Reach Free School

Altro Serenade reduces noise and increases comfort for school

Ricksmanworth, England, UK - The newly-constructed £17 million Reach Free School has created classrooms for 840 secondary level students in a cutting-edge environment. Architect ADP’s concept for the school was an open plan space with multiple connections to the various floors. This meant the potential for noise and reverberation throughout the school was quite high. The Reach Free School specified vinyl flooring rather than carpet for its resiliency and low maintenance. It was also important for the school that the flooring provided comfort underfoot where reducing noise throughout the new building was a priority.

After a consultation during the earlier stages of the design, ADP determined that a flooring with an acoustic rating greater than 17dB would provide significant reduction in noise from foot traffic, chairs scraping in the classrooms and overall background noise.

Altro Serenade flooring was recommended by Horizontal Limited, which installed 1500m2 of the flooring on the ground level and first floor in all communal areas, stairs and classrooms.

“I would recommend this flooring to anyone that wants a hardwearing, great looking modern solution that also helps to reduce noise and increase comfort in the environment.” Richard Booth, Headteacher at The Reach Free School, had this to say about Altro Serenade’s performance.

At 3.9mm thick, Altro Serenade provides 19dB impact sound insulation to reduce noise and provide comfort underfoot. The Reach Free School selected the shade Encore, a pale gray with a textural design, which complements the strong school colors of teal blue and purple.

Download the Reach Free School PDF