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Corporate Offices & Co-Working Acoustic Design Guide

Modern offices must balance speech privacy in open-plan layouts with intelligibility in meeting rooms, while achieving WELL v2 Feature 74 certification. Open-plan acoustic design focuses on spatial de...

WELL v2 Feature 74BS 8233:2014LEED v4.1 EQ CreditISO 3382-3:2012

Key Challenge

Achieving speech privacy in open-plan areas (STI < 0.50 beyond distraction distance) while maintaini...

Typical Budget

0.8–1.5% of fit-out cost

Primary Standard

WELL v2 Feature 74

Room-by-Room Requirements

Acoustic targets for each room type within corporate offices & co-working buildings.

RoomRT60 TargetKey Metric
Open-Plan OfficerD < 5 mSTI < 0.50 at 8mDetails →
Meeting Room≤0.6sSTC 45+Details →
Phone Booth≤0.4sSTC 35+Details →
Reception≤0.8sSTI ≥0.55Details →
Office Canteen≤1.0sLAeq ≤45 dBDetails →

Applicable Standards

The following standards govern acoustic performance for corporate offices & co-working buildings.

1.

WELL v2 Feature 74

2.

BS 8233:2014

3.

LEED v4.1 EQ Credit

4.

ISO 3382-3:2012

Green Certifications

Voluntary certifications that include acoustic performance credits for corporate offices & co-working projects.

WELL v2 Sound

LEED EQ Credit

BREEAM Hea 05

Fitwel

Frequently Asked Questions: Corporate Offices & Co-Working

What is the distraction distance in open-plan offices?▾
Distraction distance (rD) is defined in ISO 3382-3 as the distance from a speaker at which the STI drops below 0.50, meaning speech becomes unintelligible. WELL v2 Feature 74 requires rD < 5 metres for open-plan offices. Achieving this requires a combination of absorptive ceilings, desk screens, and sound masking systems.
How does WELL v2 Feature 74 affect office acoustic design?▾
WELL v2 Feature 74 (Sound) sets prescriptive thresholds for background noise levels (NR 35–40), reverberation time (≤0.6s in enclosed rooms), sound masking levels (45–48 dBA), and speech privacy metrics. Compliance requires third-party commissioning measurements and is increasingly demanded by premium office tenants.
What is the recommended STC rating between office meeting rooms?▾
Meeting rooms handling confidential discussions should achieve STC 50 or higher between adjacent rooms. Standard meeting rooms require a minimum STC 45. The partition must extend from slab to slab, not just to the suspended ceiling, to prevent flanking transmission through the ceiling plenum.

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