Quiet Mark celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. What started in 2012, with a mission to restore the value of quiet back into society, has since grown into an invaluable resource, making it easier for consumers, architects and trade buyers to source the quietest products and building materials, to enhance wellbeing through reduced noise in our homes. 
 
Our roots, however, stretch back far much further, to 1959, when John Connell OBE, the father and grandfather of Quiet Mark co-founders Gloria Elliott OBE, and Poppy Szkiler, CEO, established the Noise Abatement Society. Connell believed that exposure to excessive noise profoundly affects health, education, productivity and quality of life, calling noise the ‘forgotten pollutant’. John was instrumental in lobbying the Noise Abatement Act through parliament in 1960 when noise became a statutory nuisance for the first time in the UK.

Today, over 1,200 appliances and acoustic materials, from 90+ global brands, across more than 70 product categories, have passed the expert technical acoustic assessments to achieve Quiet Mark certification. When buyers see the distinctive Q certification logo alongside a product, they know it’s one of the quietest, most pleasant sounding or most technically effective in noise reduction or acoustic properties in-category, available on the current market.

Quiet Mark invites you to write a feature to celebrate our 10th anniversary, reflecting on some of the key milestones in our mission so far, and taking a look into what the future might hold in a world quietened by the pandemic. This could take the form of an interview with our CEO & CoFounder, Poppy Szkiler, (pictured right), a regular contributor of thought-leading comment, to publications worldwide, on the dangers of noise pollution, and insights into the wellbeing health benefits of quiet.
Here are some useful pointers that highlight the topical relevance and interest in such a feature at this time: 

Our UK National Noise Report - Pandemic Recovery Survey a survey sampling 2,000 UK adults, Quiet Mark learned that over half (57%) of Brits would like their home to be quieter, with a further 62% noting that they are drawn towards quieter appliances. 

Quiet Mark has drawn together a unique alliance of major retailers, including Argos, Currys, John Lewis and Very, to help shoppers find the quietest appliance technology and acoustic materials available on the market to support people's health and wellbeing. By highlighting the distinctive purple Quiet Mark as a trusted symbol, our partners are enabling buyers to make a more informed choice about quieter high-performance products and materials they will share their lives with. 

In May, 2021, John Lewis & Partners reported more than 10,000 searches a month for appliances during the Lockdowns that include the term “quiet” on the retailer’s website, with washing machines and kettles the most likely devices to be linked to the search. 

Most recently, in December 2021, Quiet Mark has announced a new partnership with NBS, a leading construction data and specification platform, to empower architects to specify ‘acoustics first’, by providing a short-cut for specifiers to source responsible products. The new partnership will enable the 3,600+ practices that use NBS daily, to make 13.6M decisions a month, to create specifications to easily source and find Quiet Mark certified products and materials. The aim is to elevate the aural design of buildings, optimising the overall level of acoustic comfort for occupants.
The 10 year timeline image below, (seen also in this Gif), highlights some year-by-year milestones of our 10 year history, our partnerships, and our active campaign to improve health and wellbeing, through reduced noise in our homes and improved acoustics throughout all areas of the built environment.

2012 - Quiet Mark builds its first own purpose-built test lab, to conduct acoustic measurement of products.
2013 - Just one year after Quiet Mark’s launch in 2012, the 'quiet concept' quickly captured the imagination of the public, with the Quiet House headline feature at the 2013 Ideal Home Exhibition in Earls Court, London.
2014 - John Lewis & Partners became Quiet Mark’s headline retail partner in 2014, to help their customers find the quietest high performance technology for their homes.
2015 - Quiet Mark pioneers Technology in Harmony with Nature feature, at Royal Horticultural Society's RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. The Quiet Treehouse was later installed at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in Spring 2017, where it can be enjoyed by the public for generations to come, used primarily as a quiet feature for children to learn and experience nature.

 

 

2016 - In Pursuit of Silence is a meditative feature-film documentary with international critical acclaim exploring our relationship with silence, sound, and the impact of noise on our lives. In October 2016 Quiet Mark funded and delivered the UK, German and Japan markets distribution of the feature documentary.

2017 - Quiet Mark appeared on BBC Watchdog in 2017. Brian Blessed and Poppy Szkiler, investigated the issues with product noise and discovered Brian Blessed is louder than a jet engine at 117 decibels!

2018 - In 2018, the Good Housekeeping Institute joined in on Quiet Mark’s initiative to take a closer look at the sound quality of the products it tests.

2019 - By 2019 Quiet Mark had drawn together its unique alliance of retailer partnerships inc. Argos, Asda, Currys plc, John Lewis & Partners, Lakeland, Littlewoods and The Very Group

2020 - In Feb. 2020, just before the pandemic, Quiet Mark launched Acoustics Academy with a TED-style master-class event. This brand-new online platform further equips and empower architects, builders and designers with a guide to expertly verified leading acoustic solutions for every building application area.

2021 - In Dec. 2021 Quiet Mark announced its new partnership with NBS, a leading construction data and specification platform, to empower architects to specify ‘acoustics first’, by providing a short-cut for specifiers to source responsible products.

 

To the future! With recent product certifications as far afield as Pella Windows and Doors in the US,  VetroSpace and BlockO in Finland, BuzziSpace in Belgium, Coway in Korea, Oclean in China, and Hizero in Australia, Quiet Mark is an independent international certification programme. Our mission remains the same, to bring quiet back into society and improve wellbeing for all, throughout the global built environment.