Why is Effective Ventilation Important?
With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors, and with growing evidence of pathogens moving around our buildings, there has never been a more important time to make sure a building has effective ventilation since it helps reduce COVID-19 transmission rates indoors. In Fact, the UK Government recently stated “Research shows that being in a room with fresh air can reduce your risk of infection from particles by over 70%, as fresh air dilutes the particles*”. Using ventilation to either introduce, or increase fresh air circulation in the home is therefore central to reducing infection rates. Independent guidance on this has been published by a number of sources:
*SOURCE: SAGE EMG paper, Role of Ventilation in Controlling SARS-CoV-2 Transmission

Government publication ‘Our plan to rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy’
Effective ventilation is central to Government guidance. In this document it advises to “Use external extractor fans to keep spaces well ventilated and make sure that ventilation systems are set to maximise the fresh air flow rate”.

UK Deputy Chief Medical Officer:
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer confirmed at a COVID-19 briefing on 29th April that ventilation lowers transmission rates from respiratory viruses. “There is a definite truism across all of the science literature, that ventilation is a most critical part of reducing transmission from respiratory viruses.”

Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)
CIBSE has published practical industry guidance on ventilation in its document ‘CIBSE COVID-19 Ventilation Guidance’. This explains how ventilation can minimise the risks of airborne transmission of Coronavirus. Here the general advice is to “increase the air supply and exhaust ventilation, supplying as much outside air as is reasonably possible” to dilute and remove the virus from the air as much as possible..

Be COVID-Aware
If you are installing or servicing ventilation, we can help you understand the key principles. There is guidence available from a range of industry and government bodies, or you can email or call our team on 0844 856 0590 for help and advice.
We have produced a helpful guide that can help you understand what you need to consider. Download it here.
The Solution
Vent-Axia has a number of solution available to meet in most installation requirement. Here is a range of our residential solutions. If you need any other type of ventilation, please call our helpful team on 0844 856 0590.
Frequently Asked Questions
Watch Videos
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer explains the vital role ventilation will play in mitigating the threat of the virus when indoors.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces pubs can re-open from 4th July – but only with mitigation, such as improving ventilation amongst others, in place.
Watch this video and see how we can all reduce the coronavirus risk during domestic work.
WHO’s Dr Maria Neira explains how important is ventilation and how does it keep you safe from COVID-19.
Watch Government guidance on how to reduce the risk of catching COVID-19 indoors by up to 70%.
Governing Body Guidance
CIBSE is an international professional engineering association which has issued two documents providing guidance on how to use ventilation to tackle COVID-19 in buildings.
The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy was published on 11 May and is the Government’s COVID-19 return to work strategy which aims to outline steps to make returning to work as safe as possible
ASHRAE is The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. It updated its Position Document on Airborne Infectious Diseases in February 2020
REHVA is The Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations and has provided guidance on ‘How to operate HVAC and other building service systems to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19) in workplaces’. RHEVA have also developed a calculator to estimate the effect of ventilation on COVID-19 airborne transmission for use when specifying ventilation systems.