Mountain Bike Innovation Centre (MBIC), Innerleithen

Client: Morrison Construction on behalf of South Scotland Enterprise (SOSE)

Contractor: Morrison Construction – Central

Project team: Scott Tunnah, Richard Mackenzie, Danny Robinson

RMP is currently working with Morrison Construction on the conversion of the listed Caerlee Mill into a new Centre dedicated to Mountain Bike Innovation. This is a joint initiative headed by Edinburgh Napier University (ENU), South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) and Scottish Borders Council (SBC).

The finished centre located in Innerleithen will gather Scottish, UK and international companies developing products and services within the mountain biking and cycling sector. The MBIC will also offer a variety of space uses including brand experience spaces, internal and external test tracks, bike prototype construction and testing workshops, as well as office spaces and an events space.

RMP has been instructed to provide acoustic advice in the initial design report (Hub 1) including a preliminary site survey of the old Mill facilities. We also undertook the Noise Impact Assessment of the proposed facilities for inclusion in the Planning Application. As the development’s design must ensure that no excess noise is caused by the proposed facilities, RMP gave particular consideration to the impact of plant noise, bike testing and maintenance facilities, and potential noise outbreak from the proposed event space. To that end, RMP used specialist acoustic software to build a 3D model of the proposed buildings in order to visualise reverberation times and the potential impact of the workshop, event space and testing facilities.