Acoustic Design For Schools
Children require excellent acoustic design for their classrooms in order to learn effectively – research shows – and yet many UK classrooms fall short of the required standards.
Acoustic Design for Schools under BB93
Since 2003, Part E of the Building Regulations refers to Section 1 of Building Bulletin 93 (BB93) requiring a construction standard which takes into account the quality of acoustics in new school buildings.
This means that new school buildings, or projects intending the change-of-use, or extensions to existing buildings falls within the Building Regulations and must therefore submit to design and onsite checks by Building Control Bodies.
This ruling, enforced since 2003 (BB93) applies only in England and Wales.
Acoustic Design for Schools – What are the BB93 Standards?
The BB93 standards cover:
Section 2 – Noise Control
Section 3 – Insulation from external noise – sound insulation between rooms
Section 4 – The design of rooms for speech
Section 5 – The design of rooms for music
Section 6 – Acoustic design and equipment for pupils with special hearing requirements
Hilsdon Holmes has a team of experienced consultants who have worked on the acoustic design specifications for school classrooms. We can provide advice and support for your design team throughout the project. We would always recommend that consultation begins in the early stages of the project in order to ensure that BB93 Acoustic Design For Schools requirements are met successfully.
Our highly qualified, UKAS accredited engineers will follow through on the consultation process by carrying out pre-completion tests, designed to measure:
- Ambient noise levels
- Reverberation time
- Sound insulation between classrooms.
BREEAM Education
If you are working on a new school build you will probably also require a BREEAM Assessment. Our experience BREEAM Assessment team can help by ensuring that your credits are maximised in the Hea 13 (Acoustic Performance) and Pol 8 (Noise Attenuation) categories.
