Montgomerie Park Primary School, Irvine

Acoustic and Air Tightness Services for Montgomerie Park Primary School, Irvine

Client: Robertson Construction Group for North Ayrshire Council / Hub South West Scotland

Contractor: Robertson Construction Group

Project value: £20.8m

Project team: Eleni Kontesidou, Danny Robinson, Gareth Henderson

Part of Montgomerie Park Masterplan, the new primary school in Irvine will cater to 342 pupils and feature an Early Learning and Childcare class for 48 children aged 2-5. Designed by JM Architects and built by Robertson, this is the first Passivhaus Primary School in North Ayrshire. The two-storey building comprises 12 core teaching classrooms, nurture room, general purpose room, Dining Hall and Gym Hall with Stage area, dedicated nursery provision together with support and administration (ancillary) spaces. The facility also offers new external sports amenities, including a 3G football pitch, a multi-use games area (MUGA), and a playground, benefiting the local community.

The variety of spaces and uses meant that acoustics were a key element in the development of the design. In 2021, RMP were appointed as consultants to carry out full acoustic services for the project in conjunction with the design team led by JM Architects (JMA), Atelier Ten as M&E Engineers, Passivhaus designers ECD Architects and C&S Engineers, Blyth+Blyth.

RMP undertook the outline and detailed acoustic design reviews for the proposed school based upon recommendations given in the Building Bulletin 93:2015. The project implied considerations such as the control of external sound break-in and reverberation time (echo), sound insulation between spaces, and control of building services noise and vibration.

A Noise Impact Assessment was also carried out for the sports pitch noise and plant noise. The Acoustic Consultant made recommendations to limit the impact on the nearest residential receptors and to ensure compliance with the Local Authority criterion.

Following the test regime recommended by RMP, the client appointed us to undertake completion Sound Insulation testing of the new school.

RMP also undertook Air Tightness testing to confirm the completed building’s compliance with Passivhaus standards.