Noise and Dust Controlled Successfully During RVT Group’s Head Office Refurbishment

Project Overview

The decision to carry out a complete refurbishment of RVT’s head office in Dartford, was formed out of the desire to create an open, agile working environment that inspires creativity, encourages cross-communication and motivates staff.

A refurb of this size was not to be taken lightly given it was to be ‘business as usual’ throughout the entire project. To create the office space RVT envisaged, the existing segregated office structure split across two floors had to go.

The aspiration? A modern, fresh approach to office space, which would include a large opening in the floor between the two levels, flexible ‘hot desks’ and break-out pods, and a team kitchen with relaxing ‘plaza’ to cultivate a unified team, encourage interaction and promote productivity.

Challenge

Noise needed to be minimised to ensure sales, marketing and customer service teams could continue phone calls without disruption.

A refurbishment of this size within a live working site presented several challenges:

• RVT staff needed to continue working effectively within the building while work was being carried out
• Time management of performing certain tasks was to be pre-determined if considered excessively noisy or dusty
• All ‘standard’ noise and dust disturbances were to be kept to a minimum at all times and required specialist equipment to maintain a workable
  environment
• Sensitive IT equipment required dedicated equipment for dust to be adequately controlled at source to avoid infiltration into ‘clean’ office areas
• Minimising noise within the building was critical to ensure sales, marketing and customer service teams could continue phone calls without disruption

”A major factor, for my colleagues and me, was to be able to keep doing our jobs. Throughout the project, we were working close to very noisy and dusty construction work. Thanks to the specialist control equipment, we were able to continue operating as normal, and the whole experience actually generated a great team spirit amongst us all." - Alan Dowding – Finance Manager

It was therefore essential that RVT and the Site Manager liaised closely to keep the project running on schedule with no impact to RVT’s business.

Solution

The first step was to create a workable environment for teams who needed relocating during while major structural work was being carried out. The solution was a dividing screen between the ‘clean’ office area and the work site. To ensure sound and dust levels were then minimised, seamless high performance Soundex Acoustic Curtains were assembled.

To remove the inevitable dust build-up, localised Dust Extraction systems were provided. This included high powered fans positioned in the work area, with intake ducts and hoods being used to capture the dust as close to source as possible. At the outlet of the fan, a flexible duct was attached running out through an adjacent window to a Filter Unit positioned outside the work area. This ensured a negative pressure was created to prevent the spread of fine dust particles into live ‘clean‘ areas, protecting staff at all times. And finally, localised self-contained Dust Filtration units were also used to remove any dust that still lingered.

“For the Envoplan team, the dust control solutions enabled us to keep the site running efficiently with all trades being able to work without interruption. It kept the site conditions clean and safe, which is essential to keep the team morale high when working on a very intensive program like this. The noise barrier solution was also very effective as it enabled us to carry out noisy tasks during the work day, which meant that we were able to deliver the project on time for RVT Group.” - Alan Rowles, Site Manager