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Natural choices for education ventilation
Karen Scrace of Passivent helps specifiers of education environments to choose between a natural or hybrid ventilation strategy in order to provide the right healthy environment for students
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aintaining a good supply of fresh air within any communal space is not only important to help control internal temperatures and CO2 levels, which in turn aids concentration, but in this new post-pandemic world, it’s also essential in removing potentially harmful pathogens carried in exhaled breath. Older school buildings have highlighted the need for all new educational facilities to have a robust ventilation strategy in place and one that is ideally addressed at the design stage.
Making the grade – ventilation regulations and compliance All new or refurbished schools in the UK have to comply with Building Bulletin (BB) 101 which provides guidance on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Projects must also comply with the necessary Building Regulations, including new stricter targets on ventilation as outlined in Part F, conservation of energy as outlined in Part L, and the acoustic requirements set out in Part E. Additional guidance on the acoustic design of schools is also detailed in BB93.
A ventilation system should ensure comfortable temperatures within the occupied zone, provide sufficient fresh air to occupants and, in winter months, avoid draughts and minimise heat losses. Schools must also be thermally modelled to prove that they will not overheat. Close attention should also be paid to the daily average CO2 levels within a room, as poor air quality is detrimental to both wellbeing and learning. As a rule, for natural ventilation systems or hybrid ventilation systems operating in passive mode, these levels should be less than 1500 ppm during the occupied period and not exceeding 2000 ppm for more than 20 consecutive minutes each day. For mechanical ventilation systems, or
ADF JUNE 2022
when hybrid systems are operating in mechanical mode, these levels should be 1000 ppm during the occupied period and not exceeding 1500 ppm for more than 20 consecutive minutes each day. A system should be designed to achieve a CO2 level for the majority of the occupied time of less than 1200 ppm for a new building (criterion for a category II building).
Maintaining a good supply of fresh air is also essential in removing potentially harmful pathogens carried in exhaled breath
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