The Other House, South Kensington
Project Summary
The Other House South Kensington brings a hotel, members club and private residences together into a residents club to cater for both long and short stays. The project involved the reconfiguration and refurbishment of the 130,000 sq ft Grade II listed building at 5-25 Harrington Gardens, formally known as the Harrington Hall Hotel, to create a luxury residents club in the heart of South Kensington. A total of 236 apartment/guestrooms are provided over eight floors with exclusive amenities for residents and private members comprising a spa, pool, gym, private bars/café, restaurants, screening room, meeting rooms and library spaces.
Services Provided
Sandy Brown was commissioned to develop the acoustic brand standards for the client and provide the acoustic design, support to the client and contractor during the construction stage and also pre-completion testing services for development. We drew on experience of designing high-end hotel/residential and historic building refurbishments to achieve high acoustic standards that were suitable for the luxury resident’s club. The acoustic performance standards for the project were
developed to balance the aspirations for quality on the project and the limitations imposed by the existing building fabric.
Detailed Design
The acoustic design considered different existing floor constructions of lightweight timber and profiled metal decking. New-build elements were introduced as part of the redevelopment works including new sash windows, resiliently hung plasterboard ceilings, new acoustic floated flooring enhancements and drywall partitioning. Enhanced levels of acoustic separation were required between the front of house spaces such as the cafe and the Club Flats above and also between new plant rooms and Club Flats.
Extensive benchmark testing and site inspections were carried out to quantify the performance of the retained building elements. This allowed specific solutions and detailing to be developed for the different areas of the resident’s club.
The Other House is located in the centre of South Kensington, in close proximity to highly trafficked roads and as a result, the control of road traffic noise ingress was a key consideration. The original windows were replaced with new high quality timber sash systems which were carefully specified, assessed, and tested in an acoustic laboratory to ensure they provide the required sound insulation performance.
