1. Building Regulations – Part E1 – Protection against sound from other parts of the building and adjoining buildings:

Separating walls and floors between adjoining residential dwellings are subject to Building Regulations – Part E1. However, pre-completion sound tests (to verify compliance) only apply where access to the adjoining dwellings can be enforced by Building Control, which, typically, excludes dwellings outside the project’s jurisdiction.

2. Building Regulations – Part E2 – Protection against sound within dwelling-houses and flats:

Internal walls within dwelling-houses and flats, between bedrooms and between a bedroom and a water closet, as well as internal floors, are subject to Building Regulations – Part E2. However, pre-completion sound tests (to verify compliance) do not apply, notably, because ‘flanking transmission’ (typically, via internal doors) would, in most cases, skew results. Rather, Building Control issue Part E approval on the basis of laboratory test certificates, i.e. where the partitions installed conform to a certificated system, tested to perform to the requisite acoustical standards, within a suitably accredited, laboratory environment.

3. Building Regulations – Part E1 & E2 – Irrespective of background noise levels:

The airborne and impact sound insulation values required to satisfy Building Regulations – Part E1 & E2 are not weighted against background noise levels. Therefore, they do not take into account the potential masking effect of ambient sound. Accordingly, dwellings built, for example, in quiet rural locations are required to meet the same standards as those built in busy towns and cities.

The official government document can be viewed, in full, via the following link: Approved Document E

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