Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality in Schools
Building Bulletin 101 Ventilation of School Buildings
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has completed Building Bulletin 101 Ventilation of School Buildings and the complimentary calculation tools ClassVent and ClassCool. ClassVent is used for choosing a ventilation strategy and sizing the associated ventilation openings. ClassCool is used for predicting the degree of summertime overheating and ensuring it meets the requirements of BB101.
Background
BB101 gives guidance on providing ventilation and avoiding overheating in school buildings in line with the 2006 editions of Approved Documents (AD) F and L of the Building Regulations. AD F was published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 3 May 2006. The latest version of AD L, published on 31 March 2006, came into effect on 6th April 2006.
BB101 introduces the ventilation performance standards required in teaching spaces and as such the document is quoted in AD F as the main supporting document indicating how compliance with the Building Regulations may be achieved for schools. The Building Bulletin also details the ventilation requirements of specialist areas of schools such as food technology rooms and science laboratories.
BB101 is also quoted in AD L as giving the criteria for prevention of summertime overheating in schools and providing guidance on methods to demonstrate that reasonable provision has been made to control excessive solar gains. This is a reference to the ClassCool tool and the advice on its use in BB101.
BB101 discusses indoor air quality with examples of typical pollutants and how to control them in school buildings. The Bulletin also explains the theory and practice of natural ventilation in schools and shows how to use the ClassVent tool to size natural ventilation openings and the ClassCool tool to avoid summertime overheating. Examples of natural ventilation strategies are described with respect to the use of the ClassVent tool. Calculations using ClassVent can be used to prove compliance with AD F in submissions to Building Control Bodies and calculatons using ClassCool can be used to prove compliance with AD L in respect of the prevention of summertime overheating.
Building Bulletin 101 Ventilation of school Buildings, to download a copy please click here.
ClassVent is used for choosing a ventilation strategy and sizing the associated ventilation openings. Click here to download the document.
ClassCool is used for predicting the degree of summertime overheating and ensuring it meets the requirements of BB101. Click here to download the document.
A paper explaining the performance guidelines adopted in
BB101 for carbon dioxide levels in classrooms can be
downloaded here. It shows the build up to steady state levels of
carbon dioxide with the different ventilation rates of 3, 5, and 8l/s/p of
fresh air.
Information on various research projects monitoring ventilation and IAQ in
schools is available here.
