What This Requirement Covers
Open-plan living is increasingly popular in UK homes, but it presents acoustic challenges. Sound travels freely in open spaces, and the absence of walls between kitchen, dining, and living areas means noise from cooking, television, and conversation can affect the entire space.
Key Requirements
Design Strategies
- Zone separation: Use partial walls, screens, or changes of ceiling height to create acoustic zones within the open plan
- Soft furnishings: Carpets, rugs, curtains, and upholstered furniture absorb sound and reduce reverberation
- Acoustic ceiling panels: Suspended acoustic panels or ceiling tiles reduce reverberation time in hard-surfaced rooms
- Kitchen isolation: A partial wall or island unit between the kitchen and living area reduces the transmission of cooking noise
- Floor treatment: Hard floor coverings (tile, stone, engineered wood) reflect sound; use area rugs in living and dining zones
Sound Between Open-Plan and Bedrooms
- The wall between the open-plan living area and bedrooms should be constructed to achieve Rw 40 dB minimum (equivalent to a standard stud wall with mineral wool and two layers of plasterboard)
- Doors from the open-plan area to bedroom corridors should be solid-core (minimum 25 kg)
- Gaps under doors transmit significant noise; threshold seals or drop seals improve isolation
Reverberation Control
- Reverberation time (the time for sound to decay by 60 dB) should be less than 0.8 seconds in living spaces
- Hard, reflective surfaces (glass, concrete, plaster) increase reverberation
- Soft, absorptive surfaces (carpet, fabric, acoustic panels) reduce reverberation
Practical Compliance Tips
- Consider acoustics at the design stage, not as a retrofit; adding absorption to a finished space is more expensive and less effective
- In open-plan areas with hard floors and large windows, acoustic ceiling panels are the most effective single improvement
- Use solid-core doors between living areas and bedrooms; hollow-core doors provide almost no sound insulation
- Specify acoustic underlay beneath hard floor coverings on upper storeys
- Kitchen extractor fans generate continuous background noise; specify quiet models (30 dBA or less)
- Consider the acoustic impact of open staircases; sound travels easily between floors through open stairwells
- Brief the homeowner on how soft furnishings affect the acoustics of their space