Sound Absorption At The Queen Elizabeth Hall
Client: | Cavendish and Gloucester Properties |
Duration: | 2 Days |
Location: | Colchester, North Essex |
Region: | London |
Sector: | Community Hall |
Back in February 2016, we were contacted by Peter Walkenden of Cavendish and Gloucester Properties, London, to look into acoustically treating the newly extended Queen Elizabeth Hall, which is located a few miles outside the historical town of Colchester in North Essex in the beautiful village community of Layer de la Haye.
The hall is used as a multi-functional amenity for local residents and the general public and is host to anything from Scouts groups to wedding receptions. It was therefore imperative that the acoustics within the building were to a good level to be able to comfortably make use of the hall for all the varying activities.
Reverberation and in severe cases, echoes, are a common problem in many domestic and public places. Mid to High frequency sounds (in most cases) speech within spaces such as multipurpose community and sports halls can often cause disruptive and discomforting noise problems.
After visiting the hall and carrying out our initial inspection, we took the properties of the space 15 x 5.5 x 3.1 (5.5 to the ridge) and calculated that in order to make a significant reduction in sound issues, the hall required 30 of our Absorber 50A panels. The Hush Absorber 50A is a Class A Absorber which consists of fabric wrapped 50mm thick acoustic foam, with built in support frames to allow for bracket fixing to provide an air void behind the absorber for enhanced acoustic performance. The acoustic absorber provides a practical and efficient way of dampening sound reverberation within rooms, halls, corridors and almost any other internal space and comply to BB93 standards for building regulations.
These sound absorbers can be provided in several designs and finishes and in this instance, we worked with our client and decided on the classic white finish to give a clean and minimal
feel which worked well with the existing neutral décor.
The Absorber panels were then fitted over 2 days at the beginning of March 2016 which was done efficiently ensuring there was minimal impact to the running of the community
activities.
We received excellent feedback from our client that the acoustics in the hall “are perfect”.
At the time of the original specification, we recommended to our client that the meeting room to the side of the hall be treated as well and we have now been invited back to install
panels in this area.