The Bevan is part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, located close to Salford Royal Hospital. It provides intermediate care for patients to regain independence to return home after a stay in hospital. The £10.4 million facility has sixty beds over two storeys along with day rooms and a therapy garden. A ‘very good’ rating was achieved for the scheme under BREEAM New Construction 2018.

Sandy Brown was commissioned to provide acoustic advice on the proposed development of the Bevan: Intermediate Care Unit. Within the acoustic design, aspects considered were:

• advice on internal sound insulation
• design of the building envelope to control noise ingress from busy Stott Lane which sits directly adjacent to the building
• compliance with local authority guidelines for noise emission from the hospital, particularly in relation to plant equipment
• control of reverberation with sound absorbent finishes
• compliant design in line with Health Technical Memorandum 08-01: Acoustics and BREEAM New Construction 2018.

The scheme had acoustic challenges, including a rooftop plant area partially located on a lightweight roof which required careful design to minimise plant noise transfer to the noise sensitive ward spaces below. Control of plant noise egress to the neighbouring buildings was also considered which design of acoustic attenuation measures to ensure that the relevant planning conditions were met.

Within the building, design advice was provided in relation to internal noise levels including guidance on ventilation systems and noise ingress via the facade, sound insulation between spaces and room acoustics within spaces all with the aim of compliance with Health Technical Memorandum 08-01: Acoustics.