Residential
The majority of the projects we attend here at AC AOV are residential apartment buildings. This is simply because of the scale of development happening in the UK and that regulations dictate that all buildings of multiple occupancy must be serviced by some kind of AOV system. Similarly, Automatic Opening Vents are a legally required safety measure for multi-storey residential buildings.
Smoke Ventilation for Lobbies and Corridors… How it works…
The purpose of smoke ventilation in residential apartment Lobbies is to protect the means of escape by venting any smoke and or heat so that occupants may evacuate the building safely. Manual AOV Call Points activate a control panel, which is programmed to open the relevant windows or roof hatches in the event of a fire. This system also supports fire service access to the building and their movement around the triggered zones.
In such residential buildings, the AOV system in a corridor will vent smoke by using the external wall. This system will take into account where smoke may build up in stairwells (which are occupant only means of escape). Smoke naturally rises, so corridor smoke vents (AOV’s) will be located high on the external wall and will allow smoke to escape as it rises. Corridor smoke vents can be used instead of or together with roof hatches/vents.