The effectiveness of ventilation stacks in enhancing natural ventilation in non-domestic buildings.

In recent years, natural ventilation has been gaining credibility as a suitable passive design strategy for non domestic UK buildings. Many of the recently built naturally ventilated buildings in the UK incorporate ventilation stacks in various forms with the purpose of increasing ventilation during the summer months so that some cooling is provided during the day or by utilising night ventilation. This paper first describes briefly the stack ventilation strategies employed in a number of recently completed buildings in the UK. A review of design parameters that need further investigation for the effective incorporation of ventilation stacks in buildings is presented. A preliminary performance-in-use study is then presented which demonstrates that adequate ventilation can be provided by stacks, but also highlights design aspects that require special attention.