Telford International Centre

Summer 2010, working with Austin-Smith:Lord architects we provided a package of design advice for a proposed extension to facilities at the Telford International Centre.

The scheme involves construction of a new ‘Events Box’, to have an impressive curtain glazed facade and a state of the art interior for hosting large scale events.

TIC is a large scale venue for trade shows, concerts etc. The existing facilities are to be expanded to provide several new ‘break-out’ spaces from the existing large exhibition areas. In addition, a new 1500 capacity Events Box was proposed, with a wide brief of uses including conferences, gala dinners, exhibitions and snooker tournaments. The space is proposed to divide into 3 discreet sections to provide for multiple smaller events happening simultaneously. The divider partition screens were required to have excellent sound reduction properties while still being easily demountable.

Acoustic finishes in the Events Box also posed a challenge; amongst other issues, the required rigging for events meant that absorbing wall and ceiling finishes could only be installed where they would not get in the way of technical staff.

Azymuth undertook a review of the design of the scheme with reference to recognised standards for acoustic environments within offices / conference facilities including BS8233, BREEAM Offices 2008 and WHO guidance. This included room to room sound insulation of separating partitions and floors and identification of target reverberation times for each space including new circulation area, with a review of room designs in the context of speech intelligibility.

“As well as being obviously knowledgeable in their field, Azymuth are also very pragmatic. They can think around a challenge and come up with creative solutions to often complex site requirements. We have been particularly impressed by their ability to tread the sometimes difficult path between ticking legislative boxes and meeting clients’ aspirations very well.”

Ossie Airewele, Project Director, Austin Smith Lord Architects