Acoustic Screen

The Crows Nest Student Accommodation project is located on the western gateway to Cork City. The project consists of the construction of student apartments housed in 4 blocks ranging from 7 to 9 floors in height with a construction programme of 20 months.

There is an existing student village accommodation centre adjacent to the site. Prior to commencing works on site, meetings were held with the adjacent property owner to advise them of the works to be undertaken to deliver the project. One of the adjacent buildings contained 4 floors of bedrooms overlooking the site.

We were conscious of the possible impact which noise & light pollution from the project may have on the neighbouring students. In order to prevent foreseen issues with privacy & disruption to study time of the students it was decided to construct an acoustic screen which would prevent views from the site into the neighbouring property & also reduce the impact of construction noise.

The area available for the screen was restricted by an escape route from the adjacent property which had to be maintained. The screen was required to stand 11.5m in height & be contained within a 2m wide zone. An acoustic consultant & structural engineering firm were commissioned to develop a suitable design meeting these requirements.

Due to the space constraints, it was decided to use a steel structure standing in cantilever on piled pad foundations. The structure was sheeted with metal cladding giving 10dB noise reduction.

The benefits of this are:

• Ensures that effects of site works on neighbours are minimised.
• Allows neighbours to live life as normal without worry of site operatives overlooking.
• Prevents disruption to study time during site working hours.
• Materials re-usable on removal.