Making some noise!

Susie was invited to speak at an event organised by the Association of Noise Consultants (ANC) on 27^th November where they launched their new Approved Document O Noise Guide.

“The guide sets out a method to demonstrate compliance to the Building Control Body of the noise constraints in Approved Document O. It provides clarity for practitioners and regulators so that assessments can be carried out consistently, and the outcome is repeatable and reliable. Whilst the requirements of Approved Document O are succinct, there is some ambiguity regarding important details.  Some of these have been addressed in the guide.”

Susie was asked to talk about how we assess overheating risk in homes, how that relates to acoustic reports (mostly around constraints on opening bedroom windows at night), and what changes are coming in the new update to TM59. 

It was fabulous to see how the ANC have leant into clarifying the requirements in AD-O and how they have sought to enable their assessments to interface with the thermal modelling overheating risk assessments that we work on.

Specifically, they encourage acousticians to calculate the maximum ‘equivalent area’ of window opening for each bedroom in order to meet the AD-O noise criteria. This is a definition that thermal modellers can apply to windows within CIBSE TM59 assessment models and means that we are speaking the same language, which should improve collaboration and help optimise solutions for noisier sites. Bravo!

You can download the new AD-O Noise guide free from here: https://www.association-of-noise-consultants.co.uk/approved-document-o-noise-guide/