Trickle ventilators slash noise penetration in London hospital

Background trickle ventilators that minimise noise penetration from the adjacent A40 Western Avenue in London have been installed on most of the windows in the new £80 million Brent Emergency Care & Diagnostic Centre. 350 Passivent frame vents and acoustic grilles have been installed on most of the windows of this 30 000 m2 hospital, particularly all those throughout the three storeys of habitable space. Each ventilator has two open positions to enable individual control and provide a maximum ventilation area of 40 cm2. Combined with the acoustic grille, the units reduce noise by up to 48 dB. Chris Baldwin, architect at HLM, explains, ‘It is, of course, a Building Regulation requirement to include background ventilation. We also needed to minimise noise into the building, in line with the hospital trust’s requirement to enhance the internal environment for both patients and staff.’

Related links:

• www.passivent.com