Echelon Planning – Open Plan Office

Problem

Melbourne based building and consulting company, Echelon Planning, recently opened their new open plan office and meeting room complex.  After moving in the staff found there was excessive background noise, causing concentration difficulties and hearing problems on phone calls.

Analysis

A consultation was held with a Sontext acoustic specialist on site to address the problem firsthand. The office was a large volume space with very high ceilings and hard reflective masonry walls, and with space for up to twenty people at separate workstations.  The number of occupants, and the hard internal wall and ceiling linings resulted in substantial background noise being reflected around the interior space. The reverberation and increased noise levels resulted in a both lack of privacy and increased stress and discomfort for office workers. The adjacent meeting room, with timber ceilings and masonry walls, also suffered with a very noisy environment, making teleconferencing very difficult.

Solution

After consultation with the management of Echelon it was decided to install SerenityLite Wall and Ceiling Panel to the walls in the open plan office and to the ceilings in the meeting room to absorb as much of the reverberant sound  as possible.

25mm thick SerenityLite Acoustic Panels we chosen, as this was the optimum solution to absorb sound waves at voice frequencies. The panels were manufactured by Sontext, covered in Trilogy One “Misty” acoustic fabric for both the walls and ceilings, as this finish blended with the existing room decor. The panels were manufactured in custom sizes to neatly fit around existing bulkheads, interior fixtures and penetrations. Customised manufacturing of Acoustic Wall and Ceiling Panels is a specialty of Sontext, to accommodate fixtures, windows and doors, etc, in existing buildings.