Tynemouth Swimming Pool - Wall Panel
September 2007

ECOPHON PANELS DAMPEN POOL HALL NOISE

Refurbishing a 1970s swimming pool in the north-east of England has not only seen the facility modernised in terms of its appearance and its accessibility, but also involved the interior replacement of potentially dangerous asbestos wall linings with high performance acoustic wall panels, selected from the range of Ecophon Limited.

The work at the Tynemouth Swimming Pool has been carried out by the North Tyneside Construction Group under the supervision of North Tyneside Council’s own Building Services department, together with Cultural Services which manages the pool. Classic Excell Limited, a member of EPIC (Ecophon Partnership in Contracting), Ecophon’s approved contractor membership scheme, fitted wall panel A, specified in blue.

While in some cases it is possible to install an acoustic ceiling within a swimming pool enclosure, or to rely on other elements to the interior fit out to control echo, the nature of the North Tyneside building precluded such measures. The use of the Ecophon wall panels installed across three internal elevations at high level therefore became the only practical and economic alternative.

The Project Manager for the redevelopment, architect, John Little, comments: “This was a total refurbishment of an early seventies swimming pool, including extensive building works, carried out by North Tyneside Construction, the local authority’s public works department.”

“One of the most technically challenging tasks we had to carry out inside the building was the removal of the old asbestos panelling in the pool hall and to replace it with something capable of controlling the reverberation in the place. The Ecophon Wall Panels were recommended to me by a fellow architect who had used them on another contract and they proved to be an ideal answer. Everybody has been happy with the outcome. The pool has been open again since January and the panels have done an excellent job.”

Ecophon Wall Panels are effective in reducing ‘flutter’ echo and are often specified in locations such as conference halls as well as gymnasiums and swimming pools or where features such as roof glazing preclude the use of acoustic ceiling systems. They are manufactured from high density glass wool with a choice of surface finishes, and are mounted on a grid of galvanised steel or wood. At only 40 mm in thickness the panels do not intrude significantly on the occupied space and add only four Kg per square metre to the weight of the wall.