BBC finds new offices too quiet

The BBC's accountants have found that their new open plan offices are just too quiet. Every time the telephone rings, staff are startled out of their concentration.

Consultants have recommended installing a so-called 'mutter' machine to generate background noise. The BBC says it can probably find something appropriate by drawing on existing tapes from its Sound Library.

A general shift to open plan layouts is underway at Television Centre, a new strategy for improving the BBC's space utilisation. In a limited number of areas, such as accounting, general noise levels have proved to be so low that specific events - like phones ringing - have become a problem.

Acoustic conditions in open plan offices are always an issue, of course. "Ever since the first Burolandschaft concepts were introduced in the `60s," notes Andrew Harding of workplace designers Cochrane McGregor, "it has been well understood that complete quiet does not make for the ideal working environment. A low level of background sound can provide a lasting effect which will be altogether better, and also provide more privacy for one to one conversations where that is a requirement.

"Up until now," Harding says, "this has normally been achieved - in those cases where it doesn't occur naturally from air conditioning, traffic or even people - with electronically generated 'white noise'. The alternative of using recorded human sounds is an interesting development. It will be fascinating see how well it works."

Given our understanding of this problem, it may be difficult to grasp why House of Commons Culture Committee chairman Gerald Kaufman has vowed to investigate the 'mutter' machines in a forthcoming inquiry into BBC funding.

Elliott Chase