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OVERVIEW
The grade I listed, St. Pancras Chambers, originally built in 1873, is comprised 67 luxury apartments and the five-star Renassance St Pancras.
Some of the apartments are affected by noise ingress, emanating from passing underground trains. Akustak® was specified to mitigate the problem, in relation to an apartment located on the 4th and 5th floors.
The installation involved replacing the existing lightweight, metal framed, wall linings, which, prior testing demonstrated, were propagating significant vibration acceleration levels, compared with the supporting masonry walls; in one test position, for example, 16.20 mm/s2 versus 2.23 mm/s2.
Critically, acceleration in vibration, results in an amplification of reradiated noise – in this case, noise levels, during train pass-bys reached 35 dB (LAFmax), whilst background noise levels (when no trains were passing) measured 27 dB (LAeq).
By way of a guide, BS 4142 (one of the UK’s most widely used standards for the assessment of environmental noise) states that where noise is around 5 dB higher than the background noise level, this is an indication of an "adverse impact", whilst, where noise is 10 dB or more higher than the background noise level, this is an indication of a "significant adverse impact".
Pre-completion, sound insulation test data coming soon.
Whilst Akustak® was employed here for its acoustical properties, on a logistical level too, it was a befitting application. Prefabricated and portable, it minimised project timescales and disruption, generally, within a highly populated building, where access for construction materials, particularly to the upper floors, is limited.
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