Aston Students' Union: Acoustic Rafts and Timber Ceiling Refurbishment

Aston University Students' Union occupies a central building on the university's Birmingham campus: a 24-hour hub serving a large urban student population. The SU functions simultaneously as a bar, social space, events venue, study area and administrative facility. Eastledge delivered a phased refurbishment covering two ceiling systems in two distinct zones, each carrying a different functional and architectural brief, delivered around the building's continuous student-facing operations.

The brief

The refurbishment covered two zones with different requirements:

• Upper social space: a high-volume room with a sloping roof profile, functioning as a bar and general social gathering area, requiring acoustic treatment and a ceiling that related to the roof geometry rather than running horizontal.
• Ground floor: a public-facing zone combining circulation, food and beverage and general social areas, requiring an architectural ceiling finish that communicated material quality appropriate to a flagship student-facing environment.

Both scopes were delivered under a single contract, phased around the building's operational schedule. The defining constraint throughout was that the Students' Union operates continuously across the academic year: trading continues in the evenings and at weekends, events cannot be easily moved, and the building serves student welfare functions that do not stop for a refurbishment. The programme had to be built around that reality from the outset.

What we did

Sloped Ecophon Solo acoustic rafts: upper social space

The upper social space was specified with Ecophon Solo rectangular acoustic rafts, suspended at a slope to match the roof pitch rather than running horizontal. By following the roof geometry, the rafts maintain a consistent visual relationship with the ceiling plane above and read as an integral element of the space rather than an applied acoustic layer.

Ecophon Solo units are flat rectangular rafts (Class A sound absorbers), manufactured around an Ecophon high-density glass-wool core with a fabric facing. Each raft is suspended on steel wires from hangers fixed to the structure above. In a sloped installation, the wire lengths are graded to match the roof pitch: the hanger positions are determined by the structural fixing grid above, and the graded wire lengths are calculated to produce the specified slope angle across the full raft layout.

Class A absorption across a high-volume social space materially reduces reverberation time and attenuates the noise build-up that occurs as occupancy increases. In a room that functions simultaneously as a bar, events venue and general gathering space, the acoustic performance contribution is meaningful. The rafts distribute absorption across the upper volume without enclosing the space or obscuring the roof structure.

Hunter Douglas solid linear timber: ground floor

The ground floor was specified with a Hunter Douglas solid linear timber ceiling system: a continuous run of timber lath profiles mounted on a concealed carrier, producing a flush-faced ceiling of natural timber.

Hunter Douglas linear timber systems use solid or engineered timber laths in a range of profiles, spacings and species. The specified system produces a warm, textured ceiling surface with a character quite different from mineral fibre or plasterboard: natural grain, tactile warmth and a visual quality that signals institutional investment in the space. In a student-facing zone where the SU is competing for student engagement and loyalty, material quality in the interior is a meaningful part of the brief.

The installation requires precision at the perimeter: the linear module must align at the boundary with walls, integrate cleanly with luminaire positions and services cutouts, and resolve the junctions with columns and partition heads.

How we worked

Each phase of ceiling installation was planned against the building's operational schedule: sections taken offline, boarded out for dust and noise containment, worked and reinstated before the next bay was opened. The sequencing was agreed with the SU facilities and estates team before works began and managed week by week against the live calendar.

This type of programme management, coordinating installation phases around an occupying client who cannot vacate, is a regular feature of Eastledge's education sector work. Universities and further education colleges almost always require interior works to be delivered around continuous building use. The discipline lies in the planning: if the sequencing is resolved before tools go in, the programme runs to schedule and the client's operation is not materially disrupted.

All operatives held current CSCS cards and appropriate qualifications for working in education environments.

Outcome

The completed project delivers two distinct but complementary ceiling treatments within a single building, each suited to its zone. The sloped Ecophon Solo rafts in the upper social space address the acoustic performance brief while maintaining visual continuity with the roof above. The Hunter Douglas timber ceiling at ground floor introduces a material warmth and quality appropriate to a flagship student environment. Both scopes were delivered phased around the building's continuous operation.

What this project demonstrates

Aston Students' Union demonstrates Eastledge's capability across acoustic raft and architectural timber ceiling systems within a single contract: two quite different installation disciplines managed by the same team under the same programme. It also demonstrates the education sector programme discipline required when the client building cannot close: phased access, occupier coordination, and dust and noise management in a live, continuously-staffed environment.

Enquiries about similar education or student-environment projects are welcome; visit the education sector page for more.