For projects in Prague
Hospital and healthcare acoustics in Prague
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. Mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
- 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 / Start here
What this is, and what it changes in a Prague 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.
Mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
Work reaching us from Prague is mostly hotel conversions, apartments, production and studio spaces, offices, restaurants, clinics.
- Protected buildings, internal fixes only In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- Conversions into guest rooms Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- A production city Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- 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 Prague.
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
-
Layer 1
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Prague, mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
Zoned. Carpet in the circulation and meeting zones, hard floor elsewhere, so the treatment sits where the noise is made.
-
Layer 2
SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
A limp, high density sheet that adds mass to a partition, floor or duct without adding depth. In Prague, concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes in stone and plaster.
Floor, floating. Membrane under a resilient layer and a floating deck, so impact energy is broken before it reaches the slab.
-
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 Prague, school buildings are hard surfaced with long corridors, and gymnasiums double as assembly halls.
Ceiling first. In most rooms the ceiling is the largest untreated surface and the cheapest square metre of result.
Architects working in Prague 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 / In this market
What we see driving Prague briefs
- Protected buildings, internal fixes only
In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- Conversions into guest rooms
Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- A production city
Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- Hard stone, long reverberation
Stone, plaster and tile in tall rooms hold sound for a long time. Speech stops being intelligible well before the room sounds obviously wrong.
- Plant and HVAC
Mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
04 / Room by room
Where the money goes on a Prague project
-
Consulting room privacy
Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work. In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 100% PET non-woven, no added binder
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 4 mm
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
-
Ward noise floor
Alarms, trolleys and staff conversation in hard corridors. Absorption at the ceiling. Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mm standard, tolerance plus or minus 5 percent
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 12.6 kg per sq m, STC on request
-
Cleanability
Non shedding, non absorbent surfaces that survive a cleaning regime. Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- PET felt acoustic panels, 4 to 24 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 5 x 1.2 m, 6 sq m per roll
Designers get colour, pattern and CNC options with the absorption figure attached to each. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Durability
What the Prague climate rules in and rules out
Prague 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.
If a consultant has set the target, we will quote against their figures rather than ours, and stay out of the scope they own. More on working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
Six mistakes that turn into a second fit-out
-
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.
-
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.
-
Ceiling void left open above a partition
The ceiling is almost always the largest untreated surface, so leaving it out means paying for panels that cannot reach the target.
-
Treating it as a generic Prague job
In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
05 / Logistics
What the route into Prague actually looks like
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Hamburg |
| 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, not after.
Sea freight into Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Prague projects
What makes hospital and healthcare acoustics different in Prague?
Mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks. In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
Where should the budget go first on a Prague 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 Prague?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Prague. 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 Prague site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague, 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, not after.
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
Drawings in, BOQ and a delivered date out
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.