Historic Royal Palaces is pleased to be a leader in the conservation and heritage field, and as part of their work the Conservation and Collections Care and Surveyors of the Fabric teams carried out research in to the effects of cumulative low level vibration on objects at the palace. The potential causes of this vibration varied, from the effects of visitor passage through the palace, to visiting education groups, private corporate events and the music festival, many of which are hosted by many other historic buildings too.
Low level vibrations (typically from more popular musical compositions) were shown to have potential to damage windows only near to the stage area of the music festival. In simple terms, windows could become more “rattly” when exposed to vibrations. There was no visual damage which could be directly attributed to these effects.
However, we found that the use of sound curtains significantly reduced this risk. The research has been extremely helpful to us, as while we’ve identified potential for damage, it also confirmed that the many precautionary measures we already use to protect the palaces are effective. Working in conjunction with festival artists and sound engineers Historic Royal Palaces has gone further and imposed sound limits on all concerts and activity at the palace.
