Member Focus – Max Fordham
About
Max Fordham is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy established in 1966 with offices in London, Cambridge, Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol. We have a team of 10 specialist acousticians based in London and Manchester.
The main focus of our work is architectural acoustics but we also undertake a proportion of surveys, pre-completion tests and auralisation work in our newly commissioned 3D Ambisonics lab, SoundSpace. The majority of our projects are UK based, with a few in Europe and the Middle-East.
We are an employee-owned business and more than half of the people who work for the practice are partners in the LLP. We have won a raft of employer awards including Building Magazine’s highest-rated engineering employer 2017, winner of the ‘Diversity and Inclusion Award’ at the ACE Awards, and inclusion in The Guardian’s UK300 Best Employers.
Latest News
The “Fashion from Nature” exhibition, for which we provided acoustic design input, opened recently at the V&A Museum in Knightsbridge, London. In addition, Alison Brooks Architects’ new Cohen Quad, an expansion of Exeter College in Oxford, has just been completed comprising auditorium, seminar rooms, social learning, archives and accommodation space.
Projects nearing completion include the refurbishment of Alexandra Palace and Blackheath Halls, both in London, a new multi-purpose hall for Ibstock Place School and the refurbishment of the Globe Theatre, Stockton.
We have recently won new projects including Fairfield Halls, Pembroke College Cambridge and Norwich University of the Arts.
Two of our projects, Musée D’Art de Nantes and Oriam National Sports Performance Centre in Edinburgh, have just won awards with RIBA and CIBSE.
In the last 18 months we have welcomed three new members into the acoustics team – Neza Kravanja, Giorgio Agostini and Thomas Dimasi.
Flagship Projects
Alexandra Palace (Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios LLP)
The refurbishment at the Grade II listed Alexandra Palace in north London encompasses the Theatre, BBC Studios and the East Court. The historic 1875 theatre will be brought back to life as a multi-purpose performance venue and the East Court will be refurbished to act as both a grand entrance foyer and flexible space for a variety of uses.
Grand Musée d’Art à Nantes (Stanton Williams)
This major art museum was renovated with an extension for the display of contemporary art as well as ancillary facilities. We developed a bespoke light fitting for the galleries that included a micro-perforated acoustic material between the diffuser and the lamps to absorb sound. In addition, we also used auralisation techniques to better inform critical decisions during the design process.
St. John’s Hill (Hawkins Brown)
This residential development in south west London is adjacent to the train line running into Clapham Junction – Europe’s busiest station in terms of rail traffic. We developed an innovative passive ventilation strategy to help deal with noise break-in during periods of summertime overheating. More information, including auralisations and videos, can be found on our website blog.
Images
Further Information
Contact Anthony Chilton a.chilton@maxfordham.com