New Woodlands School - Super G Wall Panel System
March 2008

ECOPHON DIFFUSING NOISE AND GLARE AT NEW WOODLANDS SCHOOL

With a new wing now complete, New Woodlands School in south east London is set to build on its already enviable reputation as a centre of excellence for special needs education for children with behavioural and emotional difficulties. Incorporating six general classrooms, an Art Room, an ICT room and a light and airy gymnasium, the new wing will be a hive of activity once it is commissioned later this year. Key to its success is the implementation of Part E Acoustic Conditions in Schools regulations. In this instance, Ecophon, the leading supplier of acoustic ceiling systems, has played a leading role. The company has worked with Project Architect, Malcolm Birks of Barron & Smith, and the installation company, Visual Interiors and Partitions (VIP) in developing the most appropriate solution for the school.

Two recent contracts successfully completed by Ecophon and Barron & Smith have been at the Michael Sobell Sinai School and Crowland Primary School, both in north London and the experience gained on these projects was extremely useful for the New Woodlands School installation.

Whilst the creation of large, generous teaching spaces has been a desirable design objective, the architects knew this often leads to noise and echo issues In the gym, for example – where echo can present a potentially ‘difficult’ environment in terms of communication and stress levels – this has been overcome by the installation of Ecophon’s Super G wall panels. This achieves the unoccupied mid frequency (Tmf) reverberation time of