Dialling down noise at Seven Dials Market

Innovative hospitality space becomes central feature at Covent Garden.

Seven Dials Market is a market and dining space occupying the 19th Century Thomas Neal’s Warehouse – a former banana storage warehouse. Set in the heart of London’s Covent Garden, the market is a concoction of the best independent street food and drinks vendors in London. Seven Dials brings together a diverse group of food businesses from around the world, all with roots in the city's streets.

When owners Kerb wanted to transform the space, they appointed award-winning architects Stiff+Trevillion to redesign the space and turn it into 23,680 square metres of food, drink and entertainment space.  Centred around a large open atrium under a large skylight, the two-floor market now boasts a rich and diverse collection of 20 independent food and drink businesses offering cuisine from around the world and serving 2.4 million visitors annually.

Part of the Stiff+Trevillion’s design was to draw on the building’s history as a former banana storage warehouse and the resultant space is contemporary in style yet rooted in its heritage. The design of the building retains many original features carefully restored and refurbished including cast iron beams and brickwork arches on a flagstone floor. As with all large, open spaces covered with hard surfaces, controlling acoustics was essential in providing a comfortable space for staff and visitors. As a result, Troldtekt wood wool acoustic panels in a black finish were specified for use around the central skylight to help acoustical performance.

This is an excellent example of how acoustic panels can be incorporated into a project allowing architects to design modern, large spaces with hard surfaces but mitigating the problems stemming from long reverberation time and reflected sound. Troldtekt solutions excel at providing acoustic comfort with a visually attractive, aesthetic tactile surface along with high durability and low-cost lifecycle performance.