Creating a calm, productive and quiet learning environment with ROCKWOOL

A major new-build, autism-specific facility in Essex has featured effective sound reducing insulation from ROCKWOOL.

External, ambient noise can be a big headache for schools, as it can cause distraction, disruption and impact negatively on the academic performance of students.

The result of ROCKWOOL’s work at the Chigwell facility is a calm, productive and quiet learning environment for all students.

The school has students from ages of 11-19 in attendance, where the skills for life and employment are at the heart of the curriculum.

You can watch a short video of the project here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8lrDXAlyWM

Mark Lever, Chief Executive at The National Autistic Society, said: “Our ambition is to transform the lives of autistic young people and our aim for this campus is that every child that leaves school will go into meaningful paid employment or other activity.

“As a result, the wellbeing of autistic children and young people is at the heart of the National Autistic Society’s Anderson School and Enterprise Campus.

“From small class sizes to purpose-built calm rooms, and therapy rooms, we’ll make adjustments to each student’s environment to help them reach their full potential.”

Project designers and specifiers, RMA Architects, recognised effective sound insulation would help majorly to meet this objective for the school.

The school’s contemporary, low level design features large areas of flat roofing, which could be susceptible to noise ingress from heavy rainfall. At the same time, they required an efficient thermal solution that would meet the project’s low energy credentials and a robust durable waterproofing system, that would safeguard the building from defect for many years to come.

Working in close partnership with roof waterproofing membrane designer and manufacturer, AXTER Limited, and Axtershield Installer / roofing contractor, Avonside Group, ROCKWOOL has successfully met all the challenges on the project using its HARDROCK® Multi-Fix Dual Density (DD) board.

Avonside has fitted over 3000m² of ROCKWOOL 105mm HARDROCK® Multi-Fix (DD) insulation board at Anderson School complete with an equivalent quantity of 150mm HARDROCK® Multi-Fix Underlay and AXTER’s EXCEL® Roof System to deliver comprehensive and effective acoustic, fire safety and thermal insulation performance.

As a stone wool insulation solution, HARDROCK® Multi-Fix (DD) is renowned for its excellent acoustic properties, being fully tested to meet the rigorous demands of Building Bulletin 93.

HARDROCK® Multi-Fix DD board is also capable of providing substantial time and cost savings for contractors across a vast range of flat roof applications.

It can be securely installed within mechanically fixed systems with just a single fixing, compared to the multiple fixings typically used with PIR / PUR foam board installation. 

Gary Simm, Principal of the National Autistic Society’s Anderson School, commented: “Many children and young people on the autism spectrum really struggle in mainstream school, sometimes ending up spending long periods out of education.

“The National Autistic Society believes that no-one should ever be written off and we want to give them the social and work skills they need to find meaningful work or go into higher education.

“We are immensely grateful to the Anderson Foundation and its founder, Mark Anderson, for the support and commitment they have shown for this exciting and life-changing project.

“Autism can have a profound impact on an individual and their family, but the right help and support can help every student to fulfil their potential.”

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All images courtesy of William Eckersley

Contact:

ROCKWOOL,
Pencoed,
Bridgend,
United Kingdom,
CF35 6NY

Phone: 01635 862621
Fax: 01656 862302

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