Part E

Part E refers to Approved Document E of the national Building Regulations which provides guidance on how to provide reasonable standards of sound insulation in dwellings and other residential buildings - in both new build and refurbishment or conversion work.

From 1st July 2003, the regulation authorities tightened the standards of sound insulation for both separating walls and floors AND internal walls and floors for all residential buildings.

The aim of the standards is to improve the acoustic environment by reducing noise transmission between AND within all residential dwellings.

From 1st July 2003, Part E introduced 5 key differences to the previous legislation:

New rating system
In addition to improving the acoustic performances that constructions need to achieve, Part E introduced a new rating system. This introduced a correction factor when measuring sound that takes particular account of low frequency noise (e.g. bass sound - which is frequently cited as a cause of noise disturbance). This means that the new measures (see Figure 1) are much more difficult to achieve in practice on site.

On-site Pre-Completion Testing (PCT)
The onus is now on the builders of the constructions to demonstrate that the required levels of sound insulation have been achieved through executing Pre-Completion Testing of the built constructions on site. Part E requires that 1 in 10 constructions be tested.

Performance ratings for internal constructions
In addition to specifying levels of sound insulation for separating constructions, Part E also includes a required level of sound insulation for internal constructions. The vast majority of internal partitions (both internal walls and floors) must now achieve the new Rw 40dB requirement.

Control of sound reverberation
Part E also makes provisions for ensuring that common circulation areas of residential buildings (e.g. corridors and stairwells in apartment buildings and hotels) must have sound absorptive treatments to control noise reverberation.

Application to ALL residential buildings
Part E now applies to all types of residential buildings, including hotels, hostels, student accommodations, nursing homes - in fact, anywhere that people sleep!