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For projects in New Zealand
Hospital and healthcare acoustics in New Zealand
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. Heat pumps and ducted systems, with outdoor units close to boundaries in dense suburbs.
- 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 New Zealand 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.
Heat pumps and ducted systems, with outdoor units close to boundaries in dense suburbs.
Work reaching us from New Zealand is mostly timber frame housing, apartments, offices, schools, clinics, studios.
- Timber frame, very little mass Light construction passes low frequency easily. Added mass and a decoupled layer do the work, and absorption alone will not.
- Designed to move Seismic detailing means junctions and joints that have to stay flexible. An acoustic build-up has to respect that rather than bridge it rigidly.
- A long sea leg This is one of the longest routes we run. Ordering to a real schedule matters more here than anywhere else, so we quote the full window.
- 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 New Zealand.
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 New Zealand, heat pumps and ducted systems, with outdoor units close to boundaries in dense suburbs.
Over a porous backing. Panel over mineral or PET backing where the room needs genuine low mid control.
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Layer 2
Ceiling baffles and clouds
PET felt suspended from the soffit, vertically as baffles or horizontally as clouds. In New Zealand, school halls, marae and community centres carry speech and performance in the same hard room.
Vertical baffles. Hung on edge in rows. Both faces absorb, so coverage figures based on plan area understate them.
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Layer 3
SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
A limp, high density sheet that adds mass to a partition, floor or duct without adding depth. In New Zealand, classroom acoustics are taken seriously and open plan learning spaces are common, which makes speech intelligibility the design target.
Floor, floating. Membrane under a resilient layer and a floating deck, so impact energy is broken before it reaches the slab.
Architects working in New Zealand 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
What decides the build-up in New Zealand
- Timber frame, very little mass
Light construction passes low frequency easily. Added mass and a decoupled layer do the work, and absorption alone will not.
- Designed to move
Seismic detailing means junctions and joints that have to stay flexible. An acoustic build-up has to respect that rather than bridge it rigidly.
- A long sea leg
This is one of the longest routes we run. Ordering to a real schedule matters more here than anywhere else, so we quote the full window.
- Damp and variable climate
PET felt does not absorb moisture, shed fibre or feed mould, which suits cold external walls and sealed rooms.
- Plant and HVAC
Heat pumps and ducted systems, with outdoor units close to boundaries in dense suburbs.
04 / Room by room
Room by room, on a typical New Zealand job
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Consulting room privacy
Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work. Light construction passes low frequency easily. Added mass and a decoupled layer do the work, and absorption alone will not.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 100% PET non-woven, the panel family
- 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. Seismic detailing means junctions and joints that have to stay flexible. An acoustic build-up has to respect that rather than bridge it rigidly.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, 9 to 24 mm
- 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. This is one of the longest routes we run. Ordering to a real schedule matters more here than anywhere else, so we quote the full window.
- Ceiling baffles and clouds, Made to the drawing, standard and custom
- 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
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate
What the New Zealand climate rules in and rules out
New Zealand 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.
Consultants get the raw data, not a sales sheet. That is the whole of our side of the job, and it is set out under working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
Six mistakes that turn into a second fit-out
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Fabric wrapped products in a clinical area
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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Absorption used where privacy was the requirement
Privacy is a transmission problem. Absorption makes the room sound nicer and does not stop anyone hearing through the wall.
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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 New Zealand job
Light construction passes low frequency easily. Added mass and a decoupled layer do the work, and absorption alone will not.
05 / Supply
Getting it to New Zealand, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Auckland or Tauranga, then road to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Auckland |
| 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 Auckland or Tauranga, then road to site. Air freight for samples and genuinely urgent quantities.
Questions from New Zealand projects
What makes hospital and healthcare acoustics different in New Zealand?
Heat pumps and ducted systems, with outdoor units close to boundaries in dense suburbs. Light construction passes low frequency easily. Added mass and a decoupled layer do the work, and absorption alone will not.
Where should the budget go first on a New Zealand 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 New Zealand?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into New Zealand. 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 New Zealand site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Auckland or Tauranga, then road 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
Tell us the room, we will tell you the build-up
Send what you have. We will give you a layer by layer build-up, a bill of quantities and a date material lands, and we will flag anything in the brief that will not achieve what you want.