Acoustics, Education case study
Beaulieu Park Primary School, Chelmsford
Background
R G Carter constructed the new-build Beaulieu Park Primary School, part of the greater Beaulieu Park development built by Countryside (now part of the Vistry Group) in Chelmsford, Essex.
Beaulieu Park Primary School provides accommodation for 420 primary school pupils and is Net Zero In Operation (NZIO) – it utilises PV panels and ASHPs in combination with a highly-insulated building envelope to reduce the building’s energy use to meet a target of ≤ 65 kWh/m2 per year.
Challenge
The construction process comprised a range of sustainable practices and technologies to reduce energy usage and maximise renewable energy sources (such as PV panels and ASHPs) – the school was constructed with a timber frame that was fabricated off-site. This off-site aspect presented the risk that elements of the building including acoustic details could potentially be overlooked or missed by the fabricator.
The school is in very close proximity to neighbouring residential dwellings. Plant noise from the school would need to be controlled to prevent any adverse impact on these dwellings.
Solution
SRL guided the acoustic design of the school through the RIBA stages, reviewing acoustic details for compliance with the sound insulation requirements of BB93.
We regularly inspected the building during the construction stage as the works progressed to check that the details were in line with our recommendations so that the building would be compliant with the sound insulation requirements of BB93 with a particular focus on the timber frame elements and complexities that arise relating to this kind of construction.
We also provided an environmental plant noise assessment to give our client peace of mind that the proposed plant would not result in an adverse impact at the nearest noise sensitive receptors.
