This job took us to Bristol to provide a restaurant noise assessment and acoustic design work for the conversion and extension of an old bank to a ground floor café/bar with residential above, a typical high street development.
The site is located at a busy junction which first demanded long term noise monitoring to establish day and night time noise levels incident on the building. This data was used to calculate the glazing required to ensure internal noise levels met BS8233 criteria, and also to recommend mechanical ventilation for all residential units.
Cafe/bar Noise
Ground floor cafe/bar noise levels were modelled using existing noise measurement data for a busy bar, adjusted to reflect the potential patron numbers within this space. Sound transmission was considered both through the floor and out of the windows and up the side of the building, and the ground to 1st floor partition modelled using INSUL9.0. Mitigation works were then advised to increase the sound insulation of this partition to minimise patron noise leakage into the 1st floor dwellings.
Kitchen extract noise
The kitchen extract system was assessed, and highlighted a noise impact issue from flue breakout noise at one of the residential windows. The flue was to run up an enclosed light well at the centre of the building, within 2 meters of of the window. Mitigation was therefore required to reduce the BS4142 assessment level at this position. Octave band extract noise calculations were used to determine the silencers required to adequately attenuate the noise but the designed duct route did not allow room to accommodate what equated to 3m of silencers. The solution we put forward was to adjust the duct route to send the duct along the length of the kitchen and back again which. This significantly increased the duct length, providing adequate length to insert 2 silencers. Planning was subsequently approved and mitigation works carried out.
The team at Blue Acoustics has extensive experience across the full spectrum of noise related consultancy. All staff are trained to MSc level in Applied Acoustics and are members of the Institute of Acoustics, which is considered the industry gold standard for acoustics professionals.
We regularly service clients throughout the UK, in particular Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Devon and Somerset. We cover a range of disciplines such as Noise Surveys, Noise at Work Assessments, Industrial Noise Surveys, Residential Noise Surveys, Sound Insulation Testing, Hospital Acoustics, School Acoustics and Office Acoustics.
To book your initial consultation please call us on 0333 444 3403 or drop us an email at info@blueacoustics.co.uk.