A pilot study on acoustic regulations and classification for office buildings – Comparison between the Nordic countries

Acoustic regulations or guidelines for office buildings exist in all five Nordic countries, although with varying contents. The main purpose of limit values is to ensure satisfactory acoustic working conditions for the various tasks and activities taking place in the many different kinds of rooms in such buildings. Examples of room types are offices, meeting rooms, open-plan offices, corridors, stairwells, reception areas, dining areas, all with different acoustic needs. Some of the countries specify very few acoustic limit values, while others define several criteria. Instead of or in addition to a set of regulations or guidelines, four of the Nordic countries have office buildings included in national acoustic classification standards with four acoustic quality levels A-D, class C being the regulations in three of these countries. As a pilot study, a comparison between the countries has been carried out. The paper includes examples of acoustic regulations and classification limit values for reverberation time, airborne and impact sound insulation, noise from traffic and from service equipment – aiming at discussion, potential learning and implementation of optimized limit values in acoustic regulations, guidelines or classification schemes for office buildings.