New affordable homes in the centre of Peckham are delivering a quiet sanctuary, thanks to a stand-out rooftop acoustic louvre screen designed and manufactured by Gilberts Blackpool.
The Flaxyard is a £46+million mixed-use development to provide 120 affordable homes across three buildings ranging in height from four to six storeys, abutting the area’s busy civic centre and award-winning Library.
To address concerns over possible noise pollution from the new rooftop plant because of its high-level location impacting on the homes and surrounding buildings, it was felt the plant screening louvre should be acoustically treated.
Specialist metalwork fabricator Balguard, appointed by principal contractor Bouygues to deliver full architectural metalworks for the housing scheme, turned to Gilberts as a specialist in the field to design, manufacture and install the screening.
Gilberts’ solution was a 2.5m high seven-sided louvre screen formed from its compact ASLH/15 single bank louvres, acoustically treated and powder-coated in white.
Louvres reduce noise
The screen modulates noise from the plant down to a weighted SRI of 14dB and provides a free ventilation area of 23%.
Thus, the Gilberts’ screen delivers high performance acoustic attenuation with sufficient airflow to maintain an appropriate functioning environment for the plant as demanded by architectural and planning requirements.
Gilberts’ acoustic louvres are BSRIA (Building Services Research and Information Association) validated. They complement the company’s standard and high-performance screening and weather louvres.
Ian Townsend, Balguard Commercial Director, explained: “The acoustic performance, aesthetics and previous experiences working with Gilberts were among the deciding factors in appointing Gilberts as our preferred subcontractor on this project.”
Why use Gilberts
Founded 60 years ago, and still family-owned, Gilberts is the UK’s leading independent air movement engineer. It is unique in its ability to design, manufacture and test all products- including bespoke fabrications- in-house, to the extent it even designs and manufactures its own tools at its 140,000 sq ft head office and production facility.