Acoustics case study
Travelodge London Docklands Central
Background
John Sisk & Son Ltd. (Sisk) constructed a new Travelodge (London Docklands Central) very close to an existing Travelodge (London Docklands), which was to be sold, demolished, and turned into a new data centre.
Challenge
The new hotel is situated next to a very busy road and roundabout in central London, so the glazing and ventilation strategy had to be robust to meet indoor ambient noise level criteria.
The hotel’s opposite façade is situated next to a data centre which emitted constant plant noise. Many rooms in the hotel are looking out directly onto the tops of plant such as ASHPs, so this had to be considered in the design of the glazing and ventilation strategy as well.
Existing acoustic test data for the proposed bedroom doors looked a bit too good to be true. This would have to be something to investigate.
There is a lot of plant situated on the roof of the building. We had to accurately model all plant to demonstrate that the plant noise did not exceed the criteria of 45dBA outside any hotel windows.
Solution
SRL worked closely with the design team to develop a cost-effective acoustic design strategy for the new building which met the client design criteria. This included:
the building envelope and ventilation strategy to meet the indoor ambient noise level criteria (including testing to satisfy BREEAM credit Hea 05 for indoor ambient noise levels);
internal elements, e.g. partitions, floors, doors and glazed screens to meet the sound insulation criteria;
room finishes to meet the reverberation time criteria; and
noise propagation modelling to demonstrate the impact of noise from rooftop plant on the hotel bedrooms
In addition:
We managed to value engineer the glazing specification from the original acoustician’s recommendations.
We had acoustic tests done in our own lab which proved the performance of the doors to be overstated.
