For projects in Abu Dhabi
Hospital and healthcare acoustics in Abu Dhabi
Two duties at once: privacy where confidential conversations happen, and a lower noise floor where people are trying to rest. Hygiene and cleanability rule out a lot of products before acoustics is even discussed. District cooling and large AHU plant run continuously. Duct attenuation, plant room lining and riser treatment do the work.
- Consulting room privacy
- Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work.
- Ward noise floor
- Alarms, trolleys and staff conversation in hard corridors. Absorption at the ceiling.
- Cleanability
- Non shedding, non absorbent surfaces that survive a cleaning regime.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / What it is
The material, and what it actually does on a Abu Dhabi job
Two duties at once: privacy where confidential conversations happen, and a lower noise floor where people are trying to rest. Hygiene and cleanability rule out a lot of products before acoustics is even discussed.
District cooling and large AHU plant run continuously. Duct attenuation, plant room lining and riser treatment do the work.
Work reaching us from Abu Dhabi is mostly hotels, cultural and institutional buildings, villas, offices, clinics, schools, studios.
- Short sea leg from India Western Indian ports to the UAE is a short run. That is the practical reason a factory in India can hold an Abu Dhabi programme date, and it is why we quote sea rather than air for most orders.
- Concrete and glass, sealed all year Blockwork and full glazing with the building closed up against the heat gives a hard, live interior and a lot of mechanical noise with nowhere to go.
- Submittals and samples Most work here goes through a consultant. Send us the specification and we will tell you where our material sits against it and where it does not, in writing.
- Consulting room privacy Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for healthcare acoustics are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Abu Dhabi.
02 / The build-up
How the layers stack, from the structure inwards
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Layer 1
Ceiling baffles and clouds
PET felt suspended from the soffit, vertically as baffles or horizontally as clouds. In Abu Dhabi, district cooling and large AHU plant run continuously. Duct attenuation, plant room lining and riser treatment do the work.
Vertical baffles. Hung on edge in rows. Both faces absorb, so coverage figures based on plan area understate them.
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Layer 2
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Abu Dhabi, hotel ballrooms, mosques and conference centres are tall hard volumes where a long tail defeats the speech system before anyone hears a word.
Zoned. Carpet in the circulation and meeting zones, hard floor elsewhere, so the treatment sits where the noise is made.
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Layer 3
Acoustic panels
The full absorber range rather than one product: plain PET felt, printed felt, grooved panels and fabric finishes, chosen by how the room is used and how it has to look. In Abu Dhabi, international school campuses are new, highly glazed and built to a tight programme. Sports halls, atria and lecture spaces are the rooms that need treating.
Ceiling first. In most rooms the ceiling is the largest untreated surface and the cheapest square metre of result.
We would rather argue about the build-up at design stage than on site. See how we support architects.
03 / In this market
What we see driving Abu Dhabi briefs
- Short sea leg from India
Western Indian ports to the UAE is a short run. That is the practical reason a factory in India can hold an Abu Dhabi programme date, and it is why we quote sea rather than air for most orders.
- Concrete and glass, sealed all year
Blockwork and full glazing with the building closed up against the heat gives a hard, live interior and a lot of mechanical noise with nowhere to go.
- Submittals and samples
Most work here goes through a consultant. Send us the specification and we will tell you where our material sits against it and where it does not, in writing.
- MEP noise is the quiet problem
Heavy cooling loads mean large plant close to occupied space. Ducts, risers and plant rooms cause more complaints than anything in the room itself.
- Plant and HVAC
District cooling and large AHU plant run continuously. Duct attenuation, plant room lining and riser treatment do the work.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for Abu Dhabi briefs
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Consulting room privacy
Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work. Western Indian ports to the UAE is a short run. That is the practical reason a factory in India can hold an Abu Dhabi programme date, and it is why we quote sea rather than air for most orders.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 100% PET non-woven, no added binder
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 30, 5.25 kg per sq m
- Acoustic panels, Cut pattern in PET felt, adds visual rhythm without changing the absorber
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Ward noise floor
Alarms, trolleys and staff conversation in hard corridors. Absorption at the ceiling. Blockwork and full glazing with the building closed up against the heat gives a hard, live interior and a lot of mechanical noise with nowhere to go.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mm standard, tolerance plus or minus 5 percent
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
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Cleanability
Non shedding, non absorbent surfaces that survive a cleaning regime. Most work here goes through a consultant. Send us the specification and we will tell you where our material sits against it and where it does not, in writing.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 12.6 kg per sq m, STC on request
- Acoustic panels, 9 to 24 mm, 1220 x 2440 mm standard, up to 2440 x 4270 mm, 1200 to 3600 GSM
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate and durability
Durability in Abu Dhabi, before acoustics is discussed
Abu Dhabi is hot and dry for most of the year, with dust and high daytime surface temperatures, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Dust is the enemy of open-cell products. PET felt does not shed, does not hold dust in the way fabric-wrapped glass wool does, and wipes down. Timber needs a stable indoor RH or it moves.
The failure we design against here is dust ingress and thermal movement in long runs.
On a Abu Dhabi job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Worth knowing
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
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Fabric wrapped products in a clinical area
Plant noise treated as a room problem is the most reliable way to spend a budget and change nothing anyone can hear.
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Absorption used where privacy was the requirement
Nobody has ever achieved speech privacy with a panel. Privacy needs mass, a sealed head detail and a door that actually closes.
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Ceiling void left open above a partition
A treated wall under a bare hard ceiling gives you a fraction of the reduction you paid for, and the room still sounds wrong.
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Treating it as a generic Abu Dhabi job
Western Indian ports to the UAE is a short run. That is the practical reason a factory in India can hold an Abu Dhabi programme date, and it is why we quote sea rather than air for most orders.
05 / Route to site
What the route into Abu Dhabi actually looks like
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Khalifa Port or Jebel Ali, then road to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Khalifa Port |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order.
Sea freight into Khalifa Port or Jebel Ali, then road to site. The short transit means sea works for most programmes. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Abu Dhabi projects
What makes hospital and healthcare acoustics different in Abu Dhabi?
District cooling and large AHU plant run continuously. Duct attenuation, plant room lining and riser treatment do the work. Western Indian ports to the UAE is a short run. That is the practical reason a factory in India can hold an Abu Dhabi programme date, and it is why we quote sea rather than air for most orders.
Where should the budget go first on a Abu Dhabi project?
Consulting room privacy. Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work. Ward noise floor. Alarms, trolleys and staff conversation in hard corridors. Absorption at the ceiling.
Do you have an office or installation team in Abu Dhabi?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Abu Dhabi. We give you drawings, build-ups, a BOQ and material that arrives complete, and we will tell you plainly when a job needs a local contractor we cannot be.
How does material get to a Abu Dhabi site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Khalifa Port or Jebel Ali, then road to site, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order.
What goes wrong most often on this kind of project?
Fabric wrapped products in a clinical area. Absorption used where privacy was the requirement.
What do you need from us to quote?
A plan, a section through the critical partition or ceiling, and what the room is for. From that we can give a build-up and a BOQ rather than a price per square foot.
Next step
Tell us the room, we will tell you the build-up
A plan and a section is enough. We will come back with a build-up, a BOQ and a delivered date, and we will say so if what you are asking for will not work.