Hea 05 Acoustic performance

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Hea 05 Acoustic performance

No. of credits available: Minimum standards: Building type dependent No

Aim
To ensure the buildings acoustic performance including sound insulation meet the appropriate standards for its purpose.

Assessment Criteria
This issue is split into two parts:

Pre-requisite Acoustic performance standards (number of credits is building type dependent)

The following is required to demonstrate compliance for:

Pre-requisite
1. A suitably qualified acoustician (see Relevant definitions) is appointed by the client at pre-bid/briefing stage of the project to provide early design advice on: 1. External sources of noise impacting the chosen site 2. Site layout and zoning of the building for good acoustics 3. Acoustic requirements for users with special hearing and communication needs, 4. Acoustic treatment of different zones and facades.

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Acoustic performance standards

2. The building meets the acoustic performance standards and testing requirements for the relevant building type and function areas as detailed in Table 5-4. Table 5-4 Acoustic performance standards and testing requirements

Building type

Room function

Credits Criteria

Testing Requirement

Notes

Pre-schools, As required by 1 schools and relevant sixth form colleges standard.

Achieve the performance standards required by Building Bulletin 93 based on a sample measurement as described in Section 1.3 of Building Bulletin

A Suitably Qualified Acoustician carries out precompletion acoustic testing to ensure that the relevant spaces (as built) achieve the required performance

None

931 and the ANC standards. Where Good Practice Guide. testing identifies that spaces do not meet the standards, remedial works are carried out prior to handover and occupation.
Testing must be carried out in line with Section 1.3 of BB93 and the ANC
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Good Practice Guide recommendations. Remedial works must be carried out in line with the Section 1.3 of BB93.

Rain noise - For

As above where

For heavy weight roofs, or parts of the roof that are heavyweight, with a mass per unit area greater than

roofs with a mass applicable. per unit area less Where is it not considered than 150kg/m2 (lightweight roofs) applicable a or any roofs with justification and

glazing/rooflights, alternative means 150kg/m2 of compliance calculations or (including those laboratory data are required for should be provided by the with sedum planting) that do

teaching/learning Suitably Qualified not have any spaces to demonstrate that the reverberant sound pressure level in these rooms are not more than 20dB above the indoor ambient noise level for the equivalent type of room given in Table 1.1 of
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Acoustician.

glazing / rooflights, calculations are not required, as such the credit can be awarded on a default basis of compliance.
For the purpose of assessing the reverberant sound pressure levels on rooms beneath light weight roofs and

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Building Bulletin 93 during heavy rain.

roofs with glazing and/or roof lights the levels should be calculated using laboratory test data from measurements conducted in accordance with BS EN ISO 140-18 2 Heavy rain noise excitation.

All music accommodation

As above where applicable.

Whilst careful timetabling of lessons may also mitigate adverse acoustics issues, BREEAMs focus

(or multi-purpose Where is it not halls in primary schools with no music accommodation) is to meet the performance levels set within BB93. Where noise levels are expected to exceed 95dBA (e. g. in the case of amplified music and/or percussion) the design team must demonstrate that
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considered applicable a justification and

alternative means for new of compliance should be provided by the construction is building performance.

Suitably Qualified Timetabling is Acoustician. likely to change over the buildings lifetime, therefore, it cannot be used to demonstrate compliance with this criterion.

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the need for higher sound insulation has been designed out through careful space planning. Further or Higher Education buildings As required by 1 relevant standard. Achieve the indoor ambient noise level criteria for secondary schools in Section 1 of Building Bulletin 93.
Where appropriate indoor ambient noise levels in all non-teaching spaces i.e. spaces/ rooms not covered in BB93, comply with the "good practice" criteria levels of BS8233:19993, Tables 5 & 6. For the purposes of acoustic measurement and

A suitably qualified acoustician carries out precompletion acoustic testing to ensure that the relevant spaces (as built) achieve the required performance standards. Where testing identifies that spaces do not meet the standards, remedial works are carried out prior to handover and occupation.
The procedures outlined in BB93 and the ANC Good Practice Guide can

None

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calculation these spaces should be considered unoccupied.

be followed if/where appropriate.

All areas used for teaching, training and educational purposes (such as classrooms, seminar rooms and lecture theatres) achieve reverberation times compliant with Table 1.5 of BB93.

None

Healthcare buildings

As required by 1 relevant standard.

The values for noise intrusion from external sources in Table 1 of HTM 08-01 Acoustics4 are not exceeded.
The values for internal noise from mechanical and

A suitably qualified acoustician carries out precompletion acoustic testing in accordance with HTM 08-01 Acoustics, Chapter 7

Deviations from the values in Table 1 are acceptable only in the circumstances specified by HTM 08-01. The design team must use the recommendations specified in HTM 08-01 to justify any deviation.

electrical services in Testing and Table 2 of HTM 08- Validation. 01 Acoustics are not exceeded. The weighted
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The relevant spaces (as built) achieve the

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standardized level differences measured between rooms on site are not lower than the values of the sound insulation ratings (dB DnT,w) in Table 4 of HTM 08-01: Acoustics (the values in Table 4 are determined according to the privacy requirements, noise generation of the source room and noise sensitivity of the receiving room as specified in Table 3 of HTM 0801:Acoustics) Impact noise is controlled at source and the weighted standardised impact sound pressure level (LnT,w) does not exceed 65dB in noise sensitive

required performance standards. Where testing identifies that spaces do not meet the standards, remedial works are carried out prior to handover and occupation.

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rooms

Sound-absorbent None treatment is provided to control reverberation in rooms and circulation spaces in accordance with paragraphs 2.110 of HTM 0801 Acoustics.

None

Multiresidential buildings

Individual bedrooms & self contained dwellings

Airborne sound insulation values are at least 3dB

A programme of pre-completion testing is carried

Testing should be between habitable rooms on the Ground Floor and at higher storey levels if applicable.
Where there are insufficient suitable

higher and impact out by a sound insulation values are at least 3dB lower than the than the performance standards in the Building Regulations or Standards. compliant test body based on the normal programme of

testing described separating walls or in the Building Regulations or Standards for every group or sub-group of dwelling-houses,
floors in a development to carry out the number of tests specified in the appropriate Building Regulations or

flats or rooms for Standards, all of the residential

available suitable

purposes; this must

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separating walls or

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floors must be tested.

demonstrate that 3 Airborne sound insulation values are at least 5dB higher and impact sound insulation values are at least 5dB lower than the than the performance standards in the Building Regulations or Standards. 4 Airborne sound insulation values are at least 8dB
Use of constructions for all relevant building elements have been registered with and assessed and approved by Robust Details Limited (RDL) and

the performance standards detailed within this table are achieved.

OR

Alternative to precompletion testing or RDL approval includes, where separating walls or floors only occur between nonhabitable rooms. In such cases, three credits can be awarded by default.

Alternative to precompletion testing or RDL approval includes, where the dwellings are detached. In such cases, four credits can be awarded by default.

higher and impact found to achieve sound insulation values are at least 8dB lower than the than the performance standards in the Building Regulations or Standards.
the performance standards required for the number of credits sought (see additional information section for further information on Robust Details).

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Office, Industrial, Retail, Prisons, Courts and other (non residential) building types.

All room functions

Indoor ambient noise levels comply with the good practice criteria levels of BS8233:1999,

A suitably qualified acoustician carries out precompletion acoustic testing

For the purposes of acoustic measurement and calculation these spaces should be considered

Tables 5 & 6 (see to ensure that the unoccupied. additional information section) unless otherwise stated within this table.
See also additional criteria below for sound insulation. Where the room types below are present, the appropriate requirements for sound insulation must also be achieved.

relevant spaces

Typical,

(as built) achieve appropriate noise the required performance levels are given in the table below

standards. Where (additional testing identifies that spaces do not meet the standards, remedial works are carried out prior to handover and occupation. information section), the list is not intended to be exhaustive.

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Educational space (teaching & lecture spaces)

Achieve the airborne and impact sound insulation criteria in Health Technical Memorandum 0801 .

See Compliance notes for definition of acoustically sensitive rooms.

Medical treatment rooms

Achieve the airborne and impact sound insulation criteria in Health Technical Memorandum 0801 .

None

Acoustically sensitive rooms

The sound insulation between acoustically sensitive rooms and other occupied areas complies with section 7.6.3.1 of BS8233 , as follows, Dw + LAeq,T > 75

See Compliance notes for definition of acoustically sensitive rooms.

Dw is the weighted sound level difference between the two spaces LAeq,T is the measured indoor ambient noise level in the acoustically sensitive room (for the purposes of

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awarding design stage credits, the design ambient noise level can be used). The source and receive room sound pressure levels from which Dw is derived must be measured in accordance with BS EN ISO 140-4:1998 and the guidance in Annex B of Approved Document E. Measurements must be based on finished but unfurnished rooms, accounting for any carpets and acoustically absorbent ceilings specified.

Rooms/areas used for speech or performance, including public

Achieve reverberation times compliant with Table 8 of BS8233 1999. In addition, or

As above.

Where the reverberation time required by the relevant standard is not appropriate for the type of space/building assessed, the

speaking
alternatively, if relevant to
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assessed building; classrooms, seminar rooms and lecture theatres achieve reverberation times compliant with Table 1.5 of BB93.

acoustician must confirm why this is the case. In addition the acoustician must set alternative appropriate reverberation times and provide these to demonstrate compliance.

Compliance notes Shell only Where it is not possible to define the type of office space due to the speculative nature of the development, i.e. open plan or cellular, it must be assumed that it will be open plan with an occupancy rate of 1 person per 10m2.
Assessments of buildings that are not fully fitted do not need to assess the criteria associated with sound insulation of acoustically sensitive rooms.

Building types without areas used for speech

Where a building type (other than education, healthcare, multi-residential types) does not have areas used for speech, it does not need to comply with the relevant reverberation criteria. In these instances, the two available credits can be awarded where the building complies with the indoor ambient noise level and, if relevant, sound insulation criteria.

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BB93 relaxation of requirements for The Department for Education Northern Ireland schools in Northern Ireland (DENI) issued a note to designers in November 2006 detailing relaxations in compliance with BB93. The relaxations were made to facilitate the particular design requirements for new schools in Northern Ireland (as recommended in the various DENI Building Handbooks). Subsequently, where an assessed school in Northern Ireland has cited the note and applied the relaxation of BB93 requirements, they are not prevented from achieving the available BREEAM credits provided, in all other respects, the building complies with BB93 (and the above BREEAM requirements). BB93 alternative performance standards BB93 recognises alternative standards and details what is required should these be used within the building project, where appropriate this approach may also be used to demonstrate compliance with BREEAM criteria. Acoustically sensitive rooms Where the term acoustically sensitive rooms is referenced in this BREEAM issue, it refers to any room/space the design team or client deems to be acoustically sensitive for the purposes of privacy which may include the following types of space/rooms (where specified); 1. Cellular offices, 2. Meeting/interview/consulting/treatment rooms
In addition;

1. Court buildings: Witness/consultation rooms and Judges/magistrates chambers and jury retiring rooms.
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2. Prison buildings: Care/listener suites, Official visit rooms, Closed visits rooms. Unoccupied spaces Where the term unoccupied space is referenced in this BREEAM issue it refers to the nature of the space for the purpose of carrying acoustic calculations or measurements i.e. such measurements must be carried when the space is unoccupied and therefore devoid of sources of noise. Multi-residential developments with Buildings with self-contained dwellings also being CSH assessed dwellings assessed under the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH), the following applies:
The number of credits achieved for the self-contained dwellings assessed under the CSH issue Hea 2 (Sound Insulation) can also be applied to this issue of the Multiresidential assessment for those dwellings. Other residential and non-residential areas, not forming part of a selfcontained dwelling, must meet the above requirements in order for this credit to be awarded.

Robust Details

It must be noted that the Robust Details scheme is not applicable in the assessment of forms of construction which fall into the categories of material change of use or rooms for residential purposes. (Refer to additional Guidance section for more detail/ definition of Robust Details.)

Schedule of Evidence
Req Design Stage Post Construction Stage

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All

Professional report / study and calculations from the acoustician.

Letter of appointment or other confirmation demonstrating when the acoustician was appointed. Relevant section/clauses of the building specification or contract and/or formal letter from the project team regarding commitments

Professional field report / study and calculations from the acoustician post construction.
Evidence, such as a formal letter from the acoustician or their test report confirming that they meet BREEAMs definition of a suitably qualified acoustician. A letter from the design team or main contractor confirming that any and all required remedial works have been carried out in accordance with the acousticians recommendations.

Multi-Residential only

Where pre-completion testing will be carried out a letter from the developer confirming the intent to: 1. Meet the relevant sound insulation performance levels 2. Use a Compliant Test Body to complete testing
Where Robust Details will be used;

Either 1. Copies of the sound insulation field test results and/or a letter of confirmation that the required sound insulation performance standards as detailed in the assessment criteria have been achieved AND 2. Evidence that the tests have been carried out by a Compliant Test Body
OR

1. Confirmation that the Robust Details chosen will achieve the required performance standards for sound insulation (as applicable) 2. Confirmation that the relevant plots are registered with RDL (the Purchase Statement)

3. Completed Robust Details Ltd Compliance Certificate signed by the developer for all

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relevant constructions relating to the plots being assessed

Additional Information
Relevant definitions
Building Bulletin 93 revision (schools): BB93 is under revision (as of March 2010) and may change its title to Guidelines for acoustic design of schools to include criteria for refurbishment and conversion work as well as new build. Building Regulations / Standards: For England and Wales Approved Document E 2003 edition, with amendments 2004 Resistance to sound, for Northern Ireland DOE Technical Booklet G - Sound, for Scotland Technical Handbook Section 5 - Noise Compliant Test Body: is defined as those organisations: 1. Having UKAS accreditation to the appropriate scope, or who are accredited by a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF - iaf.nu) to the appropriate scope OR 2. Who can provide evidence that they follow the relevant principles of BS EN ISO 17024 (Conformity assessment - General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons)5 in relation to BREEAM requirements. Groups and Sub-groups: As defined in the Building Regulations for England and Wales Approved Document E: Resistance to the Passage of sound, section 1 (paragraphs 1.11 1.17). For example, flats and study bedrooms are usually considered as two separate groups, and if there are significant differences in construction type then the groups will need to be broken down into sub groups. In addition to this, where there are steps or staggers greater than 300mm between dwellings, dwellings without steps/staggers should be treated as a different sub-group to those with step/staggers. This is because the presence of steps/staggers is likely to improve performance. Habitable rooms: For the purpose of this issue, habitable rooms include any room where individuals will sit or lie down and require a reasonably quiet environmental to concentrate or rest. Such rooms are bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, studies as well as kitchen-dining and kitchen-living rooms. Material change of use: is where there is a change in the purpose for which or the circumstance in which a building is used e.g. where a building has been converted from a non dwelling (school, church etc.) to a dwelling.
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Multiple occupancy offices: Office space that is not cellular in nature i.e. it is open-planned, and designed to accommodate more than two desk spaces/workstations. Non-habitable rooms: For the purpose of this issue, non-habitable rooms include any room that is not considered as defined above, such as kitchens, bathrooms, toilets, hallways, garages and laundry rooms. Occupied spaces: Refer to BREEAM issue Hea 01 and note that for Hea 05 there is a specific, unrelated, definition of 'unoccupied' with reference to acoustic testing and measurement, see Compliance notes for details. Robust Details: Robust Details (RDs) are construction solutions that provide an alternative to pre-completion sound insulation testing as a method of complying with Requirements E1 of Approved Document E (2003 edition) of the Building Regulations (England and Wales). The relevant plots on a development must be registered with RDL and built in accordance with the RD specification. To give a reasonable level of assurance that these details will achieve the required minimum standards, RDL carry out random inspections during construction and random sound insulation tests after construction. A Robust Detail is deemed to be approved for BREEAM (Multi-residential building) credits only when it achieves a specified performance level as assessed by RDL. Robust Details can only be used in relation to assessment for new build dwellings and cannot be used to assess the performance of construction details in rooms for residential purposes or material change of use. Room for residential purposes: is defined within the Building Regulations for England and Wales Approved Document E as a room, or a suite of rooms which is not a dwelling-house or a flat and which is used by one or more persons to live and sleep and includes a room in a hostel, hotel, a boarding house, a hall of residence or a residential home, whether or not the room is separated from or arranged in a cluster group with other rooms, but does not include a room in hospital, or other similar establishment, used for patient accommodation. Specified performance level: Robust Details are approved for credits under the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH), where the specified performance levels set out below are met. Construction types that meet these levels are listed on the Robust Details website www.robustdetails.com on the CSH page. Where assessing self contained dwellings in multi-residential buildings that are not defined as material change of use or rooms for residential purposes, Robust Details that meet the specified performance level as set out below can also comply with the credit criteria for self contained units in multi-residential buildings and reference must be made to the CSH page on the Robust Details website: 1. Mature Robust Details (published for over 12 months and at least 100 test results) regular assessment based on the 90th percentile of results from the last 100 site tests 2. Low use Robust Detail (published for over 12 months but fewer than 100 test results) initial assessment based on the first 30 tests needed to qualify for the Robust Details scheme and the site tests available, and

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reviewed regularly as new test results become available, until it becomes a mature Robust Detail or is rejected. 3. New Robust Detail (published for less than 12 months and fewer than 100 test results) initial assessment based on the first 30 tests needed to qualify for the Robust Details scheme, and reviewed regularly as new test results become available, until it becomes a mature Robust Detail or is rejected.

It should be noted that not all RDs will necessarily achieve the performance levels required to achieve multiresidential credits. If in doubt, please check the list of currently approved details with RDL directly at www. robustdetails.com or on 0870 240 8210. Suitably qualified acoustician: An individual who holds a recognised acoustic qualification and membership of an appropriate professional body. The primary professional body for acoustics in the UK is the Institute of Acoustics. Single occupancy offices: Cellular office space designed to accommodate one or two desk spaces/ workstations (typically no greater than 10m2). Weighted standardized level differences (DnT,w): HTM 08-01 defines this as the unit for rating airborne sound insulation on site. Weighted standardised impact sound pressure level (L'nT,w): HTM 08-01 defines this as the unit for rating impact airborne sound insulation on site.

Checklists and Tables

Table 5-5 A selection of good practice indoor ambient noise levels from BS8233:1999

Function of area Single occupancy offices Multiple occupancy offices General spaces (staffrooms, restrooms)

Indoor ambient noise level* 40dB LAeq,T 40-50dB LAeq,T 40dB LAeq,T

Spaces designed for speech e.g. seminar/lecture 35dB LAeq,T rooms Informal caf/canteen areas 50 dB LAeq,T

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Catering kitchens Restaurant areas Manual workshops Courtrooms with no public address Courtrooms with public address Consulting/treatment rooms Sound recording studios Bars Laboratories Lecture theatre/seminar room Concert hall/theatre/auditoria Bedrooms Library areas Open visit areas (Prisons)

50 dB LAeq,T 40-55dB LAeq,T 55 dB LAeq,T 30dB LAeq,T 40dB LAeq,T 35dB LAeq,T 30dB LAeq,T 40-45dB LAeq,T 40 dB LAeq,T 35dB LAeq,T 30dB LAeq,T 35dB LAeq,T 40-50 LAeq,T 45 LAeq,T

* Where ranges of noise levels are specified where privacy is not deemed by the final occupier to be an issue, it is acceptable to disregard the lower limit of the range and consider the noise level criteria to be lower than or equal to the upper limit of the range.

Calculation procedures
Testing, measurement and calculation procedures
Where specific guidance on testing, measurement and calculation is not stated in the criteria table above for the relevant building type, or within the relevant standard/guidance referenced, the following procedures can be followed by the acoustician when measuring or calculating the levels required to demonstrate compliance with this BREEAM issue: 1. Noise from both internal sources (e.g. mechanical ventilation systems, plant noise) and external sources (e.
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g. traffic noise transmitted via the building faade) should be included, and, where windows are openable as part of the ventilation strategy, these should be assumed to be open for the purposes of calculations and open for measurements. 2. Noise from occupants and office equipment (e.g. computers) should not be included in the measurements. 3. Measurements should be made in at least four rooms in which noise levels can be expected to be greatest either because they are on the noisiest faade or because they are on a naturally ventilated faade. 4. Where different ventilation strategies are used, measurements should be conducted in rooms utilising each strategy. Otherwise, measurements should be made in rooms on the noisiest faade. 5. T in LAeq,T is taken as the duration of the normal working day (typically 8 hours between 09.00 and 17.00). 6. Measurements need not be made over a period of 8 hours if a shorter measurement period can be used. In this case, measurements should be made when external noise levels are representative of normal conditions throughout the day. 7. Measurement periods less than 30 minutes may give representative values for indoor ambient noise levels and may be utilized where this is the case. However measurement periods shorter than 5 minutes should not be used. 8. Measurements should be taken in a minimum of 3 locations in rooms at a height of 1.2 m above the floor level and at least 1 m away from any surface. 9. Where relevant, measurement of airborne sound insulation between teaching spaces should be conducted between one in four pairs of adjacent rooms (or teaching spaces) of each room type or performance requirement category and construction type. 10. Where relevant, measurement of impact sound pressure level should be conducted in one in four teaching spaces (separated from rooms above) of each room type or performance requirement category and construction type.

The above is intended as guidance for undertaking acoustic testing/measurement to demonstrate compliance with the performance requirements in BREEAM. If the acoustician has felt it necessary to deviate from the above procedures, they should provide a reason for doing so and confirm that the alternative procedures are adequate for demonstrating that the building meets the acoustic performance requirements.

Other information
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NR curves
Noise assessments based on NR curves are often used by building services consultants to predict internal noise levels due to mechanical ventilation systems. However, the BREEAM requirement uses the indoor ambient noise level, LAeq,T which includes external noise transmitted via the faade as well as internal noise such as that from mechanical ventilation systems. In the absence of strong low frequency noise, LAeq,T can be estimated from the NR value using the following formula: LAeq,T NR + 6 dB. Therefore, if the NR value is known, but not the sound pressure levels in the individual frequency bands, an estimate for the indoor ambient noise level LAeq,T can still be determined from the NR value for the building services noise. The LAeq,T for the external noise transmitted via the faade must then be combined with the LAeq,T for the building services

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