New Bermondsey Performing Art Centre and Residential Towers, UK

Commissioned by Hillsong Church and still under design, the new Bermondsey Performing Art Centre in Southwark, borough in the south of London, includes a new 1500-seats Auditorium and related facilities such as recording studios, practice rooms, an office/meeting rooms floor, a 400m2 foyer and a restaurant. The new Performing Art Centre has been commissioned to host celebrations and events organized by Hillsong Church and eventually to rent the spaces out to external users. The spaces can be used for both rock music and speech. Three residential towers are also part of the new development and they overlook the roof of the auditorium, part of the Performing Art Centre. In addition to the spaces end use sensitivity, there is the complexity associated with the area where the development is located, since two railway lines and a major road define the site boundary of the development. The acoustic design focused on the evaluation and consequent control of noise and vibration from the existing external environment, as well as establishing the suitable level of sound isolation to control rock music from the Auditorium to be transferred to adjacent spaces within the Performing Art Centre and to the three residential towers. Following up a railway and road traffic noise and vibration survey, the acoustic design has been carried out in conjunction with the structural design in order to determine the building structure that could meet the envelope and internal sound insulation requirements.