All school buildings must conform to BB93 and are subject to detailed design checks and on-site inspections.
If you’re an architect, we can work with you to ensure the acoustic design of your school is compliant with Building Bulletin 93 (BB93) of the Building Regulations. We can:
- Advise you on how to design for BB93 compliance
- Help you to demonstrate compliance with our accredited sound insulation testing service
- Carry out noise surveys
- Calculate reverberation time to ensure stringent limits are met
To comply with BB93 regulations, school designs have to take account of many factors including noise coming in and out of buildings; room-to-room noise; speech intelligibility; echo and air conditioning noise.
Our experience in school building acoustics can ensure your school meets the relevant BB93 regulations. Giving you the confidence you need going forward.
WHO NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT BUILDING BULLETIN 93?
The aim of Building Bulletin 93 (BB93) is to provide a comprehensive guide for architects, building control bodies, building services engineers, and others involved in the design of new school buildings.
BB93 gives the performance targets for compliance with Requirement E4 from Part E of Schedule 1 of The Building Regulations 2000 that ’each room or other space in a school building shall have the acoustic conditions and the sound insulation against disturbance by noise appropriate to its normal use’.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU WITH BB93 COMPLIANCE
We offer a range of services to solve your classroom and school acoustics issues in relation to BB93:
- Acoustic design consultancy
- Speech intelligibility – reverberation time measurement and prediction
- Noise surveys to demonstrate compliance – accredited sound insulation testing
SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY AND COMPUTER PREDICTION
We have particular expertise in relation to Section 1 of BB93 which contains performance standards for speech intelligibility in open plan spaces.
The guidance in BB93 states that a computer prediction model should be used to calculate speech intelligibility using the Speech Transmission Index (STI) in the open plan space.
We have carried out extensive speech intelligibility prediction exercises using computer prediction models for BB93 compliance.
Building Bulletin 93 can be found at Teacher Net
The minimum requirements for sound insulation are set out clearly in Approved Document E of the Building Regulations and must be met.
We provide independent and accredited sound insulation testing under the Association of Noise Consultants scheme, and can demonstrate that a separating party floor or wall construction meets minimum standards.
WHEN TO BEGIN SOUND INSULATION TESTING
Before sound insulation testing can be carried out, the building should be essentially complete, with doors and windows in place. This will ensure that the sound testing is only measuring the construction under test.
WHEN SOUND INSULATION TESTING IS UNNECESSARY
Under the Building Regulations, sound insulation testing is not required if a Robust Standard Detail (RSD) has been used. RSDs are high performance constructions that are capable of providing consistently good sound insulation, and so should not need a sound insulation test.
HOW IS SOUND INSULATION TESTING DONE?
The first part of sound insulation testing measures a construction’s resistance to the passage of impact sound. This is achieved by placing a tapping machine on the floor of the specimen under test and measuring the level in the receive room underneath.
The second part of sound insulation testing measures the construction’s resistance to the passage of airborne sound. This is achieved by placing a known steady source of noise on one side of the wall or floor, and measuring the amount transmitted to the neighbouring room.
Find out more about our Sound Testing service.