As Dame Judith Hackett reiterated the need for companies to make changes ahead of the Building Safety reform at last week’s BESA conference, ventilation specifiers are being urged to consider more holistic solutions compliant with rigorous regulations.
As industry debates the nuances of the proposed Building Safety Bill, ventilation expert Elta Group is accelerating collaborations between its specialist brands, Elta Fans Applied Technology and Acoustica, to balance the competing design demands of UK buildings.
Specialist fire treatment
In order to adhere to tighter fire control regulations, at the same time as reducing noise pollution, smoke ventilation systems made by Elta Fans Applied Technology will now be available with fully-compliant fire-rated silencers from noise control specialists, Acoustica.
Silencers are components which are installed in ventilation ducting to reduce sound levels of high-powered smoke extraction fans. Acoustica has recently undergone rigorous development of its high temperature silencers to ensure compliance with the British Standard for fire safety within the UK Building Regulations, BS476 Pt24. This means they can operate for a two or four hour period at temperatures up to 1,000°C due to a specialist fire treatment supplied by Fenland. Compliance with EN1366 Pt 1, 8 & 9 will be available shortly.
Smoke ventilation designers
Urbanization is increasing the amount of competing design demands of our buildings"
This collaboration will ease the workflow of smoke ventilation designers as they can now access fans, VSDs and silencers from one point of contact at Elta Fans Applied Technology.
Bradley Crisp, Applied Technology Sales Engineer at Elta Fans Applied Technology said: “Urbanization is increasing the amount of competing design demands of our buildings. Risk of fire, noise pollution, air pollution, climate change – these are all issues that are worsening day-by-day. Our mantra is to enhance life through air, but we know we need to do this with great consideration of the environment around us.”
Noise control solutions
“Ramping up our compliance standards means we can leave M&E and ventilation specifiers to focus on the bigger picture. Ultimately, this will allow them to get things done more quickly, as they won’t have to spend time procuring each element and checking its necessary certifications.”
Andy Milkins, General Manager of Acoustica added: “Fire control regulations in buildings are increasingly demanding and understandably so because they save lives. We are pleased to keep pace and offer cost-effective standard and bespoke noise control solutions compliant with evolving fire regulations within the ventilation sector.” Fire rated silencers conforming to the more recent EN1366 parts 1 (Ventilation & Kitchen Extract), 8 (Multi Compartment Smoke Extract) and 9 (Single Compartment Smoke Extract) will also be available as soon as product standards allow.
