For projects in Melbourne
Hospital and healthcare acoustics in Melbourne
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. Ducted systems and split units, with outdoor units close to boundaries where neighbour noise limits apply.
- 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 / The material
What this is, and what it changes in a Melbourne room
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.
Ducted systems and split units, with outdoor units close to boundaries where neighbour noise limits apply.
Work reaching us from Melbourne is mostly live music venues, Victorian terraces, apartments, offices, schools, studios, clinics.
- Venues that were there first Live rooms in old warehouses with new apartments built alongside. Containment of low frequency is what keeps them operating.
- Victorian terraces Single skin brick party walls and timber floors. Speech and footfall move between houses easily and mass is the only reliable answer.
- The port is in the city Direct sea into Melbourne keeps the road leg short, though the sea leg itself is long and we quote it fully.
- 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 Melbourne.
02 / The build-up
How the layers stack, from the structure inwards
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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 Melbourne, ducted systems and split units, with outdoor units close to boundaries where neighbour noise limits apply.
On a 25 to 50 mm air gap. The same panel on battens. The air gap moves absorption down in frequency at no extra material cost, and is the cheapest improvement available.
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Layer 2
Ceiling baffles and clouds
PET felt suspended from the soffit, vertically as baffles or horizontally as clouds. In Melbourne, school halls, community centres and church buildings carry assembly, performance and sport in one hard volume.
Horizontal clouds. Flat rafts over the occupied zone, which also reflect early speech energy back down where it helps.
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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 Melbourne, school buildings run hard floors and high ceilings, and open plan learning areas make speech intelligibility the central problem rather than echo.
Ceiling first. In most rooms the ceiling is the largest untreated surface and the cheapest square metre of result.
Architects working in Melbourne usually need the build-up before the product. We will draw the section and mark what does the work. See how we support architects.
03 / Local conditions
The Melbourne conditions that change the answer
- Venues that were there first
Live rooms in old warehouses with new apartments built alongside. Containment of low frequency is what keeps them operating.
- Victorian terraces
Single skin brick party walls and timber floors. Speech and footfall move between houses easily and mass is the only reliable answer.
- The port is in the city
Direct sea into Melbourne keeps the road leg short, though the sea leg itself is long and we quote it fully.
- Variable climate, sealed rooms
Heating and cooling run hard across the year, so rooms stay closed and sound accumulates inside.
- Plant and HVAC
Ducted systems and split units, with outdoor units close to boundaries where neighbour noise limits apply.
04 / Room by room
Room by room, on a typical Melbourne job
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Consulting room privacy
Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work. Live rooms in old warehouses with new apartments built alongside. Containment of low frequency is what keeps them operating.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 100% PET non-woven, no added binder
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 4 mm
- 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. Single skin brick party walls and timber floors. Speech and footfall move between houses easily and mass is the only reliable answer.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mm standard, tolerance plus or minus 5 percent
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
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Cleanability
Non shedding, non absorbent surfaces that survive a cleaning regime. Direct sea into Melbourne keeps the road leg short, though the sea leg itself is long and we quote it fully.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
- Acoustic panels, 9 to 24 mm, 1220 x 2440 mm standard, up to 2440 x 4270 mm, 1200 to 3600 GSM
For a Melbourne interior where the finish leads, we will say plainly what each option costs you acoustically. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate and durability
Durability in Melbourne, before acoustics is discussed
Melbourne is hot summers, mild winters and a distinct wet season, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
PET felt handles the wet months without absorbing moisture or feeding mould. Timber and wood wool want a ventilated cavity and a stable indoor RH.
The failure we design against here is wet-season humidity behind linings.
On a Melbourne job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Straight talk
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
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Fabric wrapped products in a clinical area
Enclose the machine, break the vibration path, then deal with what is left. Doing it in the other order costs more and achieves less.
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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 Melbourne job
Live rooms in old warehouses with new apartments built alongside. Containment of low frequency is what keeps them operating.
05 / Logistics
Getting it to Melbourne, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Port of Melbourne, then a short road run to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Port of Melbourne |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. The sea leg from India is long, so plan the full door to door window into the programme. We give real dates, not optimistic ones.
Sea freight into the Port of Melbourne, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Melbourne projects
What makes hospital and healthcare acoustics different in Melbourne?
Ducted systems and split units, with outdoor units close to boundaries where neighbour noise limits apply. Live rooms in old warehouses with new apartments built alongside. Containment of low frequency is what keeps them operating.
Where should the budget go first on a Melbourne 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 Melbourne?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Melbourne. 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 Melbourne site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Port of Melbourne, then a short road run to site, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. The sea leg from India is long, so plan the full door to door window into the programme. We give real dates, not optimistic ones.
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
Send a plan and a section, get a real 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.