Photo of Mr (Thomas) Andrew Mitchell

Mr (Thomas) Andrew Mitchell

Research Fellow

Email:

Extension: 4143

Telephone: 01392 724143

Andrew specialises in building acoustics and the monitoring of energy consumption and other environmental parameters in buildings. He is a member of the Building Bulletin 93 review panel, and chaired sessions on the relationship between BREEAM and acoustics. He has presented papers to national and branch meetings of the Institute of Acoustics. These have included papers on soundfield systems in classrooms (speech intelligibility measurements and modelling), the acoustics of relocatable classrooms and the development of audio simulation tools.

Andrew has considerable experience in conducting Building Bulletin 93 assessments of school buildings, and has also provided acoustic design advice for industrial, community, healthcare and residential developments, and places of worship.

Andrew has built up an extensive resource of acoustic test results including testing of new and refurbished school buildings, and laboratory tests of the acoustic performance of door seals and doors. This work has been disseminated and used as strategic guidance for Local Authorities, in the form of an advice leaflet for non-acoustic specialists within the construction sector. Andrew has also designed a poster summarising the acoustic criteria required to meet Building Bulletin 93 (standards for the acoustic design of schools), in order to help designers and architects better understand the requirements.

Andrew also conducts site monitoring of a practical nature, including the assessment of heating and ventilation plant, and the commissioning of half-hour metering of gas, water and electricity around the university's Streatham and St. Lukes campuses.

Key skills

  • Building Acoustics including theoretical performance of buildings, on-site measurement and analysis
  • Acoustic modelling of buildings using CATT acoustic, Bastian and Insul
  • Energy monitoring in buildings to assess in-use performance
  • Thermal comfort and air quality in buildings including both theoretical and in-use performance
  • Acoustic testing to Building Bulletin 93 and Approved Document E

Qualifications and responsibilities

  • Responsible for the Centre's programme of work for Cornwall Council

Selected project experience

  • Review of acoustic performance of recent school building projects for Cornwall County Council.
  • Laboratory testing of the acoustic performance of perimeter and threshold door seals.
  • Development of simple software tools for architects to calculate reverberation times and airborne and impact sound insulation, including audio simulation of reverberation and sound insulation.
  • Development of a computer-based screening tool (together with hardware specification) to conduct simplified acoustic measurements of reverberation and sound insulation, for the States of Jersey Public Services Department.
  • Numerous Building Bulletin 93 compliance assessments of school buildings, including several music suites.
  • Use of CATT Acoustics and Raynoise to assess flutter echoes in school halls, open-plan resource areas in schools and the speech intelligibility of sound amplification systems.
  • Site evaluation of speech intelligibility of classroom soundfield systems.
  • Evaluation of speech intelligibility of audio conferencing systems in a council chamber and committee rooms.
  • BS4142 assessments of noise sources including military installations, entertainment venues and building services.
  • Post-construction acoustics testing of numerous educational buildings to investigate reported shortcomings.
  • Approved Document E residential pre-completion acoustic testing.
  • Installation of temporary sound amplification systems for musical, theatrical and spoken word events. Specification of system upgrades and fault investigation