DESIGNING AND COMMISSIONING SCHOOLS TO MEET BUILDING BULLETIN 93: 2014 REQUIREMENTS

摘要

Building Bulletin 93 was revised in December 2014, and became referenced in Building Regulations with the revision to Approved Document E in April 2015. Some of the first schools designed to the revised performance criteria have now been built and commissioned. This paper discusses design and commissioning issues encountered in meeting the new criteria. Some of the most significant changes from the previous requirements concern the assessment of noise with ventilation provision. This paper reviews the classification of the ventilation system, assessment of manufacturer's claims for the noise levels emitted from their ventilation units, and noise levels measured in classrooms from a wide range of purpose-designed ventilation units. Issues with acoustic commissioning of ventilation units that do not have a set point at the design criterion are discussed. While there have been only small changes to the reverberation time criteria, the standard design of schools that comply with the Education Funding Agency's new criteria for thermal comfort generally adopt exposed concrete soffits. The potential to accurately calculate reverberation times based on formulae or modelling is discussed. The variation in measured values in classrooms using exposed concrete soffits, various types of suspended rafts, and wall panels is described.