For projects in London
School and classroom acoustics in London
Hard floors, bare walls and long corridors that amplify everything. Children with developing language, and anyone with a hearing difficulty, lose more from a live classroom than adults do, which is why intelligibility is the target rather than quiet. School buildings mix Victorian halls with post war system build and new academies, so hard floors, high ceilings and long corridors are the constant.
- Classroom RT
- A number, set against room volume, achieved mostly at the ceiling.
- Corridor spill
- Long hard circulation feeds every room off it. Treating the corridor helps every classroom at once.
- Halls and gyms
- Dual use rooms carrying speech, music and sport, where durability decides the product.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / The product
What this material is and where it earns its place in London
Hard floors, bare walls and long corridors that amplify everything. Children with developing language, and anyone with a hearing difficulty, lose more from a live classroom than adults do, which is why intelligibility is the target rather than quiet.
School buildings mix Victorian halls with post war system build and new academies, so hard floors, high ceilings and long corridors are the constant.
Work reaching us from London is mostly flat conversions, offices, studios, bars and restaurants, schools, clinics.
- Rail and Underground rumble Structure borne, so surface panels do nothing. It needs mass and decoupling in the floor, wall or ceiling first.
- Single brick party walls A joist floor between two flats was never built for two households. Membrane plus an independent lining, then absorption.
- Night economy neighbours Soho, Shoreditch, Camden and Clapham venues sit under flats. Bass containment and table-level comfort are two different jobs.
- Classroom RT A number, set against room volume, achieved mostly at the ceiling.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for school acoustics are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in London.
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
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Layer 1
PET felt acoustic panels
A rigid non-woven panel pressed from 100% polyester fibre, a large part of it recycled. In London, older stock has radiators and open windows, newer stock has mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, so duct-borne noise is a newer problem than the buildings suggest.
Direct to wall. Panel bonded or mechanically fixed flat to the substrate. Simplest, and the weakest at low frequency.
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Layer 2
Wood wool acoustic panels
Wood fibre bound into a rigid board with an open texture. In London, church buildings, village and parish halls, and school halls carry speech, music and sport in one long-decay volume.
Direct fix. Mechanically fixed to the soffit or wall. Durable and simple.
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Layer 3
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In London, school buildings mix Victorian halls with post war system build and new academies, so hard floors, high ceilings and long corridors are the constant.
Zoned. Carpet in the circulation and meeting zones, hard floor elsewhere, so the treatment sits where the noise is made.
For a London practice, the useful thing is a detail you can put in a drawing set, not a brochure. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
What decides the build-up in London
- Rail and Underground rumble
Structure borne, so surface panels do nothing. It needs mass and decoupling in the floor, wall or ceiling first.
- Single brick party walls
A joist floor between two flats was never built for two households. Membrane plus an independent lining, then absorption.
- Night economy neighbours
Soho, Shoreditch, Camden and Clapham venues sit under flats. Bass containment and table-level comfort are two different jobs.
- Damp winters
PET felt does not absorb moisture, shed fibre or feed mould, which matters in older stock with cold wall build-ups.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Church buildings, village and parish halls, and school halls carry speech, music and sport in one long-decay volume.
- School and campus buildings
School buildings mix Victorian halls with post war system build and new academies, so hard floors, high ceilings and long corridors are the constant.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for London briefs
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Classroom RT
A number, set against room volume, achieved mostly at the ceiling. Structure borne, so surface panels do nothing. It needs mass and decoupling in the floor, wall or ceiling first.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 1200 x 600 mm
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 9 to 24 mm
- Acoustic panels, Cut pattern in PET felt, adds visual rhythm without changing the absorber
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Corridor spill
Long hard circulation feeds every room off it. Treating the corridor helps every classroom at once. A joist floor between two flats was never built for two households. Membrane plus an independent lining, then absorption.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 20 mm
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Made to the drawing, standard and custom
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
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Halls and gyms
Dual use rooms carrying speech, music and sport, where durability decides the product. Soho, Shoreditch, Camden and Clapham venues sit under flats. Bass containment and table-level comfort are two different jobs.
- Wood wool acoustic panels, 400 kg per cubic metre
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Both faces work, which is why suspended area outperforms the same area laid flat
- 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
The London climate decides the material list
London is cool and damp, with long heating seasons and cold external walls, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Cold wall build-ups and long heating seasons mean interstitial condensation is a real risk behind any lining. PET felt is unaffected by damp air and will not feed mould where a fabric-faced mineral product would.
The failure we design against here is condensation behind linings in older, poorly insulated stock.
On a London job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
The six errors that cost the most
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Panels at child height where they get damaged
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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Treating one classroom and leaving the corridor
Small on the drawing, expensive on site, and almost always found after handover.
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Choosing a product that cannot take a football
Noise with a source is fixed at the source. Treating the receiving room is the expensive way to get a small result.
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Treating it as a generic London job
Structure borne, so surface panels do nothing. It needs mass and decoupling in the floor, wall or ceiling first.
05 / Route to site
Getting it to London, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Felixstowe, London Gateway or Southampton |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea and air |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order, not after.
Sea freight to Felixstowe, London Gateway or Southampton. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities. Clearance through your agent or ours.
Questions from London projects
What makes school and classroom acoustics different in London?
School buildings mix Victorian halls with post war system build and new academies, so hard floors, high ceilings and long corridors are the constant. Structure borne, so surface panels do nothing. It needs mass and decoupling in the floor, wall or ceiling first.
Where should the budget go first on a London project?
Classroom RT. A number, set against room volume, achieved mostly at the ceiling. Corridor spill. Long hard circulation feeds every room off it. Treating the corridor helps every classroom at once.
Do you have an office or installation team in London?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into London. 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 London site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Felixstowe, London Gateway or Southampton, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order, not after.
What goes wrong most often on this kind of project?
Panels at child height where they get damaged. Treating one classroom and leaving the corridor.
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
One drawing gets you a proper answer. Build-up, quantities, a delivered date, and an honest note on anything we think is the wrong approach.