VENTILATION 1 CAR PARKS
DRIVING SAFETY
Maintaining air quality while satisfying safety requirements is a key challenge for car park ventilation, writes Tim Dwyer
C
ar park ventilation predominantly centres on the need to maintain acceptable day-to-day air quality. The air is
typically monitored for carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide levels. The upper limits of the ventilation service will be determined by the need both to remove smoke and heat arising from a fire, and to provide the best means of access for firefighters. A single ventilation design will normally be used to satisfy both requirements. Satisfying the relevant Building
Regulations in terms of fire is likely to be the principal concern when assessing the compliance of a design. (See Approved Document B for England and Wales, DFP Technical Booklet E: 2005 – Fire safety for Northern Ireland and Technical Handbooks 2010 Non Domestic Fire for Scotland). Despite its name: BS7346 – Components for smoke and heat control systems – Part 7 Car Parks, includes the underlying requirements for ventilation to satisfy air quality needs that are applied to comply
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with the ventilation requirements of the Building Regulations. When considering the control of vehicle exhaust pollution,
BS7346 provides three different scenarios: l Naturally ventilated car parks – where permanent natural ventilation is available. To be taken as naturally ventilated, there should be an equivalent area open to the outdoor air of at least 5% of the floor area for each car park storey, and at least half of this should be equally arranged between two opposing walls.
l Mechanically and naturally ventilated car parks - Where natural ventilation is available through an equivalent area of at least 2.5% of the floor area mechanical ventilation systems should be installed that can provide an air-change rate of at least three air changes per hour.
l Mechanically ventilated car parks – where the car park is in a basement or the car park storeys are fully enclosed, mechanical ventilation is required to provide to at least six air changes per hour in the main parking areas. Wherever cars could queue in the building with engines running,
May 2011 CIBSE Journal 53
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