Residential Buildings
Good acoustic design of residential buildings is a critical aspect of development that directly affects the comfort, health, and well-being of occupants.
Planning and Noise Assessment
Residential developments will often need a noise assessment as part of the planning application process, including discharge of planning conditions. Guidance can be found in British Standard BS 8233 “Guidance on sound insulation and noise reduction for buildings” where a development is affected primarily by transportation sources, and / or in BS 4142 if development is close to commercial or industrial operations. BS 8233:2014 recommends that internal noise levels within dwellings should not exceed 35dB LAeq,16hr in living rooms and 40dB LAeq,16hr in dining rooms / areas during daytime. In bedrooms it recommends that internal noise levels should not exceed 35dB LAeq,16hr during daytime and 30dB LAeq,8hr at night time.
Building Regulations and Sound Insulation
Internal sound insulation and acoustics in common areas for residential developments is covered by the Building Regulations with the requirements set out in Approved Document E 2003 (ADE 2003). The normal way of demonstrating that the sound insulation has satisfied the requirements of Approved Document E is to undertake sound insulation tests. WBM offers this service and provides both test certificates (accessible online) and a detailed test report for you to issue to Building Control and your client as necessary, see our Sound Insulation Testing page.
Services for residential buildings
Core acoustic services to support your project at every stage.
How Can We Help?
WBM has over 40 years of experience and hundreds of new, refurbished and mixed-use projects assisting property developers, architects, contractors, housing associations and local authorities.
Using our experience and technical capabilities WBM can deliver the baseline surveys, supporting assessments and practical solutions to ensure the success of your residential development. We offer a full service to support your development through the planning stages all the way to post completion testing and compliance with Building Regulations.
Other specialist sectors
WBM has long been associated with environmental, architectural and building acoustics both here in the UK and abroad.
FAQs
What does a noise survey involve?
Baseline sound levels are typically taken over a period of 24 hours to up to 1-2 weeks depending on the circumstances.
Get in touch
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