For projects in Zurich
Hospital and healthcare acoustics in Zurich
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 with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
- 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 material is and where it earns its place in Zurich
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 with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
Work reaching us from Zurich is mostly banking and professional offices, industrial conversions, apartments, clinics, restaurants, studios.
- Confidentiality is the requirement On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
- Industrial conversions in the west Old industrial buildings give superb volume and terrible acoustics. Hard shells, big cubic volume and nothing soft, so the ceiling plane has to carry the whole room.
- Depth costs real money here Zurich floor area is among the most expensive in Europe. A thinner build-up that performs is worth more than a thicker one that performs slightly better.
- 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 Zurich.
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
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Layer 1
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Zurich, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
Loose lay on tackifier. Tiles lifted individually for access under a raised floor, which is why tile beats broadloom in an office.
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Layer 2
SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
A limp, high density sheet that adds mass to a partition, floor or duct without adding depth. In Zurich, concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes where interventions must be reversible.
Floor, floating. Membrane under a resilient layer and a floating deck, so impact energy is broken before it reaches the slab.
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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 Zurich, school buildings are built to a high standard with hard cleanable surfaces, so rooms stay live and intelligibility is the target.
Mixed finish. Plain felt where it is out of eye line, printed or grooved where it is seen.
If you are specifying for a Zurich project, we can give you a section, a BOQ and the honest limits of each layer. See how we support architects.
03 / In this market
What decides the build-up in Zurich
- Confidentiality is the requirement
On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
- Industrial conversions in the west
Old industrial buildings give superb volume and terrible acoustics. Hard shells, big cubic volume and nothing soft, so the ceiling plane has to carry the whole room.
- Depth costs real money here
Zurich floor area is among the most expensive in Europe. A thinner build-up that performs is worth more than a thicker one that performs slightly better.
- Trams and dense streets
Ground level trams put low frequency into the structure. That is a structural isolation question, and panels on a wall will not answer it.
- Plant and HVAC
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources.
04 / Room by room
Where the money goes on a Zurich project
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Consulting room privacy
Speech privacy between rooms, which is partition, door and ceiling void work. On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
- 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
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Ward noise floor
Alarms, trolleys and staff conversation in hard corridors. Absorption at the ceiling. Old industrial buildings give superb volume and terrible acoustics. Hard shells, big cubic volume and nothing soft, so the ceiling plane has to carry the whole room.
- 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
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Cleanability
Non shedding, non absorbent surfaces that survive a cleaning regime. Zurich floor area is among the most expensive in Europe. A thinner build-up that performs is worth more than a thicker one that performs slightly better.
- 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
If the visual is fixed and the room still has to perform, that is a solvable problem and a conversation worth having early. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate and durability
Durability in Zurich, before acoustics is discussed
Zurich 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 / Straight talk
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
The ceiling is almost always the largest untreated surface, so leaving it out means paying for panels that cannot reach the target.
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Treating it as a generic Zurich job
On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
05 / Route to site
How material reaches a Zurich site
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Rotterdam or Antwerp, then rail into Zurich |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Rotterdam, then rail |
| 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 Rotterdam or Antwerp, then rail into Zurich. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Zurich projects
What makes hospital and healthcare acoustics different in Zurich?
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is standard, so duct and terminal unit noise are the sources. On a banking or professional floor the question is not comfort, it is whether a conversation leaves the room. Absorption plus a proper partition and door detail is what delivers that.
Where should the budget go first on a Zurich 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 Zurich?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Zurich. 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 Zurich site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Rotterdam or Antwerp, then rail into Zurich, 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
Tell us the room, we will tell you the build-up
We quote from drawings, not from a square foot rate. Send a plan and the section through the critical wall or ceiling and you will get something you can actually build from.