Open-Plan Office Acoustics and BS ISO 22955:2021
By mid-afternoon, most open-plan offices have the same problem: conversations carrying three desks over, a meeting room bleeding through glass, someone's video call competing with the person next to them trying to concentrate on something else entirely. It's not bad luck, it's the layout. Glass partitions, exposed structure and hard ceilings look considered and collaborative, and every one of those surfaces reflects sound instead of absorbing it.
Why the fix isn't just "add more panels"
BS ISO 22955:2021, the standard UK offices are increasingly specified against, doesn't treat an office as one space with one target. It groups work into distinct activity types, individual focused work, collaborative work, confidential communication, tele and video conferencing, and sets a different acoustic requirement for each. A quiet zone for heads-down work and an open collaboration area a few metres away genuinely need different treatment, not the same panels spread evenly across the floor.
What the standard actually asks you to build
In practice, this usually means Class A ceiling absorption, tested to BS EN ISO 11654, covering roughly 50 to 60% of the ceiling area, supplemented by wall panels and desk-height screens where sightlines and layout allow it. Meeting rooms, especially glazed ones, need their own treatment for speech privacy, not just echo control, and this is often where sound masking earns its place too, raising the ambient background just enough that a confidential conversation two desks away becomes harder to follow, even though it's technically still audible.
Why landlords are starting to require it
BS ISO 22955:2021 is frequently specified alongside the WELL Building Standard's Sound concept, particularly its S01 Sound Mapping precondition. For tenants moving into a building targeting or holding WELL certification, acoustic performance is increasingly already written into the lease, which changes what a fit-out is allowed to compromise on. Getting your specification right from the start avoids a retrofit later that's disruptive to an occupied floor.
Doing this without emptying the office
Most of our office projects run on occupied floors, evenings, weekends, or one section at a time, so the business doesn't need to relocate or shut down to get treated. We provide CAD drawings ready for your design team's fit-out pack and sequence work around the main Cat A or Cat B programme rather than working against it. Finishes are specified from brands built for considered interiors, not the corporate-default acoustic tile look most people associate with office acoustic treatment.
Common questions
Does this meet BS ISO 22955:2021? Yes, we specify against the standard directly, matching treatment to your floor's actual mix of activity types rather than a single blanket target.
Can you work around staff who are still in the office? Yes, we regularly install on occupied floors, out of hours or in sections, without requiring the office to empty out.
Does this help with WELL Building Standard certification? Yes, we can specify against the Sound section of WELL where that's relevant to your building.
Getting your floor assessed
See our office acoustics page, our guide to BS ISO 22955:2021, or book a free survey to find out what your floor actually needs, activity type by activity type.
Related product guides: acoustic ceilings: tiles, baffles or rafts, acoustic screens, acoustic pods.
From first survey to final finish
One team handles all seven stages, the same way on every project, so you always know what happens next.
A surveyor visits the site, or works from your drawings and photos when a visit isn't practical. Either way, the room, its surfaces and how it is used are recorded before any advice is given.
Reverberation, ambient noise and noise transfer are read against what the space is used for. The findings arrive as a written report with recommendations, yours to keep with no obligation to proceed.
Treatment is modelled against a reverberation target, then drawn up with panel positions, fixings and finishes. Nothing moves forward until you have approved the design.
Every quotation comes with the specification behind it, listing products by type, quantity and finish with costs set out line by line. What is quoted is what the design calls for.
Panels, baffles, ceilings and screens come from our Acoustic Solutions range and are supplied to the approved specification. What arrives on site matches what was designed.
Our own engineers fit to the approved drawings, checking positions and fixings as they go. One team supplies and installs, so nothing is handed between contractors.
Optional: after fit-out the space can be measured again and compared with the original survey, so the improvement is measured rather than assumed. Results are reported against the relevant standards and the written record goes into your building file.
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