Heraklith® offers a perfect solution for improving both acoustics and thermal insulation in public buildings

Wood wool panels are ideal for helping to meet the European Commission’s ambitious renovation proposals.

The European Commission’s recent proposal to renovate 3% of Europe’s public buildings every year is being welcomed as an exceptional opportunity to radically improve both thermal and acoustic insulation.

The Commission’s proposal is included in a major revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) which contains various initiatives aimed at helping to achieve the European Union’s ambition to be the first zero carbon continent in the world by 2050.

Although buildings are responsible for generating 36% of Europe’s CO2, only around 1% of them are renovated every year. The EED revision aims to accelerate this renovation rate and is focused on retrofitting all public buildings.

Such publicly owned properties at village, town, city, municipal and regional level, include office space, hospitals, prisons, museums, community centres, sports arenas, and schools. Altogether, it makes up an estimated 20% of the buildings in Europe.

Heraklith wood wool panels are an ideal solution for such renovations as they combine exceptional thermal properties with excellent acoustic qualities for reducing sound.

Good acoustics in such buildings is very important but often challenging. In sports halls and similar venues, the reverberation can make it hard to hear properly.

At stations, public address systems may be distorted; in museums it may be impossible to hear your guide; in mosques or churches sound may be garbled; and in schools, lessons may be ruined by poor sound proofing.

The impact of poor acoustics on well-being and health has been widely documented. Pre-pandemic, around 20 million Europeans were found to suffer from ‘high annoyance’ caused by external noise such as traffic with issues ranging from irritation to cardiovascular problems.

The wood wool fibre structure of Heraklith panels means that they very effectively absorb sound. The panels are a popular choice for retrofitting as they can be quickly and easily fixed using various mounting methods, and their availability in a range of exciting, coloured finishes makes them an attractive addition to any public interior. In addition, they have the added benefit of having the outstanding fire resistance required for public buildings.

Heraklith and Knauf Insulation can provide a full range of help and advice for such installations and may suggest using Heraklith panels in conjunction with other Knauf Insulation solutions for public buildings. These include

• Mineral Wool façade systems which can be easily fixed to exterior walls and can be finished with render, brick slips or clad with boards or tiles.
• Mineral Wool solutions also available in a range of absorbing densities and thicknesses.
• Lightweight ventilated façade systems combined with Mineral Wool are popular because they provide a range of aesthetic options for architects and specifiers.
• Urbanscape Green Roof solutions which can be customised to meet any noise-reducing requirements and are great for biodiversity and absorbing CO2 and air pollution.
• SUPAFIL Blowing Wool ideal for new buildings, renovation and for prefabricated buildings with a range of applications for lofts, cavity walls and timber frames.
• Insulation solutions for flat roofs offering excellent acoustic performance as well as high levels of thermal performance.
• HVAC insulation solutions that are fire-resistant and help prevent bacterial growth in ducts, but equally important they reduce mechanical noise due to outstanding sound absorption qualities.