Workshop

Workshops for primarily woodwork and metalwork are the site of noisy work and potentially dangerous machines and tools. The work requires great concentration and is difficult to monitor, so speech intelligibility and safety aspects are crucial.

• Hard surface materials create problematic sound reflections which impede speech intelligibility to the extent that instructions and warnings may not be heard.
• Hard flooring creates noisy footsteps.
• Hard surface materials create problematic sound amplification and sound propagation. The sound is transported a long way and so disturbs a large number of people.
• This type of space should not be located near quiet activities.

• Reverberation time of 0.4 seconds. To achieve this, a full acoustic ceiling is needed of sound absorption class A (in accordance with EN ISO 11654).
• Certain wall surfaces may also need to be fitted with sound absorbers.

• UK regulations, Building Bulletin 93 (BB93), states for workshops an unoccupied mid frequency (Tmf) reverberation time of <0.8 seconds must be achieved.
• Swedish Standard 02 52 68 recommends a reverberation time of 0.4 or 0.5 seconds depending on the selected quality level. This applies to normally furnished but unoccupied rooms. The above figure is the highest recommended value for the frequency range 250 - 4,000 Hz. At 125 Hz a value 20% higher is permitted.

• If the activities generate dust and dirt, ceilings should be cleanable.
  

• Due to the risk of damage, the acoustic ceiling may need an impact resistant surface layer.

• Ecophon Super G (impact resistant surface layer).

• Ecophon Gedina