Ventilation for multiple areas

Wider education applications

There is generally a lot of focus on the design of classrooms within Schools, and rightly so as this is where most time will be spent by students. However, a School has a large variety of different spaces which require different approaches when it comes to ventilation design. Fortunately, VES has a product catalogue and the technical expertise to match all these different approaches for the types of spaces within a School.

Regulations and Guidance

Documents like Building Bulletin 93 (BB93) and Building Bulletin 101 (BB101), provide guidance on how to comply with the Building Regulations and sets out minimum performance standards for school buildings. These standards apply to the school building in its entirety and as such include detail for how to deal with the various types of spaces.

Spaces other than a standard classroom, can cover a large range of activities. Due to the variety of activities there are several other reference documents to help with their design, some of which are shown below:

• Design and planning for multisport buildings and halls, providing standard sizing, lighting levels and ventilation rates are detailed by Sport England/Scotland.
• Reference for designing pools can be found within the Sports Council (1994) document, along with several others.
• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations (1992) apply to most spaces where people work.
• The HSE (Health and Safety Executive) guidance note on ventilation of kitchens in catering establishments gives good advice, some of which is applicable to food technology rooms as well as school kitchens.
• The HVCA (Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association) have published DW/171 which is a guide to kitchen ventilation.
• Detailed advice on gas installations can be found in the publication Gas Installations for Educational Establishments UP11.

Using a combination of the above guides and regulations, different areas within schools can have specialised ventilation setups which are optimised for the specific spaces.

Areas within schools

Science Rooms

When practical spaces are used as conventional classrooms they need to provide ventilation for teaching and learning activities, like the approach used for a normal classroom. Science rooms, however, may also need additional ventilation during practical activities to prevent the build-up of unwanted pollutants. Ventilation in these spaces should be based on the minimum exhaust rates for pollutant control. These problems, arising from emissions and heat gains, are likely to be intermittent rather than continuous so some form of boost ventilation should be designed into the system.

Relevant products:

• Ecovent Hybrid (EVH): Low specific fan power hybrid ventilation unit
• Ecovent Counterflow (EVC): Low profile heat recovery unit

Offices

Ventilating Offices follows the same basic principles as with classrooms, to be able to adequately ventilate the space using a Natural, Hybrid or Mechanical ventilation approach. Whichever system is chosen, it must be able to reduce indoor pollutants (such as CO₂) by bringing in outside air directly into the space.

Generally, these spaces are smaller than Classrooms and thus require smaller ventilation systems.

Relevant products:

• Ecovent Hybrid (EVH): Low specific fan power hybrid ventilation uni
• Ecovent Counterflow (EVC): Low profile heat recovery unit

Kitchen

Kitchens require high ventilation rates as heat and emissions are high. These two factors alone make a heat recovery ventilation system very cost effective. Along with a large number of heat sources, adequate ventilation is required to safeguard against dangerous gasses and pollutants. This combination of factors often requires carbon monoxide or oxygen detectors along with gas interlocked ventilation systems.

Relevant products:

• Max Kitchen: Heat recovery unit for polluted air extraction, ideal for kitchens
• T-Line: Ventilation unit, ideal for polluted air extraction

Gym or Sports Hall

Ventilating Gyms or Sports Halls comes with a few different challenges when compared to classrooms. Not only is the fresh air requirement dependant on the number of occupants, with the use of automatic carbon dioxide detectors to ensure acceptable air quality, but air velocity must be kept low so that the sports activities are not affected either. Due to the large spaces involved, heating becomes an important consideration as Gym or Sport Halls operate all year round.

A combination of high-level roof/wall ventilation systems with ducted heated ventilation systems is generally seen as the preferred method of ventilation.

Relevant products:

• Ecovent Counterflow (EVC): Low profile heat recovery unit
• Ecovent Hybrid (EVH-R): Largest capacity hybrid ventilation unit
• Max: Bespoke ventilation units

Pools

Ventilation is a major factor which affects the comfort of occupants when dealing with swimming pools, as swimming pools are subject to high rates of evaporation. To ensure the desired temperature and humidity conditions are met, it is essential that the heating and ventilation strategy considers the building fabric construction, its thermal properties and permeability to water vapour.

The ventilation system serves two purposes: to remove contaminants from the atmosphere within the pool hall and to ensure user comfort. This is done by controlling the air quality, temperature and humidity. To achieve these objectives warm air must be distributed evenly throughout the pool hall, at flow rates that are within acceptable limits for bather comfort. Therefore, the ventilation system will require both supply and extract with heat recovery and dehumidification capabilities.

Relevant products:

• Max: Bespoke ventilation units