Salisbury Court Student Accommodation

The project comprised the development of a six-storey purpose-built student accommodation building, containing 102 residential flats, associated common areas and commercial units. Initially, we undertook a noise survey to confirm the findings of a noise planning assessment undertaken by another acoustic sub-contractor. As the project is located on a busy road in the centre of Edinburgh, the goal of the testing was to find out the impact of noise across the site.

We were able to help the project achieve maximum credits for BREAAM (HEA05 and POL05). The planning requirements of the local authority were also met.

Specific considerations

The main noise source that had to be considered during the build process was road traffic noise due to the central location of the student building.

There was also a requirement for sound to be controlled at the nearest noise sensitive receivers; in this case, a local church at risk of being affected by mechanical plant noise on the exterior of the building.

Acoustic features of this project

We resolved the challenges this project presented in a number of ways;

• By specifying the correct glazing, external wall requirements and ventilation performance requirements, road traffic noise was controlled within the building
• The recommendation and installation of a plant screen for the external mechanical plant equipment
• The recommendation of a specific acoustic louvre on the door of the ground floor plant room area