Hampton Bar & restaurant - Hampton Court

Above the bar were luxury apartments, these had been built approximately in 2005. since the restaurant opened there had been problems with noise in the apartments directly above.

The problem had reached a stage where the restaurant owners had been issued with a noise abatement order and in addition the opening hours had been shortened from closing at 0100 hours to having to have everyone out b 23.00 hours. This meant that the restaurant could not trade properly.

The main noise problem was music and the diners talking.

We were called in to see if there was anything we could do. Prior to conducting a site survey I questioned both the owner of the restaurant and the freeholders of the building.

The situation was;

• Noise abatement order enforced.
• Planning contravention issue resulting in reduced opening times.
• Council to prosecute owner.

I conducted a physical survey of the property, I identified the following,

1. An acoustic ceiling was in place above suspended ceiling although it did have weak spots in it. Thus there was no contravention of planning.
2. other area’s were also weak;
   • Service doors
   • Party walls.

As a result of this survey I produced a detailed report and convened a meeting between restaurant owner, freeholders, members of the apartments and various representatives from the local council.

There were then additional meetings with the council.

We were then instructed to carry out noise suppression works to.

• Acoustically seal soil & vent pipes which were cut through the acoustic ceiling. This we did using a super mass loaded vinyl.
• Acoustically seal all visible gaps and cracks in acoustic ceiling.
• Fit a noise suppression system to party walls
• Service ducts were acoustically sealed

As the ceilings had been opened for noise suppression works we identified over each window that the acoustic ceiling stopped 150mm (6’’) short of the wall. This area was then acoustically sealed.

At the end of the installation was sound tested. This whole operation had been a success.

The results;

• No noise abatement order
• Planning conditions approved and opening hours re-established
• Council departments happy
• Apartment owners happy.

For more information, please contact us on 0845 845 2025.