Sound requirements
Disturbing sounds and poor acoustics over time give rise to concentration difficulties, stress, fatigue. Provisions regarding noise and noise disturbances are summarized in the Housing Board’s Building regulations, BBR but also in Swedish Work Environment Authority's regulations on workplace design.
Regulations
The Housing Board’s Building regulations, BBR, contain regulations and general advice on building noise protection. The rules specify the basic requirements for noise protection contained in the Planning and Building Act, PBL, and the Planning and Building Ordinance, PBF.
According to PBL, construction works must have the technical properties that are essential in terms of protection against noise. The PBF states that buildings must be designed and constructed so that noise does not entail an unacceptable health risk for users or for persons in the vicinity of the building. It must be possible to sleep, rest and work under satisfactory conditions.
Rules and recommendations regarding the sound environment in public spaces are also issued by the Swedish Work Environment Authority, the Swedish Public Health Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
Basic Requirements According to BBR
Buildings covered by the requirements must be designed in a way where the occurrence and spread of disturbing noise is limited so that inconveniences to human health thus can be avoided.
There are two Swedish standards for building acoustics and sound classification of spaces in buildings.
The standard SS 25268 deals with care rooms, teaching rooms, day and leisure homes, offices and hotels. The standard SS 25267 deals with housing.
SS 25268 for premises contains four classes; A, B, C and D. Class A indicates the best sound environment, D the worst. Sound class C corresponds to the requirements in the Housing Board’s building regulations, BBR, which need to be achieved when constructing new buildings.
BBR does not cover any values for premises, however it does refer to the sound class C standards, in terms of those buildings covered by BBR's noise requirements. The premises covered are care rooms, preschools, leisure centres, teaching rooms in schools and in rooms in work places intended for office work, conversations or the like. Although hotels fall within the scope of the standard, they are not covered by the noise requirements in BBR and thus not by the rules' reference to the standard.
Sound requirements of walls
Which R'w values apply to be able to meet the requirements of, for example, sound class C which applies to rooms where Winab's walls often occur?
Winab’s walls are tested and classified
Winab's folding and movable walls are tested by the Swedish Testing and Research Institute and classified according to current standards. Measurements for both wall types show a noise reduction corresponding to Rw 41 to 52 dB laboratory value. The field value is somewhat lower.