Elta delivers ventilation and fire safety for Tesco car park

Day-to-day ventilation and smoke ventilation for the enclosed car park beneath the 8000 m2 Tesco Extra superstore in Dundee is provided by equipment supplied by Elta. The solution for this project, which has the store at first-floor level, was developed by Advanced Smoke Technology, working with M&E contractor Neville Tucker. It is based on AST’s impulse ventilation system, comprising 23 JetVent axial impulse units and three large long cased SmokeVent units.
The 1400 mm-diameter SmokeVent fans constantly regulate the airflow through the car park, with the impulse fans controlling the airflow direction.
There is a monitoring system for carbon monoxide (CO) and a multi-criteria fire-detection system, all linked to a main control panel. Signals are routed to the AST master control panel, which adjusts fan speeds as required.
If a pre-determined level of CO is reached or in the event of a fire, the zone-based system can automatically active impulse fans in the affected zone and switch the SmokeVent fans to maximum capacity.
Significant energy savings and reduced operating costs are realised by controlling ventilation according to demand.
Geoff Hardaker of Advanced Smoke Technology tells us, ‘We undertook a smoke test to demonstrate the airflows in the car park of the Dundee store as part of the commissioning process, and Tesco were extremely impressed with the results.’