Building Regulations Part E

The overall aim of the amendments is to improve the sound insulation both between and within dwellings, as well as between rooms in hostels, hotels and residential homes.

To combat the problems of noise pollution the government has introduced new legislation. The new standards have been published in a new Approved Document-Part E (England and Wales) of the Building Regulations "Resistance to the Passage of Sound", which came into effect on July 1st 2003 for refurbishment and July 1st 2004 for new build.

Key aspects of the changes

The principle changes contained within the revised Approved Document are:

• E1. Protection against sound from other parts of the building and adjoining buildings.
• E2. Protection against sound within a dwelling house.
• E3. Reverberation in the common internal parts of buildings containing flats or rooms for residential purposes.
• E4. Acoustic conditions in schools.

The aims of the part E legislation are:

• To improve acoustics and therefore sound privacy between residential buildings.
• To improve the sound reduction of internal walls and floors within the home.
• To improve the sound reduction between rooms and in common areas in hostels, hotels, residential homes, schools and hospitals etc.
• To re-address sound performance criteria, taking into account da-to-day low frequency sounds such as TV, Stereo etc, TV was considered to be the main cause for complaint in the majority of the 180000 complaints about noise per year received by the Local Authorities in the UK.
  

The testing requirement for new houses and flats comes into force on 1st July 2004.

Download Regulation E PDF

Tables 1a and 1b below illustrate the airborne sound insulation and impact sound insulation values required in the various types of dwellings. Please note that in the case of Airborne sound insulation, DnTw is the measurement used, however as low-frequency sound is the most difficult frequency range to stop a Ctr (correction factor) is used to take this into account. LnTw is measurement used to measure the impact sound insulation of floors (on site).

With Airborne Sound, the higher the DnTw + Ctr figure the better, and with Impact sound the lower the LnTw figure the better.

Table 1a: Dwelling-houses and flats - performance standards for separating walls, separating floors and stairs that have a separating function.

Table 1b: Rooms for residential purposes - performance standards for separating walls, separating floors and stairs that have a separating function.