Tailored reverberation solution for Yorkshire primary school

Hush Acoustics transformed the acoustic conditions within one of the two halls at a West Yorkshire primary school by providing a solution to reduce reverberation.

The company was approached by the head teacher of Sandal Castle (VA) Community Primary School in Wakefield as part of a competitive tendering process after initiating a project to improve the acoustic environment within a school hall used for lunchtime, PE lessons and break out study classes.

This large school complex had benefited from various modernisation work and extensions in recent years, but this particular part of the building was in need of upgrading to make it comfortable for teachers and pupils and bring it up to the same standard as the rest of the facilities.

Given the presence of hard floors, walls and ceilings, which offer the durability required for a heavily used school hall, reverberation and echoing had become a major problem, and that had been correctly identified by the head teacher as she had been involved in a similar project at her previous school.

The Hush Acoustics team worked closely with the head teacher from her initial enquiry right through to the installation team, which included two site visits to meet her and her team in-person before installation commenced to ensure any queries or concerns could be addressed most effectively.

This personal approach was key to Hush Acoustics being awarded the contract as it ensured the school received an evidence-based report prior to appointing a contractor. Unlike the other companies invited to tender, Hush invested time in conducting a thorough site survey to provide the school with a detailed report containing accurate calculations and recommendations.

Prior to installation, the Hush Acoustics team used its acoustic calculation software to assess the hall’s overall mid-frequency reverberation time (Tmf) at an estimated 6.62s, which is considerably high. The guidance document relating to acoustics in schools, BB93 (Building Bulletin 93) recommends that this should be between 1.50 and 2.00s (Tmf) for a multi-functional hall of this kind, which meant there was scope for significant improvement.

Hush recommended a package containing three elements for the hall which is around 15m long x 11m wide and 5m high, and of typical masonry with steel beam construction with vinyl floor. Firstly, the ceiling would be treated through the installation of 20x Hush Absorber 50 Class A panels sized 1200 x 1200mm, directly bonded. A further 10x slightly smaller absorbers sized 1200 x 1000mm would also be directly bonded to the ceiling and 8x in the same size attached to the end walls of the hall – 4x at each end.

Following approval of the proposal and costs, the school gave Hush the green light for the upgrade. The team then scheduled installation of the absorber panels over the summer holiday period, ready for the school opening again in the new school year.

The improvements were instantly noticeable. The Hush Absorber 50 panels had been calculated to reduce the mid-frequency reverberation time (Tmf) from 6.62s to 1.5s, which meant speech intelligibility within the school hall had been transformed to make it a far more comfortable space to use for teachers, staff and pupils.

As this project demonstrates, the Hush Acoustics team approaches every project of this kind with a tailored approach based on a comprehensive assessment of the buildings affected by reverberation. Site visits enables the team to accurately assess the issues faced and the context, which is important in achieving a solution that is most appropriate and cost-effective.