Hea 05b - Acoustic Performance (residential)

Acoustic performance standards - KBCN0922

For the Acoustic performance standards credits it is possible to use either:

• the building regulation requirements or other appropriate good practice local standards

or

• the good practice criteria outlined in the BREEAM manual.

If assessors want to use standards that have not been approved yet, they should submit these to BRE along with all relevant documents detailed in the standards approval process. The extent and scope of these local standards and the SQAs justification statement will be checked by BRE acoustic experts to ensure that the overall effect is similar to the stated BREEAM requirements.

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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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Prerequisite – users with special hearing and communication needs - KBCN0969

Intent Criterion 1c ensures that the suitably qualified acoustician has influenced the design of the asset to:

• Meet the acoustic requirements of users with special hearing and communication needs.
• Ensure that accessible acoustic design is considered where this is not adequately covered by local legislation.

What this should cover will depend on the asset type and expected users. Asset users The UK Department for Education document BB93 Acoustic design of schools: performance standards building bulletin 93 (February 2015) defines users with special hearing or communication needs as those with any of the following:

• Speech, language and communication difficulties.
• Visual impairments.
• Fluctuating hearing impairments caused by conductive hearing loss.
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• An auditory processing disorder or difficulty.
• Being on the autistic spectrum.

This list is not exhaustive, and the suitably qualified acoustician must consider typical asset users, along with the other points a-d when giving early design advice regarding room layout, sound insulation and reverberation times. Accessibility features The principles of accessible design are universal and could be applied in a wide range of assets. Additional features that could be relevant to accessible acoustic design include, but are not limited to:

• Designation of quiet zones.
• Hearing assistive technologies.
• Induction loop systems.
• White noise machines.
• Infrared and FM systems to provide direct audio to individuals with special hearing needs.
• Noise barriers.

The suitably qualified acoustician must use their professional judgement to determine the scope of any such features as part of the design. Where no features are applicable this must be clearly justified.

04-Sep-2024: Wording and intent clarified. Information on additional accessibility features added. Scheme applicability updated. Title updated.
01-Mar-2019: Amended to clarify that this is a 'typical' list of users, but does not impose a new requirement.

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