Acton Resource Centre, Wrexham, North Wales
The fully refurbished and extended Acton Resource Centre, Wrexham, North Wales was opened in early 2014.
The multi-purpose design of the building is aimed at meeting the needs of the community and optimising the space for groups and organisations.
The reopening of the centre has seen extensive use of the newly rejuvenated facilities.
The main hall, part of the original build, provides a multi-functional space. Prior to the refurbishment, the hall had very high levels of reverberation resulting in a poor acoustic environment for users. Individual conversations were made difficult with sound bouncing around the hall. At meetings, speech intelligibility was poor. In fact, the more sound produced in the room the worse the ambience.
Richard King Systems were consulted about improving the hall acoustics to provide a better environment for users.
Initial calculations for introducing the right amount of sound absorption into the hall were made to establish the parameters for possible solutions. The optimum acoustic treatment was chosen to come within budgetary and aesthetic constraints.
The selected design involved the installation of sound absorbing tiles onto the ceiling to blend with the materials and décor of the hall to produce a very effective but visually discreet solution.
One of the main users of the hall is Christchurch, Wrexham. Their senior church leader, Gareth Jones has said "It has made a massive difference. People can now actually hear. It's a big improvement. Richard King Systems have done a great job."
To further aid communication audio loop induction systems have been designed, installed and certified to the recognised industry standards.