Teal Products has successfully completed another project at Leamington Court, London. Major improvements to the building’s cladding and fire safety systems were carried out in 2022. Teal Products were appointed as the natural smoke ventilation system contractor as part of the planned upgrades.

Introduction: Teal Products: Leading the Way in Smoke and Natural Ventilation Solutions

Teal Products is proud to be the preferred choice for top-notch smoke and natural ventilation solutions. With our expertise and commitment to customer satisfaction, we have successfully completed numerous projects that have significantly improved fire safety and indoor air quality. In this blog, we showcase one of our recent achievements at Leamington Court, London, where our smoke ventilation system installation made a remarkable impact. Read on to learn more about our exceptional results and dedication to creating safer environments.

Enhancing Fire Safety with Efficient Smoke and Natural Ventilation: In 2022, Teal Products had the privilege of transforming the fire safety systems at Leamington Court. As the natural smoke ventilation system contractor, our objective was to ensure effective airflow in communal lobbies and stairwells during fire incidents. To achieve this, we supplied and installed a range of high-quality products designed for optimum performance and reliability.

Products Supplied and Installed: As part of the project at Leamington Court, we provided the following products, each tailored to meet the specific needs of the building:

• WSC 520 AOV Control Panel: Our advanced WSC 520 AOV control panel offers seamless integration and precise control of the smoke ventilation system. It enables efficient monitoring and management of smoke ventilation devices, ensuring swift and effective evacuation during fire emergencies.
• SV-W-GL1 AOV Facade Louvre: Our SV-W-GL1 AOV facade louvres are expertly designed to provide natural ventilation while effectively preventing the spread of smoke. These louvres offer a perfect balance between functionality and aesthetics, ensuring both safety and architectural appeal.
• SV-R-RL1 AOV Roof Hatch: The SV-R-RL1 AOV roof hatch is an essential component of the smoke ventilation system, offering efficient smoke extraction and natural ventilation capabilities. With its robust construction and easy operation, this roof hatch enhances fire safety while providing excellent access for maintenance purposes.

Witness Our Success: Experience Our Smoke and Natural Ventilation System Installation: To provide you with a closer look at our expertise and the outstanding outcome of our project at Leamington Court, we invite you to watch the video showcasing our smoke and natural ventilation system installation. This captivating video captures the meticulousness and dedication with which our team executes projects, ensuring optimal performance and customer satisfaction.

Watch the video here and witness the transformation through our smoke and natural ventilation system installation at Leamington Court, London!

Your Trusted Partner for Smoke and Natural Ventilation: Teal Products aims to be your trusted partner for all your smoke and natural ventilation needs. With our tagline, “The preferred choice for smoke and natural ventilation,” we demonstrate our commitment to excellence and a customer-centric approach. Our experienced professionals and innovative solutions enable us to deliver tailored systems that meet the unique requirements of each project.

Choose Teal Products for Unmatched Expertise and Service: When it comes to smoke and natural ventilation solutions, Teal Products stands out as a leader in the industry. Our extensive expertise, dedication to customer satisfaction, and focus on safety make us the preferred choice for clients across various sectors. With our commitment to delivering outstanding results and creating safer environments, you can trust Teal Products to meet your smoke and natural ventilation requirements.

Conclusion: Teal Products remains dedicated to being your go-to provider for smoke and natural ventilation solutions. Our recent project at Leamington Court, London, is a testament to our ability to enhance fire safety and improve indoor air quality through exceptional installations. Trust Teal Products

Forming part of a smoke ventilation system, Automatic Opening Vents (AOVs) are a required safety measure for multi-storey residential buildings. If you’re an installer of Automatic Opening Vents (AOVs), you need to be aware of the AOV system regulations that are in place. Compliance with the following AOV building regulations is essential when using them.

Building regulations for AOV windows:

Approved Document B – Fire Safety

The regulations for what a building must be fitted with to prevent the spread of fire are covered in Approved Document B. Specifically, Approved Doc B Volume 2 covers buildings other than dwelling houses, the areas where AOV windows are commonly used. For residential buildings, it’s essential for a fire detection and alarm system to be in place, plus there should be adequate means of escape.

Approved Document F – Smoke Control and Ventilation

Building regs Document F sets out how ventilation is to be provided for specific buildings. The method for ventilation will vary depending on the type of building, the layout, the number of occupants and how the upper floors are reached (by elevator, stairway or alternative method). Approved Document F also aims to prevent the accumulation of smoke within buildings. This is important for providing a means of escape during the event of a fire. More than one Automatic Opening Vent may be required for smoke control purposes, however, in multi-storey buildings, they’re usually fitted above the staircases.

Approved Document L – Conservation of Fuel and Power

Approved Document L regulates how much thermal insulation should be provided by smoke vents. The document points out that smoke vents should be designed in a way to prevent excessive heat loss. U-Values are the unit for measuring heat loss and the lower the U-Value, the smaller amount of heat transmittance or heat loss. To comply with Approved Document L, any smoke vents must have a U-Value of 3.5 W/m2k or lower. Specifically, the two documents mainly relevant to AOV window regulations are:

Approved Document L2A, which covers new buildings other than dwellings

Approved Document L2B, which covers existing buildings other than dwellings

Standards and certification for AOV windows:

BS EN12101-2

BS EN12101-2 is the harmonised European standard for smoke and heat control. A stringent AOV testing procedure must be performed before an AOV window is certified to this standard. However, this standard applies to every component used as part of a smoke control system. Plus, the whole system has to be tested as a collective unit to comply with Building Regulations.

CE Marking

CE marking certification demonstrates that the AOV has passed all the required tests.

How often should an AOV be tested?

Once a month, AOVs should be tested using the manual controls to make sure that they are working as they should be. Plus, a full test, which includes checking any smoke detectors and other AOV controls, should be performed yearly.

READ MORE about smoke ventilation regulations and design guidance in our ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SMOKE VENTILATION          view and favourite now

Do you require AOV windows for a project?

Here at Teal Products, the products we supply for use in AOV control systems, which includes actuators, control units & manual call points, are all tested to BS EN12101-2 and CE marked. If you require any for your next project, or for any project advice, get in touch with us today.

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Approved Document F covers ventilation requirements for all buildings. It states that adequate means of ventilation shall be provided for people in buildings. How ventilation is provided is not always strictly defined, so if you’re wondering ‘how do you ventilate a high-rise building?’, there are several ventilation options available for high-rise commercial and residential buildings.

Approved Document F covers ventilation requirements for all buildings. It states that adequate means of ventilation shall be provided for people in buildings. How ventilation is provided is not always strictly defined, so if you’re wondering ‘how do you ventilate a high-rise building?’, there are several ventilation options available for high-rise commercial and residential buildings.

Curtain walling ventilation

Curtain walling is most commonly used on commercial buildings, however in recent years, it’s also been used for a range of residential projects. A range of problems have emerged concerning curtain walling ventilation, including air and water leakage. However, these limitations are likely to be overcome by performing thorough research into quality standards and testing requirements, which should subsequently allow you to find a quality product.

What is a curtain walling system?

Curtain wall systems are non-structural cladding systems that are fitted to the external walls of buildings. Their typical construction is a lightweight aluminium frame with glazed panels fixed to it, which keeps the weather out and allows natural light to flow inside.

Mechanical ventilation in high-rise commercial & residential buildings

Mechanical ventilation in these settings is typically provided by air handling units. These are connected to ductwork within the building and allow air to be circulated into and out of the building. For buildings that are too deep to ventilate from the perimeter, mechanical ventilation is ideal. In densely populated buildings which have high heat loads or large volumes of contaminants in the air, they’re great too. If not properly maintained, however, mould can build-up as can a range of air pollutants, like dust and radon. Therefore, regular inspections are recommended.

Natural ventilation in high-rise commercial & residential buildings

Natural ventilation systems are more cost-effective to build, use and maintain than mechanical ventilation systems. For these reasons, they’re generally preferred to mechanical systems. Natural ventilation in these buildings is usually provided by either cross or stack ventilation. For an example of a natural ventilation system, check out our case study on Harrow Library.

Cross ventilation

Cross ventilation occurs where there are pressure differences between one side of a building and another. Ventilation is provided at either side of the building, with the high-pressure side drawing air in and the low-pressure side drawing air out. Cross ventilation is generally suited to buildings that are narrow but not too deep.

Stack ventilation

Stack ventilation works by drawing cooler outside air into the building at a lower level, which becomes warmer as it’s exposed to heat sources within the building, causing it to rise before it is vented out at a higher level. Stack system ventilation is more effective when used on taller buildings with central atriums. However, it can also be useful in deeper buildings too.

Both types of ventilation can be provided using windows or vents, which are situated at either side of the building (cross ventilation), or at the top and bottom (stack ventilation). These windows can be set to open and close automatically via the use of actuators. These actuators can be operated as part of a control system and set to go off via sensors, including rain and temperature sensors.

Smoke ventilation for high-rise residential buildings

For high-rise residential buildings, automatic opening vents (AOVs) are required for smoke ventilation purposes. This is in accordance with Approved Document B, which covers UK Building Regulations on fire safety.

Smoke and natural ventilation systems from Teal products

Teal products are a renowned supplier of smoke and natural ventilation systems. All of our products have been tested to European EN standards. For our natural ventilation systems, we supply a range of components, including:

Window actuators

Control units, including rain & remote controllers

Inputs & accessories, including wireless timers, rain sensors and thermostats

If you require either system for your next project, get in touch on 01242 620318 or send us an online message.

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An Automatic Opening Vent, commonly abbreviated to AOV, is a control system designed to vent air or smoke for natural ventilation and smoke ventilation.

Here at Teal Products, we are leading suppliers of AOV systems, so we’ve created this informative blog to give you all the information you need about them.

How does an AOV system work?

AOV systems consist of a control panel that is configured to various manual or automatic triggers that, when activated, open window actuators, vents, rooflights or windows to create ventilation. In smoke ventilation systems, the ventilation created helps keep buildings clear of smoke.

Do I need an AOV?

To comply with Approved Document B of Building Regulations, Automatic Opening Vents that extract smoke are an essential requirement for communal stairwells. During a fire, smoke poses the biggest immediate danger to occupants in multi-storey accommodation and other large buildings, but AOVs help to remove smoke and keep escape routes clear.

How often should AOVs be serviced?

Twice a year by a specialist smoke control contactor. Maintenance certificates should also be produced and kept in a maintenance log. If you have an AOV system in need of servicing, one of our expert commissioning engineers can perform all the necessary checks for you.

What inputs can be configured to work with Automatic Opening Vents?

AOV control units can be configured to work with a variety of manual and automatic inputs:

Manual controls

Emergency break glass

Fireman’s override switches, key and button-operated varieties

Manual callpoints

Manual controls can all be operated by a Fire Officer to allow for manual smoke ventilation.

Automatic controls

Smoke sensors

After detecting smoke in a building, smoke sensors will automatically open the AOV, removing smoke build up. There are smoke sensors available with sounders or fire alarms too.

What is the difference between single and multizone AOVs?

Single zone AOV control panels are configured to operate one or two ventilators, which might take the form of rooflights, louvres, or window actuators. Suitable for use on their own or with other control panels, common uses for them include stairwells, lobbies, corridors and smoke extract shafts.

Multizone control panels are designed to operate multiple zones of ventilators. They are used for larger systems that require more than one zone of ventilators to trigger separately. Multizone control panels are designed in a way that even if one zone breaks, the others remain operational.

Regardless of whether you require a single of multizone AOV, UK Building Regulations stipulate that they should be certified to BS EN12101 and CE marked.

Do you require an AOV system for a project you’re involved in? Give us a call on 01242 620318 or contact us online.

Related to this post:

Natural lighting and ventilation benefits with AOV Rooflights

Our quick guide to AOV window regulations

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