§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidelines she sets for the maximum level of background road noise in(a) classrooms and (b) classrooms in schools with special needs. [15069]
§ Mr. Timms[holding answer 15 November 2001]: The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 state that
Each room or other space in a school building shall have the acoustic conditions and the insulation against disturbance by noise appropriate to its normal use.For new school buildings, the Department has published Building Bulletin 87 "Guidelines for Environmental Design in Schools". This contains the following acoustic standards.
(a) Table la gives the recommended maximum background noise levels, from adjacent areas, ventilation and traffic noise, for various types of spaces found in schools. The figure quoted for general teaching, seminar and tutorial rooms and classbases is 40 dB LAeq, 1hr*(b) In specialist accommodation for pupils with hearing impairments, in special schools and in special units in mainstream schools, the maximum background noise level should be at least 10 dB lower than the figures given in Table 1a.