Ceiling solutions for a modern UK school across five space types

A new school on a compact site

Didsbury High School in Manchester is a purpose-built four-storey secondary school for 1,350 pupils. A constrained urban plot alongside a busy main route into the city led to a compact superblock layout with external terraces, making efficient use of every square metre.

The building includes teaching floors, two-storey drama studios, a central social space called The Hive, a performance hall, sports facilities and service areas.

Each space had different acoustic requirements, and all of them had to meet BB93, the UK government's mandatory building bulletin that sets specific acoustic performance standards for every type of space in a school.

Getting every space right required specifying a different product for each one.

Acoustics in every room, not just classrooms

The ‘BB93’ standard defines maximum reverberation times and minimum sound insulation levels for each type of school space. A classroom has different requirements from a drama studio. A drama studio has different requirements from a corridor, etc.

On a building this complex, meeting the standard across the board requires careful specification from the start. BAM's design manager worked directly with Rockfon and acousticians Ramboll to develop the ceiling specification for each space.

Five products across five space types

On the teaching floors, Rockfon Blanka dB41 provides Class A sound absorption combined with room-to-room sound insulation, reducing noise transfer between adjacent classrooms.

In the two-storey drama studios, 800m² of Rockfon Color-all in Charcoal delivers sound absorption up to αw 1.00 and A1 fire classification in a space designed for vocal performance.

Throughout corridors, classrooms and stairwells, 3,075m² of Rockfon Tropic keeps circulation spaces bright and functional.

In kitchens, toilets and changing rooms, 850m² of Rockfon Hygienic combines Class A sound absorption with 100% humidity resistance and pressure-washing durability.

In The Hive, the central social space connecting the building's main areas, Rockfon Color-all tiles support visual wayfinding for pupils.

"The Rockfon team and their ceiling systems helped us achieve success in creating a school which meets the acoustic requirements of BB93," said Simon Taylor, Acoustics Associate at Ramboll.