Staircase pressurisation, car park ventilation, kitchen exhaust and factory ventilation. Designed to relevant BS EN 12101, NFPA 92/96 and ASHRAE 62.1 requirements, then installed and commissioned with measured results.
In a high-rise fire the stair is the only way out. A pressurisation system holds the shaft at higher pressure than the floors, so clean air flows out at every open door — and smoke physically cannot flow in. The balance is delicate: too little air and smoke enters; too much and occupants can't pull the door open. Properly engineered systems modulate continuously via VSD fans and pressure sensors.
Standard: BS EN 12101-6 · Stair pressure: ~50 Pa, doors closed
Open-door airflow: ≥0.75 m/s · Door force: ≤100 N at the handle
Smoke extract fans must run inside the smoke they're clearing. Ordinary motors fail in minutes at those temperatures — which is why certified fans carry EN 12101-3 ratings: F300 (300°C / 60 min) and F400 (400°C / 120 min), with the CE/CPR certificate every consultant and fire authority asks for.
In car parks, jet fans replace bulky ductwork entirely: compact thrust units sweep air from intake points to extract shafts — the car park becomes the duct. You recover 300–500 mm of headroom and cut installed cost and fan power.
Demand control pays the bills: CO sensors keep fans off or on trickle most of the day, step up as CO rises, and switch to full extract (~10 ACH) on fire signal. Energy drops 60–80% vs fans running flat out.
The detail most installers miss: the cause-and-effect matrix — which fan starts, which damper opens, which AHU stops, per fire zone. We write it, wire it against the fire panel, and test every scenario.
The failure we fix most often isn't the hood — it's missing make-up air. A kitchen exhausting 10,000 m³/h must get that air back. Skip it, and doors whistle, the dining-room AC loses a war it can't win, hood capture collapses, and cooking smells wander the lobby. We design exhaust and make-up together — make-up at 80–85% so the kitchen stays slightly negative and smells stay in.
Industrial ventilation has three jobs: remove heat, dilute or capture contaminants, keep people productive. The classic tropical architecture is low-level intake on the shaded side, high-level roof extract — cool air sweeps the occupied zone, picks up heat, rises, leaves. We install roof extractors, wall axials, filtered positive-pressure supply for clean areas, local exhaust (LEV) at fume and dust sources, and explosion-proof or acid-resistant fans where the process demands.
HVLS fans handle the comfort layer: 4–7 m diameter blades at 50–200 RPM give 3–5°C of perceived cooling across up to 1,800 m² per fan — one HVLS replaces 10–20 pedestal fans. In conditioned spaces, the same airflow lets you raise the AC setpoint 2–3°C; typical payback 18–30 months. We engineer mounting structure, tip clearance and controls on every install.
| Space | Typical design ACH |
|---|---|
| Warehouse / stores | 4 – 6 |
| General manufacturing | 8 – 12 |
| Textile / garment floors | 10 – 15 |
| Kitchens & hot process | 20 – 30 |
| Battery rooms | 6 – 10 (acid-proof) |
| Car parks | 6 normal / 10 fire |
ACH figures are screening guides — final design is calculated from heat and contaminant load. That's the difference between a fan supplier and a ventilation engineer.
| Building | Systems that apply |
|---|---|
| High-rise residential / office | Staircase & lobby pressurisation · corridor smoke extract · car park jet fans + CO · toilet extract & fresh air |
| Hotel / resort | Kitchen exhaust + ecology unit · laundry exhaust · car park ventilation · pressurisation (towers) · fresh air + ERV |
| Factory | Heat-load-based general ventilation · LEV at source · HVLS comfort fans · filtered clean-area supply |
| Mall / mixed-use | Atrium smoke control · car park jet fans + CO · food-court exhaust + ecology · pressurised firefighting shafts |
| Hospital | Pressure-cascade design (theatres, isolation) · pressurised escape stairs · kitchen & laundry exhaust |
| Warehouse / logistics | Roof extract + low-level intake · HVLS fans · smoke ventilation · battery room extract |
Space, heat sources, contaminants, constraints.
Heat gain, ACH targets, standards compliance.
Fan selection, routing, controls, cause & effect. CFD where needed.
Certified equipment with the CE/CPR paperwork approvals need.
In-house duct fabrication, teams that work around live operations.
Measured pressures, flows, door forces. Docs + AMC.
General ducted ventilation, factory exhaust, entry-tier F300/F400 jet fans (ARMO series), HRV/ERV units.
CPR-certified EN 12101-3 F400 jet & smoke fans, BOXPDS packaged pressurisation to EN 12101-6:2022.
AMCA + TÜV SÜD certified. IJC II jet fans, vane axials, tunnel fans, EC inline range — proven on Asian high-rises.
It keeps the escape stair usable in a fire by blowing filtered outside air into the shaft so it sits at higher pressure (~50 Pa) than the accommodation — smoke cannot flow in against it. High-rises need it because the stair is the only escape route. Design to BS EN 12101-6: ~50 Pa doors closed, ≥0.75 m/s through an open door, door force ≤100 N.
Jet fans win in most modern basements: 300–500 mm of headroom recovered, lower cost and fan power, and the F300/F400 units double as fire-mode smoke clearance. Fully ducted schemes suit very deep or irregular layouts. Either way, CO sensors run the system on demand — trickle by day, ~10 ACH in fire mode.
It cleans kitchen exhaust before discharge — ESP cells strip grease and smoke, activated carbon removes odour. Needed when discharge can't vent freely above roof level away from people: guest rooms or pools nearby, mixed-use buildings, basement or podium kitchens. Without one, odour complaints are near-guaranteed.
Screening figures: warehouses 4–6 ACH, general manufacturing 8–12, hot processes and kitchens 20–30, battery rooms 6–10 with acid-proof fans. A proper design starts from measured heat gain and contaminant generation — not room volume. That's what the site survey establishes.
High-temperature certifications under EN 12101-3 for smoke-extract duty: F300 = 300°C for 60 minutes, F400 = 400°C for 120 minutes. Ordinary fans fail in minutes at these temperatures. Approval authorities ask for the CE/CPR certificate — our supplied fans carry them.
Yes. In open spaces they give 3–5°C of perceived cooling for a fraction of the power of dozens of small fans. In conditioned spaces the air movement lets you raise the setpoint 2–3°C — each degree saves roughly 3–6% of cooling energy. Typical payback 18–30 months.
The local Fire Service Department (Colombo Fire Brigade for Colombo projects) at building approval and Certificate of Conformity stage, with the project's fire consultant. They look for recognised standards (BS EN 12101, NFPA 92/96), certified equipment, and witnessed commissioning results. NativeWay supports the full approval file.
Ventilation stands or falls on the ductwork. Ours is cut and assembled in our own workshop from the coordinated drawing and installed by our own crews — in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bangladesh alike.
Send drawings, a BoQ, or just describe the problem — heat, smoke, smell, or an approval to pass. Survey, design and quotation within 5 working days. Also see fire safety and HVAC — ventilation rarely travels alone.
