When ASB engaged Telco Property Asset Management to transform their C-Drive Data Centre office space in Albany into an agile working environment, good acoustic comfort and control was high on their brief so Telco in turn commissioned an acoustic report from Marshall Day. The report highlighted acoustic issues with the transformation of the undercroft car park area into a contemporary open plan call centre housing over 200 people. To enable this high a density of people to be able to collaborate easily and participate in client meetings, work scrums and focus groups with good speech intelligibility and a degree of privacy presented significant challenges. The report found that the large air handling ducts created unexpected early sound reflections, reduced speech privacy and increased the interruption of concentration. Marshal Day recommended an increased level of acoustic absorption to cover the ducts. Nicky Brody from the Telco design team worked collaboratively with Neil Ridgway, managing director of Asona to develop a budget driven acoustic solution. Asona manufactured large module Polyfon – 40 x 1800 x 1200 mm polyester acoustic panels to span under the ducts these panels were very light weight and easily spanned the distance required. The acoustic ceiling as built consisted of powder coated T38 wide faced T bar suspended with Polyfon 40 mm thick NRC 0.95 acoustic panels, faced in Sonatex white, mid grey (RAL7040) and dark grey (RAL7035) with colour transitions from one colour to another for visual effect which reflected the diagonal design theme used elsewhere in the refurbishment. The overall effect is clean, non-intrusive and adds to the contemporary look of the interior while balancing out the acoustics.
