Architectural Acoustic Design

We advise clients on sound insulation, auditorium/ room acoustics and building services noise control.

Our expertise on the above subjects has been applied in the design of virtually every type of building including: office, commercial, residential and industrial developments, universities, schools, churches, night-clubs, barracks, hospitals, crematoria, restaurants, public houses, cinemas, studios, sports centres, court rooms, leisure complexes, airports, heliports, libraries, conference centres and theatres. At one stage we even worked on the design of a brothel, though at the time it was put to us that it was a “health club”. It was only several years later, working on a traffic noise survey on the same street, that we found from the locals what kind of “club” it actually was.

The work involves some or all of the following:

Specifying standards of sound insulation of walls and floors.
Advising on the design of walls and floors to ensure the standards are achieved.
Specifying reverberation times in rooms and spaces.
Advising on the design of spaces to ensure reverberation is controlled and acoustics are good.
Specifying limiting levels of mechanical services plant noise.
Advising on the design of mechanical services systems to ensure the limits are achieved.
Specifying limiting levels of environmental noise getting into the building.
Advising on the design of the building envelope to ensure the limits are achieved.

In addition to design work we also conduct sound insulation, reverberation time, mechanical services and environmental noise measurements to certify whether buildings comply with the client’s brief.

Previous Projects

Group 1

Charlie Fleming has contributed to the design of many large buildings and these are listed below:

-South Ayrshire General Hospital, Ayr

-St. Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh

-National Library of Scotland Annex Phase 2, Edinburgh

-Mechanised Letter Sorting Office, Edinburgh

-Dunbar Parish Church

-Hugh Nisbet Building Extension, Heriot-Watt University,

Edinburgh

-Entrance Complex, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

-Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

-Petroleum Science and Technology Institute, Edinburgh

-Astra Clinical Research, Office Building, Beaverbank Business Park, Edinburgh

-Royal Bank of Scotland (Lord Younger House), Edinburgh.

-Discovery Exhibition Centre, Dundee

-Scottish Police College, Tulliallan, Fife

-Clydesdale Bank Plaza, Edinburgh

-Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

-Scottish Distiller’s Research Centre, Edinburgh

-School of Languages, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

-Dynamic Earth, The William Younger Building, Edinburgh

Group 2

Charlie Fleming Associates has contributed to the design of many large buildings and these are listed below:

-Institute of Mathematical Science, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

-Faculty of Nursing, Bell College, Hamilton, North Lanarkshire

-Milton Hotel, Washington Street, Glasgow

-Brain Behaviour & Health Research Facility, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews

-Myhotel, Renfield Street/West Regent Street, Glasgow

-80 George Street, Edinburgh

-Waverley Gate, 2-4 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh

-Renaissance House, Lauriston Street, Edinburgh

-Football Academy, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

-St Maurice’s School, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire

-AWG Residential, Ocean Point One, Granton, Edinburgh

-New Production Facility, OKI, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire

-Scottish Water, The Pyramids, Easter Inch, Bathgate, West Lothian

-Macdonald Hotels, Marine Hotel, North Berwick, East Lothian

-Defence Estates, Winterbourne Gunner Mess, Winterbourne Gunner, Somerset

-Postgraduate Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

-Midlothian Community Hospital, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian

-Hugh Nisbet Building, Heriot-Watt University

-East Neighbourhood Centre, Niddrie Mains Road, Craigmillar, Edinburgh

-Ibis Hotel, Ship Row, Aberdeen

-Strathclyde Business School, Cathedral Street, University of Strathclyde

-Stenhouse Building, Cathedral Street, University of Strathclyde

-George Watson’s College Primary School, Colinton Road, Edinburgh

-Travelodge, South Gyle Broadway, Edinburgh

-Holiday Inn Express, Britannia Way, Ocean Drive, Leith, Edinburgh

-Premier Inn, Hamilton, Townhead Street, North Lanarkshire

Satisfied Clients

Most appointments to work on the design of large buildings come from the client directly. This can be the end user or commercial property developer. We are also often appointed by the architect, project manager, or building services engineer working on the job.

Over the years, Charlie Fleming Associates has regularly advised Heriot-Watt University on the design of virtually all its new buildings. That institution obviously places great store in the advice provided, because it simply never constructs a new educational building without consulting us.

We are delighted to have been engaged regularly by many universities in Scotland and:

Architectural Acoustics, Methods

This work can be carried out by Charlie and his colleagues, Peter Dunlop and Sandy Lamb. They do this based on a mixture of over 50 year’s combined experience, and knowledge of what will work, together with calculations using standard acoustical equations. Most of these equations have been incorporated into spreadsheets Charlie has developed for calculating sound transmission through walls and floors in buildings, from inside to outside buildings and vice versa, reverberation times (acoustic quality), ductborne fan, regenerated noise and crosstalk in ductwork systems.

Why Choose Charlie Fleming Associates?

Better Service

We know, from what we have seen and heard, that our service is better than that offered by many of our competitors. The many reasons for this follow.

Prompt Response

If a consultant does not get the design information to you on time, it can have cost implications as a result of design and/or construction changes later in the programme. We fully appreciate the knock on effects and problems that not delivering information on time can cause. If we say we will get the information to you by a certain date, we will.

Competitive Fees

Our fees are competitive and we offer discounts for work on long term projects.

Fixed Fees

When we provide a quotation we stick to it. That is what you pay, regardless of how long it actually takes us to carry out the work.

Cost Savings

Calculations performed by some other consultants, whose work we have seen, use quick and relatively simple equations, or “rules of thumb”, which err on the side of caution. In this, they tend to over-estimate the acoustical and noise control measures required. Charlie Fleming Associates uses complex equations which work out sound insulation, noise levels and reverberation times very accurately, and hence any control measures are more precisely specified than they would perhaps be by some other consultants.

Examples of How Using Charlie Fleming Associates Might Save You Money

In one year alone, we were commissioned 6 times to carry out work which had been done badly by other “acousticians”. In these cases the first fee, paid to the other firm, was a waste of money and accepting the cheaper quotation proved to be a false economy. More importantly, in one case, had the noise control measures suggested by another firm been implemented, over £200,000 would have been spent. Our more detailed measurements showed that the control measures were not necessary. In another, the glazing specification, prepared by the other consultant for a large housing development in Aberdeen, was reduced once we had measured the noise and calculated the internal levels more carefully. This saved the client hundreds of thousands of pounds. In another case, our more precise calculations meant that the developer was able to double the number of houses he could construct on the land. In the remaining cases, the reports by the other firms were rejected by the planning officers, and the developments did not proceed until we had dealt with them.

This continues, every year with around three or four jobs coming to us because other “acousticians” have not managed to carry out the work satisfactorily.

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Previous Projects

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Satisfied Clients

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Methods & Personnel

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Why Choose CFA?

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