An AOV has one job: open when smoke arrives, and keep escape routes clear while people get out. Gemini AMPM designs, installs and maintains smoke control systems to the BS EN 12101 series — and because we are fire specialists first, every vent is treated as life-safety equipment, not just ventilation.
When a fire starts, smoke kills first — and it moves faster than flame. Automatic opening vents and smoke extract systems exist to hold escape routes tenable: vents that open on detection, shafts that pull smoke off corridors, fans that keep staircases clear long enough for everyone to use them. The BS EN 12101 series governs the components, from natural smoke and heat exhaust ventilators to powered extract.
This is fire engineering, and that is what we are. Gemini AMPM approaches smoke control from the fire side — BAFE SP203-1 registered for detection and alarm, so the interface between your smoke system and the fire alarm that triggers it is designed by people who understand both ends. Ventilation firms bolt smoke control on. For us it is the day job.
We design and install natural and mechanical systems: roof and facade AOVs, hatches and louvres, residential smoke shafts serving common corridors and stairs, control panels, actuators and battery backup that keeps vents working when the power does not. Equipment comes from the established smoke control names — Aumuller, Colt, WindowMaster and SE Controls — and every installation is commissioned and compliance tested before handover.
Then it has to stay working. BS 9999 and BS 7346-8 expect smoke control systems to be maintained by competent people on a planned regime, so we function test vents, dampers, actuators and fans, prove the alarm interface, and record everything for your fire risk assessment. A failed AOV is a fire safety defect, so callouts get a named engineer within 24 hours.
Weekly function checks by the building’s responsible person, with planned professional servicing on top — BS 7346-8 and manufacturers typically expect competent-person maintenance at least every six to twelve months, and your fire risk assessment may demand more. The professional visit goes deeper than pressing the test button: actuator condition, battery backup, damper operation, fire alarm interface. Records of both layers are what an enforcing officer will ask to see.
It is the family of European product standards for smoke and heat control systems. Different parts cover different components — BS EN 12101-2 for natural smoke and heat exhaust ventilators, other parts for powered extract fans, smoke barriers and control equipment. Specifying equipment certified to the relevant part means the vent or fan has been fire tested as life-safety kit, not just weather-rated as a rooflight. We install to the series throughout.
Yes. If your block has AOVs or a smoke shaft serving common corridors and stairs — most modern blocks do — the Fire Safety Order makes maintaining them a legal duty on whoever controls the building, and post-Grenfell scrutiny of residential fire safety has made the paperwork matter as much as the plant. We run planned maintenance for managing agents and RTM companies, with records written for exactly that scrutiny.
A named engineer, not a call centre, comes back within 24 hours. Tell us the building and what you’re dealing with, and we’ll scope it properly.