Building Bulletin 93

The Building Regulations require that, in schools, pupils and teaching staff have an adequately designed acoustic environment.  Building Regulations Approved Document E 2003 states that the advice in Building Bulletin (BB) 93: Acoustic Design of Schools, should be followed.

At NWSS we are able to assist design teams to ensure that appropriate acoustic conditions are achieved in educational facilities.  Advice and testing can be provided in relation to:

• Indoor ambient noise levels, where clear communication of speech between teacher and student, and between students is required. BB93 contains strict limits for indoor ambient noise levels in teaching spaces, which vary according to the proposed function and hence sensitivity of each room
• Internal sound insulation between rooms; attenuating airborne sound transmitted between spaces, via walls and floors, and impact sound transmitted into spaces, via the floor.  BB93 uses the likely activity noise and noise tolerance (sensitivity) of the various school room types to specify the level of sound insulation required of separating walls and floors
• Reverberation time control for clear communication between teacher and student and for music teaching and performance.  BB93 contains mid-frequency reverberation time criteria which differ throughout a school according to the function of the various room types.

Download a copy of BB93