Case Study

UBC Beaty Biodiversity Centre Addition

Year Completed

2025

Capital Cost

$45M

Total Size

47,980 sqft.

About This Project

The Beaty Biodiversity Centre Addition is a six-storey (plus basement) expansion of the Beaty Biodiversity Centre at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Designed by PUBLIC Architecture + Design, the addition provides much-needed space for expanding research and museum activities. New spaces include laboratories, research offices, administrative areas, storage (including a new below-ground fossil collection room), workshops, and meeting/collaborative spaces. The addition organizes laboratories on one side, offices on the opposite side, with a central service. The design is sensitive to the architectural language of the original building and aligns with UBC’s campus design principles.

Acoustic Challenge

Given the diverse range of spaces – including laboratories, private/shared offices, meeting rooms, workshops, and storage areas – each type of space presents distinct requirements for noise control and sound isolation.

To ensure suitable acoustic conditions across all functions, the design needed to address three primary criteria:

Background noise levels from HVAC systems,
Sound isolation between adjacent spaces, and
Reverberation control appropriate to each space type.

These criteria were established by BKL based on the UBC Technical Guidelines (UBCTG), LEED v4.1, and applicable acoustical standards.

Scope of Services

As the acoustical consultant for the project, BKL Consultants provided acoustical design review services during the Schematic Design (SD) stage to help ensure the addition would meet the performance requirements of the UBC Technical Guidelines (UBCTG) and support the project’s pursuit of LEED v4.1 Gold certification.

BKL’s scope of work included:

Overall acoustical design review: Assessing the acoustical requirements based on the function of each space type, including laboratories, offices, workshops, storage, collaborative areas, meeting rooms, and supporting spaces.
Establishment of baseline project criteria: Defining background noise criteria (NC) per ASHRAE/LEED and UBCTG; sound isolation criteria between room types; and reverberation time (RT) limits according to UBCTG and LEED v4.1.
Sound isolation design review: Reviewing the architectural coordination drawings and costing documentation to evaluate and recommend appropriate assemblies for demising walls, furring walls, doors, glazing, and penetrations (ducts, pipes) to achieve the required sound isolation. Special attention was given to limiting flanking noise and recommending adjustments to achieve the higher performances required for certain locations.
Reverberation control recommendations: Proposing sound-absorbing treatments to control reverberation time in open areas, meeting rooms, and laboratories, ensuring speech clarity for communication.
HVAC system guidance: Providing best-practice recommendations for controlling noise from mechanical systems, including induct mitigation measures, maximum airflow velocities in ducts, transfer duct design, and vibration isolation for equipment.

Project Benefits

Working with UBC Properties Trust and the broader design-build team, BKL’s proactive acoustical consulting delivered tangible benefits to the project:

Supporting specialized functions: Ensured the acoustical environment in laboratories, research areas, and specimen storage meets the demanding requirements of specialized work, where concentration and precision are critical.
Enhancing user experience: Created a comfortable working and visiting environment by controlling distracting noise and ensuring clear communication in collaborative spaces, meeting rooms, and exhibition areas.
Facilitating sustainable certification: BKL’s recommendations were geared toward helping the project meet the necessary criteria to pursue and achieve the Acoustics credit under the LEED v4.1 Gold rating system, contributing to the building’s overall sustainability.
Mitigating post-construction risk: By identifying potential acoustical issues early in the Schematic Design phase, BKL’s review helped the project team avoid costly post-construction retrofits and adjustments once the building was completed and occupied.

This expansion project builds on a long-standing relationship that began in 2010, when BKL served as the lead acoustical consultant for the original Beaty Biodiversity Centre and Museum. BKL’s familiarity with the facility’s specialized functions, combined with a deep understanding of existing conditions, enabled the delivery of well-integrated and effective acoustical solutions from the outset of the project.

Through this continued collaboration, BKL’s acoustical consulting helped ensure that the Beaty Biodiversity Centre Addition not only meets the functional demands of a world-class research and museum facility, but also provides a high-quality acoustic environment that supports UBC’s long-term vision – one that BKL has proudly for more than a decade.

Explore our case study on the original 2010 Beaty Biodiversity Centre & Museum project here.

The People Behind Our Work

Our Technical Leads
Our Team

Paul Marks

M.Sc., MIOA

Vice President, Project Delivery

Paul Marks, M.Sc., MIOA

Vice President, Project Delivery

Paul Marks joined BKL in 2013. He is a full corporate member of the UK Institute of Acoustics and the Canadian Acoustical Association. He has over 20 years’ experience in the measurement, analysis, and assessment of noise, vibration, and acoustical matters and is a former member of the technical advisory team working with the UK government on noise and statutory nuisance issues. During this time, Paul has undertaken major projects within Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

He has experience in a wide range of multi-disciplinary environmental assessment projects including highway, rail, and air transportation infrastructure, mixed-use and brownfield regeneration schemes, renewable energy facilities, and power generation plants.

Paul also has experience in a broad range of building and architectural noise assessment projects including the design of residential, office, educational, and commercial buildings. He has also undertaken acoustical studies for major infrastructure developments including work in the design of appropriate sound-fields for room-spaces in multi-occupancy buildings, including atriums and performance spaces. His work regularly involves close liaison with other acoustical engineers, planning consultants, architects, designers, and a variety of specialist environmental consultants.

Paul is an experienced expert witness within the UK and has a broad experience of planning, licensing and statutory nuisance proceedings as well as being responsible for the successful design of a variety of impact mitigation measures including detailed engineering solutions, lay-out design, and administrative regimes where it has been necessary to closely liaise with clients, designers, and regulatory bodies in order to provide developments in accordance with sustainable principles.
Katrina Scherebnyj

M.A.Sc., P.Eng., MIOA

Technical Director, Building Acoustics

Katrina Scherebnyj, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., MIOA

Technical Director, Building Acoustics

Katrina Scherebnyj started consulting in acoustics in 2007 in England and joined BKL in 2014. Her experience covers architectural acoustics, mechanical noise control, and environmental noise control, and she has worked on major projects in Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

In architectural acoustics, Katrina has worked on a range of new builds and refurbishment projects including schools, universities and higher education facilities, hospitals and healthcare facilities, performance spaces, cinemas, laboratories, office buildings, hotels, and residential buildings. She has provided acoustical design services in relation to sound insulation, room acoustics, and noise control.

Katrina was a co-author of Music Accommodation in Secondary Schools: A Design Guide, published for the UK Department for Education in 2010. Researching the guide, she carried out acoustical measurements in the music departments of several schools and interviewed music teachers and students on the suitability of their music spaces.

Katrina has extensive experience modelling internal sound fields and has carried out numerous models of performance spaces, lecture theatres, and other spaces where acoustical design is critical. She also has experience modelling outdoor noise propagation and has constructed and reviewed noise models for Columbia Containers in Vancouver, BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals, the Pinnacle (once planned to be London’s tallest building), Crossrail, and other transportation projects.

Katrina is a member of the Canadian Acoustical Association and the Institute of Acoustics (UK).
Henning Schlechtriem

M.Sc.

Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Henning Schlechtriem, M.Sc.

Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Henning Schlechtriem, M.Sc., joined BKL in February 2020. He has 8 years of international project experience working as professional acoustical consultant in the design and assessment of residential and non-residential buildings.

Henning has a Master’s Degree in Acoustics with Environmental Applications and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering with specialization in building physics and acoustics. His professional expertise focuses on the fields of architectural and environmental acoustics. He is a proficient with software such as Odeon, SoundPLAN, STRUTT, Insul, Rhino+Grasshopper, Max/MSP, and with measurement equipment from Brüel And Kjær, NTi and Norsonic.

He has worked together with architects, investors, municipalities, as well as structural and mechanical engineers, covering a wide range of projects including office, residential, and mixed-use buildings, hotels, hospitals, schools, and cultural venues. His work has involved the acoustical design and on-site assessment of room acoustics, sound insulation including flanking transmission, environmental noise and noise from building services.

Henning has given presentations to architects and technical planners to share his knowledge about the acoustical design of masonry, concrete and lightweight constructions, timber-concrete hybrid buildings and general acoustical challenges during the design of buildings.

He is a member of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Akustik, the German Association of Acoustics (DEGA) and is an Approved Assessor for Acoustics and Building Physics at the Chamber of Engineers in NRW and Hessen (Germany).
Andrew Williamson

P.Eng., B.S.M.E.

Specialist Acoustical Consultant

Andrew Williamson, P.Eng., B.S.M.E.

Specialist Acoustical Consultant

A graduate of the University of Victoria, Andrew Williamson holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and has practiced as an acoustical consultant in BC for over two decades. He joined BKL in 2023.

During his career, Andrew has worked on numerous projects involving environmental noise assessments, building noise and vibration control, and architectural acoustics. As a project manager, Andrew has led acoustics teams on a variety of projects across sectors including cultural and recreation, education and research, health care, industrial, commercial, and residential.

Andrew has attended public meetings, open houses, and government-sponsored working groups to present and discuss technical information with the public, municipal councils, and members of the government and other organizations. In addition, Andrew has acted as an expert witness in BC Supreme Court and participated in a joint review panel hearing for the environmental assessment of a major infrastructure project.

Andrew is a Professional Engineer registered with Engineers and Geoscientists BC.