Central Surgery is a general practice centre in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.  AJA were appointed by the client in 2017 to provide acoustic design services at RIBA Stage 3.  The project involved the refurbishment and extension of the existing surgery building.  We worked closely with the architects Hawkins\Brown and project team to provide a scheme which would achieve BREEAM Very Good in both refurbished and new-build parts of the building.  This required the internal acoustic design to comply with NHS Health Technical Memorandum HTM 08-01: Acoustics, and external plant noise to meet criteria set out in BREEAM POL 05.

We were then novated to the contractor MP Building Ltd to assist in the delivery of the project over two phases. Phase One entailed the construction of the new-build extension while the existing surgery remained in operation in the original surgery buildings.  The surgery operations were then moved over to the new extension while the existing surgery building was remodelled and refurbished in Phase Two works.

We worked closely with the contractor and design team to achieve the stringent BREEAM requirements in both new-build and refurbishment phases of the project.  In the case of the refurbished areas, this involved some complex detailing to achieve the stringent sound insulation, reverberation time and ambient noise requirements within the constraints of the existing building.

In 2022 the building won a prestigious RIBA East Award. Further details are available here.

Client: Central Surgery Partnership

Architect: Hawkins\Brown

Contractor: MP Building Ltd

Contract value: £1.9m

Photo credit: Roma Gadomska-Miles (Hawkins\Brown)

Acoustic design image: Adrian James Acoustics