Planned versus achieved acoustical performance and occupant satisfaction for an office fit-out

Abstract

The purpose of the project was to move 500 office workers separated between two aging buildings into one new larger building. The goal was to provide a building with improved acoustics related to background sound level, speech privacy, and speech intelligibility. As the project's acoustic consultants, our approach is discussed including definition of design targets and management of client expectations. Some of the difficulties encountered during construction are reviewed with examples of how they were addressed. The acoustical performance of the new building is then compared to that of the client's previous offices and the project's design targets, which indicates the results were as expected and mostly positive. To correlate acoustical performance with occupant satisfaction, the results of pre and post move surveys are compared, which demonstrates the design targets used were appropriate and that th e project was indeed a success. Furthermore, estimates of the productivity savings that can be attributed to the improved acoustical environment are included. This paper concludes by stressing the importance of having well defined and clearly communicated design targets that the client understands and can be easily measured during construction. As a final note, occupant priority of speech privacy over other considerations is indicated. © 2013 Acoustical Society of America.