Guernsey

Carey Olsen

Carey Olsen needed to ensure speech privacy in and between meeting rooms and open space.

Carey Olsen employs over 300 staff, including 130 lawyers, in its offices in Guernsey, Jersey and London. The firm’s client base includes governments, financial institutions, regulatory bodies, global and national corporations, professional firms and individuals.

In Spring 2009, Carey Olsen’s Guernsey office moved into a newly refurbished three-storey building in St Peter Port, the Island’s town centre. The ground floor comprised a reception area, client meeting rooms and a collection of open and closed offices. Acoustic Comfort was contacted in order to ensure speech privacy in and between meeting rooms and open office space.

Acoustic Comfort installed a layer of 40mm Rockwool above the metal perforated ceiling together with the LogiSon Sound Masking System. To ensure an effective solution, a trial was conducted in three of the second floor boardrooms, where each is divided by folding walls.

After the success of the trial, Acoustic Comfort were commissioned to provide the solution in all cellular offices and meeting rooms and was subsequently extended to all areas including the open plan.

The challenge was to install some 2,039m2 of Rockwool and 181 sound masking speakers without disrupting the day-to-day business at Carey Olsen. The installation team worked nights from 6pm to 6am for two weeks, so the offices were ready for business each morning.

The solution for Carey Olsen completely solved an issue which is critical to a business model that requires concentration and confidentiality in its communication. This was delivered quickly and with no disruption to the business.

Sound level tests: cellular office

These example test results measure sound leaking from a closed meeting room into an open plan area.

  • For both tests, a person was positioned in the conference room with the door closed.
  • Sound pressure measurements were taken in the open plan area.
  • For the first half of each test, there was no speech.
  • For the second half, the person in the conference room spoke with a ‘presentation’ voice.

Client testimonial

I am extremely pleased with the solution provided by Acoustic Comfort; their approach to installation ensured minimum disruption to the daily working environment of the firm and, crucially, has ensured that we continue to maintain excellent standards of client communication.