Industrial rooftop ventilation unit with a cylindrical metal duct and square outlets, overlooking city buildings in the background.

Smoke shaft systems

Colt International's smoke shaft systems can effectively limit smoke ingress into critical evacuation routes and firefighting lobbies during a fire. Using our extensive range of certified dampers and natural and mechanical ventilators, we can develop and deliver smoke shaft systems which ensure your building is safe and fully compliant.

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Our smoke shaft systems

Ensuring evacuation routes and firefighting lobbies are kept free from smoke and hot gases for as long as possible is crucial to safeguard life and to allow fires to be tackled. Colt International has developed and installed smoke shaft systems for complex, large-scale buildings across the UK.

Through our dedicated in-house design team, we carefully develop the design for the complete smoke control system, including smoke shafts, around your building’s unique requirements. Using the latest computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling techniques, our designers are able to accurately calibrate and fine-tune designs, developing a specification and layout which ensures safety, compliance and best value.

Our extensive range of dampers and mechanical and natural smoke and heat ventilation systems (SHEVS) is manufactured at our dedicated UK production site and certified to BS EN 12101-2, 3 and 8 (as relevant).

Get in touch to discuss how we can support your project.

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What is a smoke shaft?

Smoke shafts play a key role in protecting escape routes and firefighting lobbies in the event of a fire. These shafts typically pass vertically through all floors of a building, providing a route for smoke and heat to be evacuated from an affected floor and helping to limit smoke ingress into protected spaces.

In these systems, dampers are connected to the shaft on each floor. These are designed to open on the affected floor/s and close on all others — avoiding the spread of smoke and heat through the shaft to other levels. These dampers should be certified to EN 12101-8. An automatic opening vent (AOV) is installed at the head of the shaft to draw the smoke and heat out. This can either operate as a natural system (to EN 12101-2), utilising the chimney effect to draw the smoke and heat out, or through a fan-driven mechanical extract ventilation system (to EN 12101-3).

As part of the complete smoke control system, a separate ventilator (typically an AOV) should be located within protected spaces such as stairwells. This should open simultaneously with the AOV at the head of the smoke shaft, drawing fresh air into the protected area to provide accommodation air relief. Again, these ventilators can either be natural or mechanical.

AOV with an open lid, supported by a metal arm, showing a glass panel and reinforced edges.

Working with Colt

At Colt International, our focus is on delivering an end-to-end service which is fully tailored to your project and its specific requirements. We can work with project teams from initial inception right through to the long-term maintenance of smoke control systems to ensure they provide lasting protection and compliance with regulations and best practice.

1. Design

We take time to fully understand your project and specific requirements. Our experienced design team then uses modelling software to understand how smoke will flow through your building and to develop the optimal solution, taking advantage of our full range of leading solutions. This can include carrying out additional modelling and verification work to support Gateway 2 applications.

2. Manufacture

All our smoke control solutions are manufactured to exacting standards. We can carefully liaise with site teams throughout this process to communicate progress and to ensure delivery on schedule.

3. Installation

Our experienced installation teams can oversee the installation, commissioning and handover of the full smoke control system, ensuring all aspects of the scheme are functioning correctly and that facilities have all the documentation to ensure compliance.

4. Maintenance

Colt International also provide dedicated long-term service contracts to keep systems inspected and in good working order in line with your legal requirements and best practice to SFG20. With a UK-wide network of engineers backed by an extensive spare parts service, we can provide rapid response in emergencies, keeping your system fully functional.

Get in touch today and let us design a fully compliant smoke control system for your project.

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FAQs

What building regulations cover smoke shaft systems?

Smoke shaft systems are covered within the following guidance documents which support the Building Regulations:

Further, more detailed guidance is set out within the following British Standards:

Key components within a typical smoke shaft system must also be certified (as relevant) under the following British Standards:

What’s the difference between a smoke shaft and a ventilation shaft?

Smoke shafts need to meet specific design and performance criteria based on the regulations and standards mentioned above. These govern a range of aspects of the shaft’s design, including:

its positioning within a building;
the dimensions of the shaft and its head, and how far it must extend beyond potential obstructions;
how much the shaft is allowed to deviate from vertical;
the materials it can be constructed from (including their reaction and resistance to fire performance);
the performance of dampers and ventilators; and
what equipment the shaft can contain.

Our smoke shaft products

We offer an extensive range of certified dampers, AOVs and both natural and mechanical SHEV systems, allowing our designers and installers to deliver the optimal smoke control system for your project.

Defender F2 E160S

The Defender F2 is a discreet fire-rated smoke control damper designed for mechanical shaft ventilation.

Open metal roof hatch with hydraulic arm, showing transparent top and rectangular frame, set against a plain background.

AXS 140

AXS 140 is a combined AOV smoke ventilator and roof access hatch.

Natural louvre vent for automatic smoke extraction.

EN-Seefire

EN 12101-2 certified louvred ventilator for smoke and heat exhaust, day-to-day ventilation, and daylight entry, with multiple variants and installation options.