Approved Document E (ADE) of the Building Regulations came into force on 1st July 2003. It was amended again in July 2004 to enable Robust Details to be included as a valid method of meeting the requirements of the regulations.
The aims of the review were to broaden the scope of Part E, to raise standards of sound insulation, and of particular importance, to improve compliance with the performance standards in order to reduce the potential for complaints regarding noise from neighbours.
ADE Requirements
E1 Protection against sound from other parts of the building and adjoining buildings (a) This requirement now includes rooms for residential purposes as well as dwelling houses and flats.
‘Room for residential purposes’ means a room, or suite of rooms, which is not a dwelling-house or flat and which is used by one or more persons to live and sleep in, including rooms in hotels, hostels, boarding houses, halls of residence and residential homes, but not including rooms in hospitals, or other similar establishments, used for patient accommodation.
(b) Performance standards are given for walls, floors and stairs having a separating function, in new buildings and buildings formed by change of use.
E2 Protection against sound within a dwelling-house etc (c) This is a new requirement that sets standards for the sound insulation of walls and floors in dwelling-houses, flats and rooms for residential purposes.
E3 Reverberation in the common internal parts of buildings containing flats or rooms for residential purposes (d) This is a new requirement to control reverberation in the common parts of buildings containing flats or rooms for residential purposes.
E4 Acoustic conditions in schools (e) All new school buildings are now controlled under the Building Regulations, and this requirement covers the sound insulation, reverberation time and indoor ambient
noise levels. Guidance on meeting the requirements are given in Building Bulletin 93, published by DfES.
Meeting the regulations
Satisfying E1 One method of satisfying requirement E1 is to build separating walls, separating floors and stairs that have a separating function, together with the associated flanking construction, in such a way that they achieve the sound insulation values for dwelling houses and flats set out in Table 1a of ADE, and the values for rooms for residential purposes set out in Table 1b, or by using Robust Details for new dwelling houses or flats.
Compliance
Compliance with Regulation E1 (party walls) can be achieved by the following one of methods detailed below using aggregate concrete blocks:
- Build to the prescriptive methods detailed in the Approved Document
or alternatively - Build to the designs detailed in the Robust Details Manual
Pre-Completion Testing
Sound insulation testing to demonstrate compliance with requirement E1 should be carried out on site as part of the construction process. In the Approved Document it is referred to as ‘Pre-Completion’ testing. Under Regulation 20A and Regulation 12A, the duty of ensuring that appropriate sound insulation testing is carried out falls on the person carrying out the building work, who is also responsible for the cost of the testing.
Testing should be carried out for:
a) Purpose built dwelling-houses and flats
b) Dwelling-houses and flats formed by material change of use
c) Purpose built rooms for residential purposes
d) Rooms for residential purposes formed by material change of use
The Pre-Completion Test regime and procedure are detailed in Section 1 of the Approved Document.
However, as an alternative to Pre-Completion Testing in new dwelling-houses and flats, separating wall and floor constructions known as Robust Details (RD’s) may be used, which eliminate the need for Pre-Completion Testing.
Satisfying E2
To satisfy the requirement for E2, internal walls and floors should be built in such a way that they achieve the sound insulation values for dwelling-houses, flats and rooms for residential purposes, or built to the minimum weight criteria as detailed in Section 5 of the Approved Document.
Internal walls (no testing required)
Compliance with regulation E2 (internal walls) can be achieved by following the method detailed below using aggregate concrete blocks:
- Build to the prescriptive method detailed in the Approved Document.
Specification
Concrete block wall, plaster or plasterboard finish on both sides
- Minimum mass per unit area, excluding finish = 120 kg/m²
- All joints well sealed
- Plaster or plasterboard finish on both room sides
Compliant constructions
- 75mm Evalast solid
- 90mm Evalast solid
- 100mm Evalast solid
- 100mm Evalast Solo
- 90mm Fenlite solid
- 100mm Fenlite solid
- 100mm Fenlite Solo
All with plasterboard or plaster finish both sides.
Satisfying E3
To satisfy requirement E3 (reverberation) sound absorption techniques detailed in Section 7 of the Approved Document should be employed.
Satisfying E4
To satisfy requirement E4 (acoustics in schools), reference is made to Building Bulletin 93, this document gives detailed information on performance requirements and compliance routes.
Weighted sound reduction index single leaf masonry (Rw)
It has become the norm for designers to specify noise control requirements in terms of the Weighted Sound Reduction Index (Rw) which represents the airborne sound insulation performance of a building element.
The tables below illustrate a selection of Rw values for our Evalast and Evalite range of products which have been established through testing and evaluation.
Evalast sound insulation
| Blockwork and type |
Estimate of weighted sound reduction index Rw (dB) |
| Fair-faced |
Dry lined |
Plaster |
| 75mm solid |
37 |
45 |
47 |
| 90mm solid |
39 |
46 |
48 |
| 100mm solid |
42 |
48 |
50 |
| 125mm solid |
46 |
50 |
52 |
| 140mm solid |
51 |
52 |
54 |
| 150mm solid |
52 |
52 |
54 |
| 190mm solid |
53 |
53 |
55 |
| 200mm solid |
54 |
55 |
55 |
| 215mm solid |
55 |
56 |
56 |
| 100mm cellular |
37 |
45 |
47 |
| 140mm hollow |
43 |
49 |
51 |
| 150mm hollow |
42 |
48 |
50 |
| 190mm hollow |
46 |
50 |
52 |
| 215mm hollow |
47 |
51 |
52 |
Evalite sound insulation
| Blockwork and type |
Estimate of weighted sound reduction index Rw (dB) |
| Fair-faced |
Dry lined |
Plaster |
| 75mm solid |
39 |
44 |
43 |
| 90mm solid |
41 |
46 |
44 |
| 100mm solid |
43 |
48 |
46 |
| 125mm solid |
45 |
51 |
49 |
| 140mm solid |
48 |
54 |
52 |
| 150mm solid |
49 |
54 |
52 |
| 190mm solid |
52 |
55 |
53 |
| 200mm solid |
52 |
55 |
53 |
| 215mm solid |
53 |
55 |
54 |
| 100mm cellular |
39 |
45 |
43 |
| 140mm hollow |
43 |
48 |
46 |
| 190mm hollow |
45 |
51 |
49 |
| 215mm hollow |
46 |
53 |
51 |