Old Town Mill, Hebden Bridge - superior acoustic insulation for a Victorian mill conversion

The developer behind a Victorian mill conversion in West Yorkshire has achieved superior levels of sound insulation for the building’s separating walls, floors and ceilings through a range bespoke sound insulation systems and products from Hush Acoustics.

The redevelopment of the Old Town Mill in the Pennine hills close to Hebden Bridge was undertaken by Clay Developments, with the conversion work managed by its sister-company Clay Construction.

Both companies have a strong track record in successfully breathing new life into heritage buildings, but this latest project presented its own unique challenges including how to soundproof each of the newly created individual two- or three-bedroom connected properties.

The original mill building was built around 1851, initially for use as a cotton mill. The complex was developed with the construction of a second larger mill building and associated facilities in the 1880s, and it was used for a variety of purposes during its industrial life, including for the production of hosiery yarns, wool combing and sheepskin rug manufacture.

Externally the converted building, known as Carding Mill, retains its external character with its distinctive coursed square gritstone walls and Welsh blue slate roof, complemented by high performance aluminium glazing and new features including perimeter walls created using natural reclaimed stone. Internally, however, the transformation has been substantial to remodel the building into residential units which comply with the high performance standards demanded by today’s Building Regulations.

The new homes created in Carding Mill could have been designed and built to comply with the minimum acoustic requirements, but that was deemed insufficient to deliver the level of luxury the developer wanted to offer potential buyers. Hence, Clay Construction approached Hush Acoustics to explore the design options and available materials to go beyond what the Building Regulations require for material change of use projects like this.

Hush Acoustics supported Clay Construction and the architect, Gagarin Studio, to achieve the optimum separating wall and floor designs throughout, with underfloor heating (UFH) also accommodated.

Airborne sound tests in the separating walls revealed levels ranging between 52 and 61 dB DnT,w+Ctr, well above the compliance level of 43 dB.

And for impact sound on the separating floors, two tests were carried out which registered levels of 35 and 37 dB L'nT,w, again surpassing the Approved Document E requirement of no higher than 64 dB.