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Kitchen extraction cleaning - design brief
A new or refurbished kitchen's ventilation is only as good as its design - and the design is only as good as the brief. Briefing a ventilation designer well means telling them your cooking, kitchen and constraints, and - crucially - asking for a system that is cleanable and maintainable, not just one that performs on day one. Here is how to brief a ventilation designer so you get a system that works and keeps working. This is general information; ventilation design is for a competent designer.
The short answer
When a kitchen's ventilation is designed (for a new fit-out or a refurbishment), the brief you give the designer shapes what you get - for the whole life of the system. A good brief gets a system that performs and can be looked after; a poor one can get a system that works on day one but is a nightmare to clean and maintain. Here is how to brief well. This is general information; the design itself is for a competent ventilation designer. Tell them the fundamentals: cooking and kitchen. The designer needs to know what they're designing for: (1) Your cooking - the type and volume of cooking (what appliances, how heavily used), because this determines the extraction airflow and make-up air the system must provide, and how much grease it will handle. Heavy, greasy or solid-fuel cooking makes very different demands from light cooking. (2) Your kitchen - the layout (where the cooking line is, the appliance positions), the building (the structure, the routes available for ductwork, the constraints - a listed building, a high-rise, limited space), and how the kitchen will be used. So the designer can design a system that fits the kitchen and does the job. State your requirements. Tell the designer what you need: the performance (effective extraction for your cooking, a comfortable kitchen), and any particular considerations (energy efficiency - perhaps demand-controlled ventilation; noise limits; the make-up air properly provided). This sets the performance brief. The crucial part: ask for cleanable and maintainable. Here is what briefs often miss and what matters most for the long term: explicitly ask the designer to design in cleanability and maintainability, not just day-one performance. That means asking for: adequate access panels throughout the ductwork (so the whole duct can be reached and cleaned to TR19 Grease); a fan that can be safely reached and serviced (not buried in an inaccessible spot); sensible duct routing (avoiding needlessly long, convoluted or inaccessible runs that are hard to clean); and the make-up air properly designed in (balanced, so the system works and stays workable). A system designed with these in mind can be cleaned and maintained easily for its whole life; one designed only to perform when new - with no thought to access - becomes a maintenance and fire-safety headache (ductwork that can't be reached to clean, a fan that's dangerous or impossible to service). Why this matters. The ventilation isn't a fit-and-forget system - it needs regular cleaning (for fire safety) and maintenance for its whole life. So designing it to be cleanable and maintainable isn't a luxury; it's essential to it being safe and manageable long-term. Retrofitting access to a badly-designed system later is costly and imperfect. So build it into the brief. So brief a ventilation designer on your cooking, kitchen and constraints, state your performance requirements, and insist on a cleanable, maintainable design (access panels, a reachable fan, sensible routing, proper make-up air) - so you get a system that works on day one and keeps working for years. So a good brief asks for performance and maintainability. This is general information; ventilation design is for a competent designer.
Key points
Tell them what they're designing for
A ventilation designer can only design the right system if they know what they're designing for - so the brief starts with your cooking and your kitchen. Your cooking: tell the designer the type and volume of cooking - what appliances you'll use (ranges, fryers, chargrills, woks, solid-fuel), and how heavily. This is fundamental, because the cooking determines the extraction airflow the system must provide (to clear the heat, smoke and grease), the make-up air to match, and how much grease the system will handle (heavy, greasy or solid-fuel cooking making far greater demands than light cooking).
Your kitchen: tell them about the kitchen and building - the layout (where the cooking line and appliances are), the space available, the building's structure and the routes available for the ductwork, and any constraints (a listed building limiting what can be done, a high-rise needing a long duct route, limited space or access). So the designer can design a system that fits your kitchen and building and does the job for your cooking. This foundational information - what you cook and the kitchen you cook in - is the basis of the design. Without it, the designer is guessing. So tell them what they're designing for: your cooking and your kitchen. The next sections cover stating your requirements and the crucial ask for cleanability. So convey your cooking and kitchen. This is general information.
State your requirements
Beyond the facts of your cooking and kitchen, tell the designer your requirements - what you need the system to achieve and any priorities. The core requirement is performance: effective extraction for your cooking (clearing the heat, smoke, steam and grease, keeping the kitchen workable and safe) - and, integral to that, the make-up air properly provided (the fresh replacement air balanced to the extraction, so the system works and the kitchen is comfortable). A good brief makes clear you want the whole ventilation (extract and make-up air) designed as a balanced system, not just an extract fan.
You can also state any particular priorities: energy efficiency (perhaps asking about demand-controlled ventilation to save energy, as covered in the smart-ventilation page); noise limits (if the kitchen or its surroundings need quiet operation); and any other considerations (heat recovery, specific constraints). Making these priorities clear lets the designer weigh them in the design. So stating your requirements - the performance you need, the make-up air, and any priorities - tells the designer what a successful design looks like for you. Together with the facts about your cooking and kitchen, this defines the design brief. But there is one more thing a good brief must include, often overlooked, covered next: the long-term cleanability and maintainability. So state your requirements - performance, make-up air, and any priorities. So state the performance and priorities. This is general information.
Ask for cleanable and maintainable
The most important - and most often overlooked - part of briefing a ventilation designer is to ask explicitly for a system that is cleanable and maintainable, not just one that performs on day one. Many briefs focus only on performance (does it extract well when new?) and neglect the whole-life reality: the system will need regular cleaning (for fire safety) and maintenance for years. So a good brief insists that the design make this easy. Specifically, ask the designer to design in: adequate access panels throughout the ductwork (so the whole duct can be reached and cleaned to TR19 Grease - no unreachable stretches); a fan that can be safely reached and serviced (not buried in an inaccessible or dangerous spot); sensible duct routing (avoiding needlessly long, convoluted or inaccessible runs that are hard to clean); and the make-up air properly designed in (so the balance is right and stays workable).
The difference this makes is enormous over the system's life. A system designed with cleaning and maintenance in mind can be cleaned and serviced easily, safely and thoroughly for years - keeping it safe, compliant and working. A system designed only for day-one performance, with no thought to access, becomes a maintenance and fire-safety headache: ductwork that can't be reached to clean (so grease builds up uncleaned - a fire risk), a fan that's dangerous or impossible to service, runs that can't be cleaned properly. And fixing this later (retrofitting access panels, re-routing) is costly and imperfect. So asking for cleanability and maintainability up front - designing it in - saves years of trouble. So ask for cleanable and maintainable, not just day-one performance. So insist on a cleanable, maintainable design. This is general information; the design is for a competent designer.
Why maintainability matters
The reason to insist on cleanability and maintainability is that a kitchen's ventilation is not a fit-and-forget system - it needs regular cleaning and maintenance for its whole life, so it must be designed to allow that. The extraction accumulates grease continuously and must be cleaned regularly (to the TR19 Grease standard, at a frequency matched to the cooking) to control the fire risk - for as long as the kitchen operates. The fan and system need servicing and eventual repair. So over the system's life, it will be cleaned and maintained many times - and how easy (and even possible) that is depends on how it was designed.
So maintainability isn't a nice-to-have; it's essential to the system being safe and manageable long-term. A system that can't be properly cleaned (inadequate access) is a standing fire risk (grease building up unreachable) and a compliance problem (the clean can't be verified). A fan that can't be safely serviced is a hazard and a breakdown waiting to happen. So the whole-life safety and workability of the system depend on it being designed to be cleaned and maintained - which is why the brief must demand it. Designing for maintenance access is a recognised principle (as in the designing-for-commissioning-and-maintenance-access page). So why maintainability matters: ventilation is not fit-and-forget - it must be designed to be looked after. So ventilation must be designed to be maintained. So it's not fit-and-forget. This is general information.
A system that keeps working
So briefing a ventilation designer well means giving them the facts (your cooking, kitchen and constraints), stating your requirements (performance, make-up air, priorities), and - crucially - insisting on a cleanable, maintainable design (access panels, a reachable fan, sensible routing, proper make-up air) - so you get a system that performs on day one and keeps working, safely and manageably, for years. So a system that keeps working: designed to perform and to be looked after.
The key message is to think beyond day one. It's natural to focus on whether the system will extract well when installed - but the harder-won value is a system that can be cleaned and maintained easily throughout its life, staying safe (fire risk controlled), compliant (cleanable and verifiable) and workable. A designer briefed only on performance may deliver a system that works when new but is a headache to look after; a designer briefed to design for cleaning and maintenance too will deliver one that keeps working. So make the brief cover both: the performance you need, and the cleanability and maintainability you'll rely on for years. Get this into the brief (and choose a designer who understands it), and you'll have a ventilation system that serves you well for its whole life - not just at handover. So brief for a system that keeps working - designed to perform and to be looked after. So brief for performance and maintainability together. This is general information; ventilation design is for a competent designer.
Questions
Tell them your cooking, kitchen and constraints, state your performance requirements (including the make-up air), and crucially ask for a cleanable, maintainable design - not just day-one performance. A good brief has three parts. First, the facts: your cooking (type and volume, which determines the extraction and make-up air needed and the grease load) and your kitchen (layout, appliances, building, constraints like a listed building or high-rise). Second, your requirements: the performance you need (effective extraction, a comfortable kitchen), the make-up air properly provided, and any priorities (energy, noise). Third - and most overlooked - insist on a cleanable, maintainable system: adequate access panels throughout, a fan that can be safely reached and serviced, sensible duct routing, and proper make-up air, so it can be cleaned to TR19 Grease and maintained for its whole life. So brief them on the facts, the requirements, and the crucial ask for maintainability. So cooking, kitchen, requirements and maintainability. This is general information; design is for a competent designer.
Because the ventilation needs regular cleaning and maintenance for its whole life, so it must be designed to allow that - a system designed only for day-one performance can become impossible to clean and a fire risk. A kitchen's ventilation isn't fit-and-forget: the extraction accumulates grease and must be cleaned regularly (for fire safety) for as long as the kitchen operates, and the fan and system need servicing. So over its life it'll be cleaned and maintained many times - and how easy or even possible that is depends on the design. A system designed to be cleanable (adequate access panels, a reachable fan, sensible routing) can be kept clean and safe easily; one designed only to perform when new, with no access thought, becomes a headache - unreachable ductwork where grease builds up uncleaned (a fire risk), a fan that can't be safely serviced. So asking for maintainability up front ensures the system stays safe and manageable. So ask for it because the system must be cleaned and maintained for years. So because it must be maintainable for life. This is general information.
Inadequate access panels, an inaccessible or dangerous-to-reach fan, and needlessly long or convoluted duct routing - all of which can be designed out if the brief asks for cleanability. A system is hard (or impossible) to clean when the design didn't provide for cleaning: too few or no access panels (so stretches of ductwork can't be reached to clean - grease builds up uncleaned); a fan located where it can't be safely or easily reached to service (buried, or dangerous to access); and duct routing that's needlessly long, convoluted, or run through inaccessible spaces (hard to clean throughout). These faults leave parts of the system uncleanable - a standing fire risk and compliance problem. The remedy is to design them out: adequate access throughout, a reachable fan, sensible routing - which is exactly what a good brief asks for. So what makes it hard to clean is missing access and poor routing, avoidable by briefing for cleanability. So inadequate access and poor routing. This is general information.
Access panels can be retrofitted, but it's costlier and less ideal than designing them in - so it's far better to get cleanability into the design from the start via the brief. If a system was designed without adequate cleaning access, it's not necessarily stuck that way - access panels can often be retrofitted to the ductwork (cut and fitted later) to make it cleanable, as covered in the retrofitting-access-panels page. But retrofitting is more expensive, more disruptive, and often less ideal than designing the access in from the start (the retrofitted access may be more limited or awkwardly placed). And some design faults (a badly-located fan, poor routing) are much harder to fix after the fact. So while later fixes are possible, it's far better and cheaper to build cleanability into the design - which is why the brief should ask for it up front. So access can be retrofitted, but designing it in is much better. So yes, but designing it in is far better. This is general information.
Yes - the make-up air is integral to the ventilation, so the brief should ask for the whole system (extract and make-up air) designed as a balanced whole, not just an extract fan. The extraction and the make-up air are two halves of one balanced ventilation system - the extraction removes air, the make-up air replaces it, and they must be balanced for the system to work (and the kitchen to be comfortable). A system designed with the extract but inadequate make-up air will be starved and cause problems (negative pressure, draughts, poor extraction). So the brief should explicitly cover the make-up air - asking for it to be properly designed in (balanced to the extraction, well-distributed, ideally tempered), as part of the whole system. Don't let the brief (or the design) treat the extract fan in isolation. So yes - include the make-up air, designed as part of the balanced whole. So yes - the make-up air is integral. This is general information.
You brief a cleaner to quote and clean your existing system (cooking, system, access, scope); you brief a designer to create a new system - so you must also specify the performance you need and insist it be cleanable and maintainable for the future. Briefing a cleaning contractor (covered in the briefing-a-contractor page) is about your existing system: telling them your cooking, system and access so they can quote and clean the real job. Briefing a ventilation designer is about a system that doesn't exist yet: you must convey your cooking and kitchen so they can design the right system, state the performance you need, and - crucially - insist the design be cleanable and maintainable, because you're shaping a system you'll live with for years. So the designer brief is forward-looking (creating a system, specifying its performance and its long-term maintainability), whereas the cleaner brief is about cleaning what you already have. So designing is forward-looking; cleaning is about the existing system. So one creates a system, the other cleans it. This is general information.
A ventilation system designed to be cleanable - adequate access panels, a reachable fan, sensible routing - can be kept clean to TR19 Grease for its whole life. We clean such systems thoroughly, and a maintainable design is what makes that possible. Ask us about keeping your extraction clean, whatever its design. This is general information; ventilation design is for a competent designer.
