Building Acoustic Design

A public building’s functional success largely hinges on incorporating comprehensive acoustic design from the outset of its planning. In classrooms, excessive ambient noise and poor speech intelligibility can adversely affect the learning process. In hospitals, unwanted sound can interfere with clients’ physiological and psychological well-being by reducing effective speech communication as well as disturbing healthful rest and sleep patterns.

For such reasons, many publicly funded projects require special attention to the acoustic design of new infrastructure facilities. Specifications take into account privacy, room noise level and other needs.

If the acoustic behaviour of a building is not properly addressed during the design process, the developer or contractor may find, at project completion, that additional work is necessary to meet important requirements. This can result in unanticipated costs both in terms of materials and contractual overrun penalties.

Typically, contractual requirements for P3 (public-private partnership) funded buildings include acoustic criteria which must be demonstrably met upon design and build completion. Unmet criteria usually results from construction defects or design omissions.

In addition to testing for acoustic compliance in completed buildings, we can identify sources of high noise levels, as well as low sound insulation performance or insufficiently controlled reverberation. We can then devise mitigation measures to bring the acoustic performance within compliance limits.

Our experienced consulting engineer team provides acoustic services throughout the design and construction of publicly and privately funded infrastructure projects. We offer expertise gained from working on correctional institutions, schools (elementary, secondary, post-secondary), laboratories, and health-care facilities. On-going projects throughout western Canada ensure we keep our fingers on the pulse of infrastructure best practices.