Location Air Change Rate (ACH) Assembly Halls 4 - 8 Bakeries 20 - 30 Banks 4 - 8 Bathrooms 6 -

10 Bedrooms 2 - 4 Billiard Rooms 6 - 8 Boiler Rooms 15 - 30 Cafes and Coffee Bars 10 - 12 Canteens 8
- 12 Cellars 3 - 10 Changing Rooms - Main Area 6 - 10 Changing Rooms - Shower Area 15 -
20 Churches 1 - 3 Cinemas and Theatres 10 - 15 Club Rooms 10 - 12 Compressor Rooms 10 -
20 Conference Rooms 8 - 12 Dance Halls 8 - 12 Dental Surgeries 12 - 15 Dye Works 20 -
30 Electroplating Shops 10 - 12 Engine Rooms 15 - 30 Entrance Halls and Corridors 3 - 5 Factories and
Workshops 8 - 10 Foundries 15 - 30 Garage Showrooms 6 - 8 Glasshouses 25 - 60 Gymnasiums 6
minimum Haridressing Salons 10 - 15 Hospitals - Sterilising 15 - 25 Hospitals - Wards 6 - 8 Kitchens -
Domestic 15 - 20 Kitchens - Commercial 20 - 30 Labratories 6 - 15 Laundrettes 10 - 15 Laundries 10 -
30 Lavatories 6 - 15 Lecture Theatres 5 - 8 Libraries 3 - 5 Living Rooms 3 - 6 Mushroom Houses 6 -
10 Offices 6 - 10 Paint Shops (not cellulose) 10 - 20 Photo & X-ray Darkrooms 10 - 15 Public House
Bars 10 - 15 Recording Studios 10 - 12 Recording Control Rooms 15 - 25 Restaurants 8 - 12 School
Rooms 5 - 7 Shops & Showrooms 8 - 15 Shower Baths 15 - 20 Stores & Warehouses 3 - 6 Swimming
baths 10 - 15 Toilets 6 - 10 Utility Rooms 15 - 20 Welding Shops 15 – 30

Air Change Rates

Building / Room - n - 
(1/h, h-1)

All spaces in general min 4

Assembly halls 4-6

Attic spaces for cooling 12 - 15

Auditoriums 8 - 15

Bakeries 20 - 30

Banks 4 - 10

Barber Shops 6 - 10

Bars 20 - 30
 Air Change Rates
Building / Room - n - 
(1/h, h-1)

Beauty Shops 6 - 10

Boiler rooms 15 - 20

Bowling Alleys 10 - 15

Cafeterias 12 - 15

Churches 8 - 15

Classrooms 6 - 20

Club rooms 12

Clubhouses 20 - 30

Cocktail Lounges 20 - 30

Computer Rooms 15 - 20

Court Houses 4 - 10

Dance halls 6-9

Dental Centers 8 - 12

Department Stores 6 - 10
 Air Change Rates
Building / Room - n - 
(1/h, h-1)

Dining Halls 12 -15

Dining rooms (restaurants) 12

Dress Shops 6 - 10

Drug Shops 6 - 10

Engine rooms 4-6

Factory buildings, ordinary 2-4

Factory buildings, fumes and moisture 10 - 15

Fire Stations 4 - 10

Foundries 15 - 20

Galvanizing plants 20 - 30

Garages repair 20 - 30

Garages storage 4-6

Homes, night cooling 10 - 18

Hospital rooms 4-6

 Air Change Rates
Building / Room - n - 
(1/h, h-1)

Jewelry shops 6 - 10

Kitchens 15 - 60

Laundries 10 - 15

Libraries, public 4

Lunch Rooms 12 -15

Luncheonettes 12 -15

Nightclubs 20 - 30

Machine shops 6 - 12

Malls 6 - 10

Medical Centers 8 - 12

Medical Clinics 8 - 12

Medical Offices 8 - 12

Mills, paper 15 - 20

Mills, textile general buildings 4

 Air Change Rates
Building / Room - n - 
(1/h, h-1)

Mills, textile dye houses 15 - 20

Municipal Buildings 4 - 10

Museums 12 -15

Offices, public 3

Offices, private 4

Photo dark rooms 10 - 15

Pig houses 6 - 10

Police Stations 4 - 10

Post Offices 4 - 10

Poultry houses 6 - 10

Precision Manufacturing 10 - 50

Pump rooms 5

Residences 1-2

Restaurants 8 - 12
 Air Change Rates
Building / Room - n - 
(1/h, h-1)

Retail 6 - 10

School Classrooms 4 - 12

Shoe Shops 6 - 10

Shopping Centers 6 - 10

Shops, machine 5

Shops, paint 15 - 20

Shops, woodworking 5

Substation, electric 5 - 10

Supermarkets 4 - 10

Swimming pools 20 - 30

Town Halls 4 - 10

Taverns 20 - 30

Theaters 8 - 15

Transformer rooms 10 - 30
 Air Change Rates
Building / Room - n - 
(1/h, h-1)

Turbine rooms, electric 5 - 10

Warehouses 2

Waiting rooms, public 4

Warehouses 6 - 30
 Ventilation Rates

The building regulations require those habitable rooms and toilets are to be

vented by natural or mechanical means.

Natural Ventilation
A habitable room requires one or more ventilation openings, the total area of
which must not be less than 1/20 th. of the floor area of the room, and some
part of the opening must be more than 1.7 metres above floor level.

When ventilation is by mechanical means, one air change per hour must be

provided to habitable rooms and three air changes per hour to bathrooms and
kitchens.

Design Criteria
To design a ventilation system, the engineer has to meet two basic
requirements:

1.        To supply fresh air for the occupants

2.        To change the air in the room sufficiently so that smells, fumes and
contaminants are removed.

Ventilation Rates in CIBSE guide

The following table gives Ventilation Rates for buildings.

Table 3.1 CIBSE Guide B2 (2001) Summary of recommendations

(Extract from Table)

Section
Building sector Recommendations
number
sbandry 3.24.1 See Table 3.20
halls 3.3 See Table 3.6
 3.4 See section 3.4.3
ting studios 3.5 6 -10ACH (but heat gain should be assessed)
es 3.24.2 4 - 6 ACH (but heat gain should be assessed)
nc. commercial
3.6 30 - 40 ACH
ms 3.7 See Tables 3.11 and 3.12
l residential buildings 3.8 0.5 - 1 ACH
rooms 3.9 See Table 3.13
ms 3.24.3 As for typically naturally ventilated buildings
s (photographic) 3.24.4 6 - 10 ACH (but heat gain should be assessed)
oms 3.24.5 As offices for ventilation (but heat gain should be assessed)
(inc. high-rise dwellings) 3.10 0.5 - 1 ACH
and warehouses 3.11 See 3.11.1 for regulatory requirements
non-domestic) buildings 3.12 4 - 6 ACH for office areas; up to 10ACH for meeting space.
re 3.24.6 30 - 50 litres/s/m2 for greenhouses  (45 - 60 ACH)
and health care
3.13 See Table 3.15
3.14 10 - 15 ACH minimum for guest rooms with en-suite bathroom
ventilation 3.15 Sufficient to minimise airborne contamination
ies 3.16 6 - 15 ACH (allowance must be made for fume cupboards)
, libraries and art
3.17 Depends on nature of exhibits
3.2 See Tables 3.2 and 3.3
ms 3.18 Specific regulations apply, see section 3.18
nd educational buildings 3.19 See Table 3.18
retail premises 3.20 5 - 8 litres/s per person
ntres (inc. swimming
3.21 See Table 3.19
rooms 3.24.7 45 - 60 ACH
Building Regulations apply; opening windows of area 1/20th o
area or mechanical ventilation at 6 litres/s per WC or 3 ACH m
3.22 for non-domestic buildings; opening windows area 1/20th of fl
(1/30th in Scotland) or mechanical extract at 6 litres/s (3 ACH i
Scotland) minimum for dwellings.
ation buildings (inc. 6 ACH for car parks (normal operation)
3.23
10 ACH (fire conditions)
 

 
The Table below gives Ventilation rates required to limit CO2 concentration
where level of activity is known.

Table 3.2 CIBSE Guide B2 (2001) Ventilation rates required to limit

CO2 concentration for differing activity levels

Activity Minimum ventilation requirement

Litres /s per person
0.5% CO2 limit 0.25% CO2 limit
Seated quietly 0.8 1.8
Light work 1.3 – 2.6 2.8 – 5.6
Moderate work 2.6 – 3.9 N/A
Heavy work 3.9 – 5.3 N/A
Very heavy work 5.3 – 6.4 N/A

The following table gives fresh air rates.

Table 3.3 CIBSE Guide B2 (2001) Recommended outdoor air supply rates for
sedentary occupants.

Outdoor air supply

Level of Smoking
rate(litre/s per person)
No smoking 8
Some smoking 16
Heavy smoking 24
Very heavy smoking 36

The table below is an extract from Table 3.6 and gives rates for Assembly Halls
and Auditoria

Design Requirements : Assembly halls and auditoria

Parameter Design requirement

Fresh air ventilation
To suit occupancy levels
rates
Air change rate 3 – 4 air changes per hour for
 displacement strategy

6 – 10 air changes per hour

for high level mechanical
strategy

Ventilation Calculations
The following formulae may be used:

1. For General Mechanical Ventilation

Ventilation rate (m3/h)   =          Air Change Rate (/h) x Room Volume
(m3)

Air Change Rate (/h) comes from CIBSE Guide B2 Table 3.1

Ventilation rate (m3/s)   =          Ventilation rate (m3/h) / 3600

2. For Calculating Fresh Air Ventilation Rates

Fresh Air Rate (m3/s)       =         Fresh Air rate per person
(l/s/p)         x          number of occupants                                       

Fresh Air rate per person (l/s/p) comes from CIBSE Guide B2 Table 3.3.