The LWF Blog

Fire Safety for Facilities Management Personnel – Smoke Control – Part 261

July 15, 2024 11:07 am

Lawrence Webster Forrest (LWF) is a specialist fire engineering and fire risk management consultancy whose aim is to give information on best practice in fire safety for facilities management personnel through this blog series. In part 260, LWF began to talk about smoke ventilation. In part 261, we continue to discuss smoke ventilation in terms of atrium buildings.

Atrium buildings may require natural ventilation or powered smoke extraction in order to maintain tenability. Alternatively, pressurisation or depressurisation of the atrium space may be used in order to keep the area clear of smoke in some circumstances. In this case, the atrium space may not form part of the means of escape for the building, but the facility may be provided in order to remove smoke for the Fire Service and to prevent undue alarm on the part of building occupants.

Another method of smoke control in atriums is the use of smoke or fire curtains. This solution may be particularly useful in older or protected buildings where more invasive solutions are not possible. Perimeter smoke control curtains may be applied to all floors of a building where there is access to the atrium, including the ground floor. Horizontal fire curtains may be placed between floors to trap smoke in one part of the building.

Guidance on smoke control and other fire protection measures for atrium buildings may be found in BS 9999 (https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/fire-safety-in-the-design-management-and-use-of-buildings-code-of-practice?version=standard)

In order for the smoke ventilation system in place to work effectively and fulfil the required objectives (such as maintaining a clear escape route), it’s usually necessary to control the fire size.

Sprinkler protection is an often-used solution to reliably control fire growth and overall size. The installation of a sprinkler or other fire suppression system deemed suitable permits a maximum predicted fire size to be ascertained and enables the required rate of smoke extraction to be calculated.

The predicted size of the fire used in calculations is sometimes reduced in cases where fast response sprinklers are used, although this relaxation is not necessarily universally accepted and should be checked with all relevant parties (including any fire insurer).

The combination of a smoke control system and a sprinkler system to satisfy a fire safety objective is a typical fire engineering solution to satisfy a fire safety objective.

In part 262 of this series, LWF will begin to look at fire and rescue service facilities. In the meantime, if you have any queries about your own facilities or wish to discuss this blog series, please contact LWF on freephone 0800 410 1130.

Lawrence Webster Forrest is a fire engineering consultancy based in Surrey with over 35 years’ experience, which provides a wide range of consultancy services to professionals involved in the design, development and construction and operation of buildings.

 

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.