We cover London Southwark for Pre Completion Sound Testing, which is a requirement to comply with the Approved Document E: Resistance to the passage of sound. The Building Regulations 2000. The Building (Approved Inspectors etc.) Regulations 2000 – 2003 Edition
Came into effect 1 July 2003
E1 Protection against sound from other parts of the building and adjoining buildings
E2 Protection against sound within a dwelling-house etc
E3 Reverberation in the common internal parts of buildings containing flats or rooms for residential purposes
E4 Acoustic conditions in schools
Regulation 20A The Building Regulations 2000 (as amended)
Regulation 12A The Building (Approved Inspectors etc) Regulations 2000 (as amended)
Main Changes In the 2003 Edition
E1 Protection against sound from other parts of the building and adjoining buildings
(a) This Requirement now includes rooms for residential purposes as well as dwelling-houses and flats. “Room for residential purposes” means a room, or suite of rooms, which is not a dwelling-house or flat and which is used by one or more persons to live and sleep in, including rooms in hotels, hostels, boarding houses, halls of residence and residential homes but not including rooms in hospitals, or other similar establishments, used for patient accommodation.
(b) Performance standards are given for walls, floors and stairs having a separating function, in new buildings and buildings formed by change of use. Site testing of sound insulation is intended on a sampling basis.
E2 Protection against sound within a dwelling-house etc
(c) This is a new requirement that sets standards for the sound insulation of walls and floors in dwelling-houses, flats and rooms for residential purposes. Site testing is not intended.
E3 Reverberation in the common internal parts of buildings containing flats or rooms for residential purposes
(d) This is a new Requirement to control reverberation in the common parts of buildings containing flats or rooms for residential purposes. Site testing is not intended.
E4 Acoustic conditions in schools
(e) All new school buildings are now controlled under the Building Regulations, and this Requirement covers the sound insulation, reverberation time and indoor ambient noise levels. Guidance on meeting the Requirement is given in Building Bulletin 93, to be published by DfES in 2003.
The current edition of Part E in Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2000 (as amended) came into force on 1 July 2003. At the same time a new regulation 20A was introduced into the Building Regulations 2000, and a new regulation 12A was introduced into the Building (Approved Inspector etc) Regulations 2000. Regulations 20A and 12A introduced pre-completion testing for sound insulation as a means of demonstrating compliance. Pre-completion testing has applied to rooms for residential purposes, houses and flats formed by conversion of other buildings since 1 July 2003, and it will apply to new houses and flats from 1 July 2004. Also, from 1 July 2004, use of robust details in new houses and flats will be accepted as an alternative to testing.
Robust details are high performance separating wall and floor constructions (with associated construction details) that are expected to be sufficiently reliable not to need the check provided by pre-completion testing.
The 2003 edition of Part E introduced a new class of dwelling known as a room for residential purposes, which covers hostel types of accommodation and hotel rooms. The expression “room for residential purposes” is defined in Regulation 2 of the Building Regulations 2000 and the definition is reproduced in Approved Document E, 2003 Edition. However, the definition has been interpreted in different ways by building control bodies, particularly in respect of student halls of residence, and it has, therefore, been clarified, by means of the Building (Amendment) Regulations 2004.