St Joseph's Convent, Hackney

  • RBA Client:Berkeley Consulting
  • ArchitectAPG Architecture
  • Project Start 2008
  • Project Completion2010

The re-development of part of the St Joseph’s Hospice at Mare Street, Hackney included the construction of a convent comprising residential accommodation, amenity spaces and a chapel.

Having successfully worked with the project manager on a number of other schemes, RBA were initially brought on board to assist with the planning application for the project.  This included an assessment of the suitability of the site for residential accommodation (due to the busy nature of Mare Street) and also a noise impact assessment of the use of a bell located in a cloister area to the rear of the development.

Following planning approval our brief was expanded to include detailed design works associated with the control of external noise intrusion and sound transfer between each individual area. 

Detailed modelling of the acoustic conditions within the chapel was also required.  This was complicated by a requirement for the chapel to be able to be used in at least 3 different layout configurations and also to be suitable for both speech and music.  As a result of these requirements, it was necessary to construct acoustic models and to analyse conditions for each configuration in turn.  These models enabled us to design a series of flexible acoustic treatments which could be easily altered to accommodate the varying layouts and use requirements for the space.

Image courtesy of APG Architecture