Beckmead College is a new, purpose-designed centre for teenagers with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. On the site of a former primary school in Croydon, Beckmead College is an offshoot of Beckmead School. Once fully operational, the new college will offer 50 full-time places for pupils. A further 50 part-time places will be available at a selective vocational centre for pupils from other local schools. As Beckmead is a newly built school, it is bound by the newly revised BB93 legislation for acoustic design in schools.
At the centre of the school is a boxing ring where pupils that misbehave spar with the Coach, to learn discipline. The Coach is an ex heavyweight boxer with lots of past experience. The boxing ring is a functional space where young people are taught respect and self-restraint. Unfortunately, it does not provide an ideal acoustic environment for the adjoining classrooms. Acoustic design in schools is governed by building legislation in accordance with BB93. With this in mind, the ambient noise levels within the classrooms needed to meet this specification, despite what might be happening in the potentially noisy boxing ring.
Bouygues UK was the main contractor on the project and approached QuietStar to provide the best possible acoustic solution. With acoustic dividing walls between the classrooms and ring rated at Rw52dB, the acoustic components supplied by QuietStar needed to provide a performance of at least that value once installed.
The acoustic window was a challenge from the beginning. The architect specification was for a 3 metre wide window, with no structural mullions. The double glazed unit was fabricated off-site and assembled within the provided wall opening. Each piece of glass then had to be individually lifted into the newly installed frame. As each pane of glass weighed in excess of 400kg, the lifting was carried out by an installation crew of 8 people for safety.
Once all of the components had been installed, the rooms were commissioned to ensure the BB93 legislation was met. Speaking on behalf of QuietStar, Luke Willis, Director said: “the Beckmead project was a real success. Having seen the installation, I am not only proud of the performance of the products we supplied, but also that QuietStar have had some involvement in what will be a great centre for learning.” The college is due to open in January.
QuietStar produce acoustic doors and windows for a huge variety of applications, from basic performance, through to broadcast quality levels of sound isolation.
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