Hea 05 – Acoustic Performance

Acoustic requirements for care homes - KBCN1241

In order to meet compliance against issue Hea 05, assessment against Part E is necessary, even if compliance with Approved Document E is not required by Building Control. The multi-residential criteria are intended to reflect that the building occupants are comfortable and have an appropriate level of privacy. Although these are exempt from building regulations for care homes, for a development assessed as multi-residential, the criteria relevant to multi-residential buildings must be applied.

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Alternative acoustic standards - KBCN0130

If alternative standards are deemed more appropriate to the function than those specified in the criteria, these can be used if confirmed and justified by the 'suitably qualified acoustician' and such written confirmation is submitted as supporting evidence for QA purposes.

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ANC membership/registration scheme compliance route - KBCN0246

The Association of Noise Consultants (ANC) registration scheme is only applicable to buildings covered in Approved Document E. It therefore covers Dwellings-Houses, flats and rooms for residential purposes and schools, and so would only apply to assessments that contain these room types. For these assessments, if the suitably qualified accoustician is a member of the ANC, they must also provide evidence to demonstrate that they are a full member of the ANC registration scheme. For all other building/room types, assessors can still demonstrate compliance by the other routes listed in the manual.

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Applying internal partition sound insulation criteria to internal doors - KBCN0665

Where sound insulation criteria apply to internal partitions the calculations do need to include any doors which are part of the wall in question. While sound insulation performance of a typical door will be lower than for a typical wall, with careful design, specification and detailing, this can be overcome. 

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Applying the requirements to shell only + shell and core assessments - KBCN00075

A Suitably Qualified Acoustician (SQA) must carry out a quantifiable assessment of the specification of the built form, construction and any external factors that are likely to affect the indoor ambient noise levels. From this assessment, the SQA must confirm that the developer’s scope of works will enable a future tenant utilising a typical fit-out and specification to meet the levels required to demonstrate compliance with the BREEAM criteria. Where the specific room functions and areas within the building are yet to be defined, the acoustician’s assessment should demonstrate that the criteria for the most sensitive room type likely to be present in the building is capable of being achieved. Where the typical fit out would include a range of requirements (e.g. offices with a mix of open plan, cellular offices, meeting rooms and breakout areas; or retail with sales floor, stock/storage, office and staff rest areas), the acoustician should make an assessment based on a speculative layout and outline specification to determine whether the requirements of the relevant best practice standard are achievable and include examples of the most sensitive room types. Where the majority of a building’s floor plan will require high performance acoustic environments (e.g. classroom/seminar buildings), then the BREEAM requirements must be achieved for the entire shell where specific layouts are not determined by the built form. Post-construction testing is not required subject to confirmation from the project team that the built form, construction and any external factors have not changed from those used in the SQA's assessment.

14-Feb-2024 - Scheme applicability updated. Clarified applicability to shell only assessments. Title updated.
09-Aug-2019 - Updated applicability to UK NC 2018
08-Dec-2017 - Clarification added regarding post-construction evidence.

   

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Appropriate project stage to appoint a suitably qualified acoustician - KBCN0256

BREEAM requires that a suitably qualified acoustician is appointed at an appropriate stage of the project, so as to ensure that early design advice on criteria of pre-requisition is met. The aim is to ensure that costly amendments to building designs are not made as a result of late appointment of the acoustician. Ultimately, it is for the assessor to determine at what stage of the project is deemed to be appropriate for this appointment to have taken place given the project specific circumstances and procurement type.  

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Compliant test body - KBCN0821

This requirement applies to all acoustic tests that are carried out for the purpose of demonstrating compliance with this BREEAM issue. This is regardless of whether the Suitable Qualified Acoustician (SQA) will define a bespoke set of performance and testing requirements or whether the standard criteria performance and test requirements will be followed.

03.11.2021 The above has been added to the Methodology section in issue 2.0 of the UK RFO technical manual. The above is relevant to previous issues of the manual.

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Compliant test body – alternative compliance route using a Suitably Qualified Acoustician - KBCN1412

Where acoustic testing and measurement has not been performed by an organisation or individual that meets the definition of a compliant test body, compliance with this requirement can still be demonstrated where a Suitably Qualified Acoustician has reviewed the relevant test report(s). The test report must: a) Be countersigned or authorised by a Suitably Qualified Acoustician b) Include a clear statement that the acoustic testing and measurements have been carried out in accordance with the BREEAM or HQM testing requirements AND c) Include evidence that the verifier meets the definition for a Suitably Qualified Acoustician within the relevant BREEAM or HQM technical manual

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Flexibility of acoustic requirements for naturally ventilated buildings - KBCN0219

When the Design Capability Supply Rate of 8 l/s per person is provided by natural ventilation, the design can achieve the BB93 performance standards for the indoor ambient noise levels in Table 1.1 of BB93 then the requirements can be increased by 5 dB LAeq,30min. This approach can be followed where BB93 is applicable.

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No acoustically sensitive areas or rooms used for speech - KBCN0660

If written confirmation is provided by the Suitably Qualified Acoustician that there are no acoustically sensitive rooms or rooms used for speech (as defined in the technical guidance), the credits can only be awarded based on achieving all the remaining, applicable credit(s). Where compliance with criteria for this Issue cannot be demonstrated due to the nature of the development, the credits are not awarded by default, but by demonstrating that the acoustic performance has been addressed by meeting the available criteria.

16/12/16 - Clarification added for situations where there are no acoustically sensitive rooms and/or rooms used for speech.

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Remedial works – timing of acoustic re-testing - KBCN1164

The intent of CN "Remedial works" is that, where these are required, re-testing is carried out prior to handover and occupation. However, it is permissible to carry out the re-testing post-occupation. This is provided any specific guidance for particular building types related test conditions have been met (for instance, it may be that some building specific guidance requires furniture or carpets to not be present during the testing). Compliance cannot be achieved based on a letter from the SQA confirming that the contractor has followed their advice to achieve the required performance.

07.11.18 KBCN amended to allow for re-testing to be carried-out post-handover.

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Suitably Qualified Acoustician – Associate membership of the Institute of Acoustics - KBCN00064

Associate membership of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) can be considered to demonstrate that the individual is a member of an appropriate professional body. This supersedes previous guidance on this matter, which has been updated following confirmation from the IOA that ‘Associate members’ are bound by the same Members’ Code of Conduct as ‘Full members’.    

06/06/2022 - BRE stance on this has been revised - Title also updated for clarity
13/01/2020 Wording clarified and confirmed applicability to Issue Pol 05

06/01/2020 Clarification that this applies to BREEAM UK NC2018

 

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