Building acoustic regulations in Europe – Brief history and actual situation

• Main Author: Rasmussen, Birgit
• Format: Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nordic Acoustic Association 2018
• Subjects: building acoustics; regulations; acoustic classification; descriptors; Europe; Nordic Countries; noise annoyance; labelling; harmonization; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/6041f3cf-fe1a-4796-94b3-168d604b0059; https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/274779598/Rasmussen_KeynotePaper_BNAM2018_BuildingAcousticRegulationsEurope_HistorySituation.pdf

Acoustic regulations or guidelines for schools exist in all five Nordic countries. The acoustic criteria depend on room uses and deal with airborne and impact sound insulation, reverberation time, sound absorption, traffic noise, service equipment noise and other acoustic performance characteristics. In four of the countries – Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – schools are also included in voluntary classification schemes published as the national standards SFS, IST, NS and SS. These classification schemes have four quality levels with the same denotations A, B, C and D, but otherwise not identical. The national criteria for quality level C correspond to the national regulations or recommendations for new-build. The quality levels A and B are intended to define better acoustic performance than C, and D lower performance. Typically, acoustic regulations and classification criteria for schools have become more extensive and stricter during the last two decades. The paper focuses on comparison of sound insulation and reverberation time criteria for classrooms in regulations and classification schemes in the Nordic countries. Limit values and changes over time will be discussed as well as how the role of classification schemes could be optimized in the future. Acoustic regulations for housing, educational buildings and some other building categories now exist in most countries in Europe, but findings from comparative studies show that extent and strictness as well as descriptors vary considerably across Europe. The acoustic performance areas dealt with are e.g. airborne and impact sound insulation, reverberation time, traffic noise, service equipment noise. Comparing countries, there is in general no consistency of contents, structure or enforcement of acoustic regulations. Building acoustic regulations are typically valid for new buildings only, including buildings converted to other uses, but most often not for renovated buildings, if uses are unchanged. Consequently, large parts of the building stock ...