Early appointment is required where BREEAM credits are required and advisable for all other building types if privacy and communication targets are to be optimised within the whole design and if tricky construction solutions or remedial design work is to be avoided at later stages of design (with all the associated cost and time impacts).
Many building types have inherent requirements for privacy and communication conditions (speech, music), for rest, relaxation and sleep and for concentration or controlled noise levels at work and these are found in a range of Standards and Guidance documents. In addition there may be requirements to avoid excessive noise breakout (to avoid neighbour nuisance) or break in (to reduce impacts on internal background noise levels) as defined in Planning Advice and requirements and by Building Standards.
These will all require careful definition of design targets, involvement in early design decision-making (together with the project architects) and may influence site and building layouts, choice of structure and cladding materials as well as glazing and ventilation strategies if costs are to be optimised, late stage design amendment avoided and design targets met.
CSP Acoustics has extensive experience of all aspects of these processes and can also deploy Insulation and Sound Distribution modelling software to assist with building optimisation where required.
The sound insulation performance of attached dwellings and other spaces (hospitals, schools, residential accommodation etc) is a critical issue if neighbour disturbance is to be avoided and Building, or other standards of performance achieved. In addition break-in of external noise, or breakout to the exterior will also be controlled by effective and appropriate sound insulation of building elements.
Privacy, quietness and communication conditions usually require that background noise levels are low in the rooms requiring privacy or quietness or used for communication, and to that end the control of noise from one part of a building to another, from M&E plant and equipment as well as the break in noise from external sources are all required help achieve suitable conditions. Sound insulation strategies and materials choices for the whole building will be critical to achieving cost effective solutions to these which requires early design input to decision making.
CSP Acoustics uses sophisticated computer software to help provide predictions and visualisations of sound distribution within spaces – open plan teaching areas, performance spaces and workshops / manufacturing facilities etc – and to assess conditions for good communication or privacy. EASE software is used to predict room acoustic conditions and, where appropriate, Sound Transmission Indices to enable compliance in open plan spaces with, for example, BB93. Sound Insulation predictions are carried out using INSUL and in-house Excel based programmes to provide robust performance profiles for novel constructions devised by the clients and architects that CSPA work with. This ties in closely with the Test Risk Management service that CSPA provides specifically in relation to residential developments.
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We wouldn't design a swimming pool that didn't hold water – so lets make sure our buildings really do work for privacy and communication.
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