Building Bulletin 93: 'Acoustic Design of Schools' - How we can help you comply.
Building Bulletin 93 aims to:
• provide a regulatory framework for the acoustic design of schools in support of the Building Regulations
• give supporting advice and recommendations for planning and design of schools
• provide a comprehensive guide for architects, acousticians, building control officers, building services engineers, clients, and others involved in the design of new school buildings.
Free survey
We offer a free survey and report service to help you get the most of our products for use in halls, classrooms, corridors and offices. This involves doing acoustic calculations and listening to the requirements before going away and making a report which illustrates the amount and type of treatment you require and how much of a difference this will make. From here, you can either go with our recommendations or pick from our catalogue which is made easy using our acoustic ‘points’ system awarded to each product.
Sports and multi purpose halls
Often, halls have to cater to a variety of functions including public speaking, group activities, music and sports. Each of these functions require acoustic consideration. In a large space with predominantly hard, reflective surfaces, reverberation can drastically reduce speech intelligibility and cause high noise levels.
Examples of solutions:
Quietstone Light mounted on timber battens
This system provides a simple, cost effective method of achieving Class A sound absorption with long life span and high impact resistance. Click here to view a pdf installation guide.
Required reverberation time (seconds) in sports halls = < 1.5
Required reverberation time (seconds) in multipurpose halls = < 0.8 - 1.2 (Functions: drama, music, parents evenings, presentations, assembly)
Speech intelligibility in classrooms
Classrooms should now adhere specified reverberation times. These ensure that speech intelligibility is maintained for teaching and noise levels are controlled to provide comfortable acoustics and minimum distraction.
Required reverberation time (seconds) in classrooms = < 0.6 - 0.8 (depending on primary or secondary school)
Positioning of absorption in classrooms
Rear wall - sound absorbing or diffusing
Ceiling - sound reflective (eg plasterboard)
Floor - sound absorbing (eg carpet)
Walls - sound reflective
Ceiling - sound absorbing
Rear wall - sound absorbing or diffusing
Ceiling - sound reflective (eg plasterboard)
Floor - sound absorbing (eg carpet)
Walls - sound reflective
Top of walls - sound absorbing or diffusing
As well as applying a suitable amount of sound absorption, BB93 addresses the best ways to mount panels. The 2 pictures above show recommended positioning of absorption materials for good speech intelligibility. Both include back wall covering to avoid long, delayed reflections which reduces clarity but leave the ceiling largely uncovered to allow for early reflections which increase intelligibility.
Corridors, entrances and stairwells
Noise in corridors can be very disturbing to adjacent classrooms. It is therefore important to control reverberation in these spaces to reduce noise levels.
Required reverberation time in corridors = Class C absorption covering the area of the ceiling. (Less surface area is needed if absorption performance is higher. I.e. Class A)