Sandy Brown was appointed in 2014 to provide acoustic design advice for the mixed-use development at Marischal Square, Aberdeen. The scheme is central to the city centre masterplan development and contains two Grade A office buildings with ground floor restaurants and cafes, together with a separate Residence Inn by Marriot hotel.

We undertook a baseline environmental noise survey on the site at the time when the former Aberdeen City Council headquarters building was being demolished. A key concern was noise from an existing service yard affecting the hotel. A noise impact assessment was undertaken to support the planning application.

We provided key issues acoustic design advice for the offices and retail units. This included advice on the sound insulation performances for the facades and floors, along with operational noise limits for the retail units below the offices.

A full design service was provided for the hotel which included construction related input such as site inspection visits and acoustic commissioning tests on completion.

Post-completion acoustic tests were undertaken in the offices, achieving all three of the targeted BREEAM credits, and contributing the overall BREEAM Excellent rating.