Guidance

Building Bulletin 93

Acoustic standards in school buildings are addressed under Part E (Regulation E4) of the Building Regulations 2010. 

The normal way to demonstrate compliance is by achieving the design criteria set out in Section 1 of the Department for Education and Skills’ current version of ‘Building Bulletin 93’ entitled ‘Acoustic Design of Schools: Performance Standards’ published in February 2015.

It is a Building Regulations requirement under Regulation E4 for all new build schools to comply with the guidance in Building Bulletin 93. Refurbishments of existing school buildings and nurseries, colleges or universities have no Building Regulations requirement; however, Building Bulletin 93 criteria still typically inform the design and are often written into contractual requirements.

On this basis, the majority of educational buildings in the UK will be required to meet the criteria set out in Building Bulletin 93. This document includes minimum performance standards for internal sound insulation, internal ambient noise levels, room acoustics and rain noise.

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British Council for Offices: Guide to Specification

The British Council for Offices: Guide to Specification was published in 2019 and provides criteria relating to the acoustics of office buildings.

These criteria are generally focused on Cat. A fit-outs with quantitative guidance being provided for external noise intrusion, building services noise, and sound insulation across floors or between different occupiers.

It is often the case that bespoke criteria are required depending on a tenant’s specific needs, and BCO recognises this by not providing an exhaustive list of performance requirements. 

The document also provides commentary on the growing trend for exposed services with no ceiling and provides commentary on room acoustics matters without setting specific reverberation time criteria.

Many BREEAM office schemes will target the Hea 05 credits for sound insulation, indoor ambient noise level and room acoustics. The criteria for these credits can either be derived from BS 8233:2014 as set out in BREEAM 2018, or alternatively defined by a Suitably Qualified Acoustician (SQA) based on experience and other guidance, such as British Council for Offices: Guide to Specification.

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Health Technical Memorandum 08-01

The Health Technical Memoranda are a collection of NHS publications which provide performance standards and design guidance for healthcare buildings. These apply to both new and refurbished sites.

Guidance on acoustics within healthcare buildings is contained within Health Technical Memorandum 08-01: Acoustics. The document notes that “acoustic design is fundamental to the quality of healthcare buildings” and that “good acoustic conditions improve patient privacy and dignity”.

HTM 08-01 provides guidance on internal sound insulation, room acoustics, internal ambient noise, building services noise, vibration and speech intelligibility of public address systems.

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Approved Document E

Approved Document E of the Building Regulations 2010, entitled ‘Resistance to the passage of sound’ is a requirement for all new build and material change of use residential schemes. This includes houses, apartments and rooms for residential (hotels, student accommodation, HMOs).

• Regulation E1 – Protection against sound from other parts of the building and adjoining buildings. Regulation E1 is applicable to partitions which separate flats, terraces and semi-detached houses. The minimum performance for new build dwellings to meet Regulation E1 is > 45 dB DnT,W + Ctr and < 62 dB L’nTw, the criteria for material change of use 2 dB less onerous. Regulation E1 must be tested for compliance at completion by an ANC or UKAS accredited company, unless it is a Robust Detail build.
• Regulation E2 – Protection against sound within a dwelling house or flat. Regulation E2 applies to internal walls between bedrooms, a room containing a water closet and other rooms. The minimum performance is > 40 dB Rw. Regulation E2 does not apply to an internal wall which contains a door and existing walls and floors in a building which is subject to a material change of use. Internal floors must also comply with Regulation E2. This is a non testable regulation and is demonstrated by design.
• Regulation E3 – Reverberation in the common internal parts of buildings containing flats. Regulation E3 applies to corridors, stairwells and hallways which give access to flats and requires that acoustically absorbent treatment is used to prevent the reverberant noise level building up more than is reasonable. This is a non testable regulation and is demonstrated by design.

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BS5228-1:2009 & BS5228-2:2009

Construction noise, vibration, and dust can be a significant issue for active construction sites. This is an important consideration for any contractor or developer planning a construction project.

British Standard 5228 “Code of practice for noise and vibration control on construction and open sites” Part 1 Noise and Part 2 Vibration (BS 5228:2009-1, BS 5228:2009-2) provide guidance on the control of noise and vibration from construction sites to enable compliance with Section 60 of the Control of Pollution Act (COPA).

The document provides a method to assess, and sets limits for noise and vibration from construction activities.

It also provides generic noise and vibration levels from different construction plants and operations.

The guidance provides outline BPM (Best Practical Means) of noise control which can be used to inform contractors of how to minimise noise and vibration from their operating sites.

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BS8233:2014

BS 8233:2014 “Guidance on sound insulation and noise reduction for buildings” provides guidance for the control of noise affecting the rooms within different building types. This includes indoor noise level criteria and outlines guidance on sound insulation performance.

BS 8233 is applicable to the design of new buildings, or refurbished buildings undergoing a change of use. The indoor noise level criteria within BS8233 is largely based on other guidance documents, such as WHO1999, BCO, and BB93. 

BS 8233 provides the user with the criteria, such as suitable sleeping/resting conditions, and proposes noise levels that normally satisfy these criteria for most people.

BS 8233:1999 was, like its predecessor CP3 Chapter III:1972, published as a code of practice. However BS8233:2014 was published as a guide because the text largely comprises guidance that does not support claims of compliance. It should however be noted that the criteria applied within BS8233 is adopted by all Local Authorities.

BREEAM

BREEAM is a standard methodology in place to assess the sustainability and performance of a building utilising several different International & British Standards relevant to a particular category. Credits are awarded where the building achieves certain criteria set out through the design and construction phases.

In terms of acoustics, BREEAM assesses two main categories:

Health & Wellbeing (Hea 05) ensures the performance of privacy, concentration, and speech intelligibility are all upheld for people using the building. Criteria for these elements is derived through relevant building regulations and standards applicable to the development, e.g., BB93 and Approved Document Part E for school buildings.

Pollution (Pol 05) assesses the impact of noise pollution in accordance with British Standard 4142:2014. It protects the health and wellbeing of surrounding areas, whilst minimising any future cost implications to implement noise control measures due to complaint from neighbouring areas.

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BS 4142:2014

British Standard 4142:2014+A1:2019, ‘Methods for rating and assessing industrial and commercial sound’ is in place to provide scope for assessing the likelihood of complaint or adverse impact of industrial or commercial noise on sensitive receivers; typically, dwellings in the vicinity.

The scope of the standard can be applied to assess sound from existing, proposed, new, modified, or additional sources of sound from industrial and commercial uses. It can also be utilised to assess the impact of sound at proposed residential dwellings, and to investigate complaints.

By undertaking applicable projects in accordance with BS4142 as a minimum, we ensure our assessments are repeatable and robust.

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British Standard 7445

This British Standard is divided into three parts, all of which address the description and derivation procedures of environmental noise. The three Standards look at single noise sources, as well as the cumulative impact of multiple noise sources in a given environment.

The scope of the documents aims to provide not only acousticians with repeatable methods and descriptors, but also authorities (national and local) with noise descriptors, and principals for deriving acceptable noise limits within an application site. This aims to help authorities and acousticians to work side by side to ensure noise assessments are thorough.

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ProPG

The Professional Practice Guidance on Planning and Noise (ProPG) was produced by a working group that included acousticians, Chartered environmental assessors, and local planning practitioners.

The document was produced in 2017 to provide industry practitioners with a repeatable approach for the management of noise within the English planning system, specifically in assessing the dominant impact of transportation noise on new or proposed residential developments.

Acoustic Consultants Limited have always strived to ensure such assessments are provided for our clients in 37 years of practice.

Read more about our acoustic consultancy on the assessment of transportation noise and ProPG relevant projects here: