Top quality technical support from Knauf Drywall coupled with expert installation has enabled one of the North West’s most modern schools to be built with just five partition designs to satisfy the whole range of acoustic criteria.

Hollingworth Business and Enterprise College is a high-achieving secondary school – with nearly 1200 pupils – based in Milnrow, near Rochdale, that qualified, under the Building Schools for the Future programme, for a new state-of-the-art school.

The project posed the challenge of fulfilling the stringent performance specifications for different partition walls throughout the college while reducing the number of partition wall types to an economic minimum. Working with dry lining sub-contractor Horbury Building Systems, Knauf Drywall was able to simplify specification and streamlined inventory requirements with a range of drywall constructions developed specifically for the education sector. All partitions are based around standard Knauf metal section but employ various permutations of Knauf plasterboard to satisfy the demanding specifications for individual interior walls in modern schools.

“Using Knauf Drywall’s optimised system, just five partition designs are required to meet the full range of acoustic, fire, and impact performance ratings on this project, which makes for simpler management and installation of materials on site,” commented Dave Walsh, Contracts Manager for Horbury Building Systems.

Partitions for the project meet the airborne sound requirements of Building Bulletin 93, which range from 45dB(Rw) in general teaching areas up to 63dB(Rw) for music classrooms and dance/drama halls. Fire integrity ranges from up to 60 minutes to 90 minutes, and all partitions offer ‘severe’ category strength, perforation and impact resistance.

The majority of internal walls in the new college buildings comprise of 70mm Knauf ‘C’ Studs at 600, 400, or 300mm centres, lined with Knauf Wallboard, Knauf Impact Panel, or Knauf Soundshield according to their location. Varying levels of sound reduction are achieved using Knauf Acoustic Partition Roll insulation in 25, 50, or 100mm thickness. In areas that require the optimum acoustic performance of 63dB and fire integrity of up to 90 minutes, twin 50mm ‘C’ Studs are installed with two layers of 15mm Knauf Wallboard either side of the stud, together with centrally mounted 100mm void insulation.