CP Sound were approached by Barwick Property Consultants to come up with the equipment specified.
COMPLETED PROJECTS - OXFORD INSTRUMENTS
CP Sound have been involved in a challenging, subtle and more off-beat sound project of late ..... the installation of a sound masking system in a new high-tech building for Oxford Instruments.
| The system comprises
of six zones of masking with paging microphones included for Voice Alarm.
The philosophy is that speakers are places at close intervals, 10 ft apart,
and emits a filtered white noise. This masks out background hubbub and enables
meetings to take place in very close proximity to - but without disturbing
- fellow workers.
CP Sound were approached by Barwick Property Consultants to come up with the equipment specified. |
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The building is on three floors - ground, first and second. Each office floor is split into two sections by a massive 15 metre high 9 metre wide atrium that traverses centrally throughout the entire length of the building. Even after being split, each office environment is an impressive 37 metres long by 15 metres wide. Being open plan, there was a need for people to be able to hold private conversations.
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Each platform contains ceiling hung lighting bays at 10 ft intervals. Two speakers per bay are housed in custom designed enclosures recessed into the luminaires, covering a bandwidth of 40 Hz to 18 KHz and incorporating a polypropylene surround. The wide bandwidth encourages excellent speech intelligibility. The system is based on 100 volt line. The voice alarm element of the system also extends into two plant rooms, the loading bay and all corridors and stairwells covering the entire building. |
Several kilometers of cable were devoured by the project and all elements of it are compliant to BS 5839. CP Sound's Colin Pattenden admits that the most galvanising aspect was to meet the rigorous and specific requirements.
| CP Sound are no
strangers to this type of work. Some of the theory utilised in this one
was gleaned from their previous work installing a tannoy system in
Nestlé's cold and hot rooms two years ago. Additionally, CP Sound have
built induction loop systems for theatres and been involved in numerous
sound proofing projects - dealing with anything from air conditioning systems
to plant noise.
The company also works closely with the environmental health departments of many local authorities, coming up with creative noise pollution solutions. |
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