National housebuilder Taylor Wimpey is achieving improved acoustic test results using a system from Icopal subsidiary Monarfloor on a development that is groundbreaking in more ways than one.

George Wimpey North East is using Bridgestop from Monarfloor Acoustic Systems on Staiths South Bank – the multi award-winning Gateshead community which has transformed a former gas works. The development is in partnership with Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway who were invited to become involved after they criticised the “Wimpeyfication” and “Barrattification” of Britain.

Four years later, phases one and three of six are complete (phase one selling out within four hours of release) and Bridgestop is now being used on phases two and four. Launched in 2007, the system was recommended to George Wimpey North East by its acoustic consultants RMP because they are building off raft foundations due to the ground conditions.

Staiths South Bank will be a community of eventually 761 private and social homes ranging from one-bedroomed apartments to four-bedroomed townhouses, one of which has been bought by the Hemingways themselves. Buyers have a choice of elevation, layout and mix of house types.

Bridgestop isolates the two skins of a cavity party wall from mortar collecting on raft foundations and gas membranes which typically lift the base of the cavity on pre-cast, in-situ concrete floors as well as beam-and-block floors.
It also protects methane and radon barriers from the damage that can occur when site operatives remove mortar from the base of the walls, and now with Robust Detail accreditation, negates the need for PCT.

Bridgestop is supplied as a system kit comprising an acoustic membrane and a quilt. The acoustic membrane is laid as a continual layer over the slab and the party cavity wall built off this. Within the cavity, two layers of quilt are attached to the face of the blocks two courses high, with the first layer being continued across the base of the cavity. The quilt is held in place with acoustic ties that also act as depth gauges for the parge coat. The system has been designed to be installed in conjunction with typical build techniques and dose not impede on the build.

Bridgestop’s properties have high acoustic damping to absorb more sound energy and reduce flanking, performing approximately 4-5dB better than solid walls and 2-3dB better than standard Robust Detail E-WM-4 walls.

George Wimpey North East is not building to Robust Details at Staiths South Bank but the improved test results achieved through Bridgestop mean it is being used on all current and future instances where party walls on rafts are required.

John Foster, development manager for George Wimpey North East, said: “We tend to use Icopal products for project-specific problems and we will use Bridgestop for the foreseeable future because of the improved test results.”

Chris Steel, of RMP Acoustic Consultants, said that because of his organisation’s links with the Building Performance Centre at Napier University, which helped Icopal with the development of Bridgestop, they knew there was a potential use for the system in conjunction with one of the standard details being used on Staiths South Bank.

“We have been providing sound insulation tests for the Staiths South Bank site since before the introduction of the current Part E sound insulation requirements so they had a site where the performance criteria has changed over the course of the build.

“In addition, the phasing and size of the site means they would have residents living on the completed parts of the site for over a year while the rest of the site is still being built. This probably made the staff on site more aware of the acoustic issues, whether it was from construction noise or from the client satisfaction information they have collected from the existing residents.

“In some instances the development uses continuous ground-borne slabs as a foundation system and so Bridgestop was specified to allow this detail to be used with a reduced risk of flanking via the slab, particularly at ground floor level. The quilt material for isolating any mortar drops was also seen as beneficial although the site management team seemed very pro-active when dealing with the quality of workmanship on site.

”The system has been installed correctly and the sound insulation tests that were carried out showed the walls were achieving a good pass with the inclusion of the Bridgestop system.”

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