Protection of buildings from hazardous gases

About 2500 deaths per year in the UK are attributed to radon, while incidents of deaths involving methane and carbon dioxide derived from landfills and mine gas average less than one per year. Potentially about 5% of all UK premises are at risk from contamination by these hazardous gases. This compares with a lower proportion of buildings affected by forms of previously contaminative use, which are to be collated into a register of potentially contaminated land when s. 143 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is implemented. The potential hazard, migration, principles of control, and design of building protection measures, are reviewed for all three gases. (author)