Edinburgh’s Meadowbank Sports Centre was originally built to host the 1970 Commonwealth Games. Some 50 years later the £47m redevelopment of the site was embarked on to ensure the facilities were suitable for current and future requirements.

The new sports centre contains an indoor athletics hall with a six-lane running track plus jumping and throwing areas, two large multi-use sports halls with seating galleries, dedicated gymnastics and martial arts spaces, squash courts, boxing, gym and fitness facilities. Outside provisions include a 500-seat stand overlooking the athletics track and field areas, plus all weather 3G sports pitches.

Sandy Brown provided acoustic advice from RIBA Stage 2 through to completion of the project, including input into the planning application for the sports centre and proposed housing developments on the same site.

Important aspects of the design were providing impact sound insulation for the martial arts dojo on the second floor, and gym equipment and weights areas on the ground floor of the building.

It was also necessary to ensure the lightweight facade cladding and transparent polycarbonate panels provided sufficient sound insulation to reduce external noise ingress, and that suitable sound absorbing finishes were installed to control reverberant sound in the large internal space.