Vue Cinema, The Rock

United Kingdom
Main Contractor
Laing O'Rourke
Acoustic Consultant
Buro Happold Acoustics
Architects
BDP
Key Facts
10 screen Cinema: 1130m2 Acoustic Floating Floor
24 lane Bowling Alley: 1387m2 Acoustic Floating Floor
170 m3 of concrete was poured in 1 day to create the bowling alley slab
3000m2 void filled circulation area floors
640m3 of concrete supplied and poured

The Challenge

There were 2 key elements to this challenge – the cinema would require a box in box system with the internal acoustic walls installed around the perimeter of the floating floors. Each screen was a different size and shape meaning that each would require bespoke design. Meanwhile the bowling alley was a more complex element as the details of the exact equipment required were not known about until later on in the process. The design of the isolators and the slab reinforcement would need to tie up with the varying load characteristics of the equipment geared around a light load at the user end of the lanes combined with a heavy load at the pinsetter end of the lanes.

The Solution

As part of a comprehensive solution Farrat supplied bespoke acoustic isolators to support the seating steelwork. The company provided a high level of service taking loading information from the structural engineer, baseplate sizes and locations from the steelwork contractor and then providing individual bearings to provide consistent natural frequency performance with a wide range of space and loading constraints. Farrat then individually labelled and packed up all the key elements of kit (including acoustic washers and bearing pads) on carefully organised pallets ensuring no mistakes were made and thereby optimising the installation process.

For the floors Farrat had to work around a number of other trades during the installation process as the building was still under construction and therefore not watertight. Meticulous planning and pragmatic site management ensured that this did not negatively affect the installation though. Due to the amount of concrete already being poured by Farrat it proved to be more efficient for the company to also pour all the adjoining concrete making up the circulation areas. This meant covering all eventualities such as planning for all interfaces across the entire floor such as escalators and isolated cinema seating columns and leaving trenches for services etc.

Billy McNicholas
Project Manager, Laing O'Rourke Construction
We welcomed Acoustruct's flexible and professional approach as well as the clear technical superiority of the Farrat Acoustic Floating Floor System.

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