Offices, retail and business parks

Offices, Retail and Business Parks

Good acoustic design is fundamental to the quality of office environments.   Noise can significantly affect people’s ability to concentrate and communicate effectively and modern office design will often incorporate large open plan space split into zones, which, if not considered carefully could affect the space to operate as well as it should.

With reference to the latest standards and guidance including BREEAM and BCO , AEC can guide the design team in relation to:

  • adequate levels of sound insulation to provide appropriate privacy or even confidentiality between adjacent spaces;
  • external envelope sound insulation to ensure adequate control of external noise sources;
  • acoustic finishes to limit noise transfer between adjacent open plan areas, control of noise levels and to provide appropriate speech intelligibility for training, meeting and video conferencing rooms;
  • acoustic finishes in atria open to office areas;
  • correct design of mechanical services systems.

Examples of relevant projects, which AEC has worked on, include:

  • Doncaster Civic Offices – RIBA award winning BREEAM Excellent offices for 1200 staff, bringing all Council departments under one roof, with central atrium open to the offices, large meeting rooms, council chamber and service centre;
  • Wakefield One – RIBA and BCO award winning Civic offices;
  • Smithfield, Stoke-on-Trent – Two large office blocks incorporating central atria open to the offices, a council chamber, library, interview and training rooms;
  • Old Hall Street , Liverpool; Holloway Circus, Birmingham; Deansgate, Manchester – hotels with leisure activities and residential towers;
  • Chester City Council Offices – Council chambers, small offices, open plan offices, with basement car parking.
  • Cheadle Royal Business Park , Stockport – major office developments located beneath the flight path to Manchester Airport;