Roof vent

l Control system
Examples - stairwell vent

The stairwell ventilator is a

low profile automatic open-
ing hatch with an opening
angle of 120°C, to minimise
wind effects.

It should be manufactured
from corrosion-resistant alu-
minium and be fully insulated,
with a geometric free area of
1.0m2.

The control kit should com-

prise a local control panel
with a battery-backed 24v
DC supply and two remote
control switches for posi-
tioning at the top and bot-
tom of the staircase.

The control panel accepts a

signal from lobby ventilators
to automatically open with
lobby ventilation.
&
 Smoke control
Building automation
BEMS
Natural ventilation
Service and software

Contact us
t. 08702 406 460
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Cardiff London Three Legged Cross
CF3 2PZ EC2A 1DS Wimborne BH21 6SP

t. 08702 406 460

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w. easivent.co.uk

Easivent is part of the SCS Group, supplying high quality products via its website easivent.co.uk

SCS Group Guide to Smoke Shafts v2 January 2017