A comparative assessment of NSW educational acoustic design guideline

School Infrastructure New South Wales (SINSW) Educational Facilities Standard Guidelines (EFSG) Design Guideline 11 (DG-11) is the acoustic guideline for public educational premises in NSW. A comparative assessment of the guideline against alternative guidelines is conducted in this paper. The analysis identifies shortcomings stemming from an outdated guideline, as well as gaps in design clarity. Design solutions to meet the mandatory EFSG GD-11 acoustic requirements have been proposed to address the identified shortcomings. Additionally, we thoroughly examined DG-11's design specifications to resolve ambiguity and reduce the potential costly and over design. Our findings revealed weaknesses in SINSW DG-11 when compared to other nationally and internationally recognized standards. To create innovate and sustainable educational spaces that cater the users’ needs and enhance the functionality of educational spaces, fostering of a constructive dialog is required between stakeholders and acoustic designers while preparing acoustic guidelines.