For proposed developments containing residential use, planning applications are normally required to contain evidence of site suitability.
Similarly, for proposals containing noise-generating activities, e.g. new building services plant, new industrial activities, new transport activities, evidence is required to demonstrate noise has been mitigated and reduced to a minimum. Additionally, under permitted development rights, where residential uses are proposed via a change of use application and the building contains or is adjacent to retained commercial uses, evidence is required to demonstrate that the commercial use does not give rise to significant adverse impacts for the new residents.
Common reference Standards for assessment are BS 4142, BS 8233 and BS 6472, with guidance from NPPF and ProPG. For new residential uses, we recommend that consideration is also given to the noise standards of Approved Document E ‘Resistance to the passage of sound’ and Approved Document O ‘Overheating ‘, such that the submitted planning application does not need to be altered for the submission of the Building Regulations application.
Our approach first and foremost is to understand the purpose of the development. We then seek to engage as early as possible with the local planning authority to understand their requirements to be considered in any application. We aim to provide our clients with a concise, accurate and clear assessment, with the objective being to smooth the path to planning approval.
We work closely with coordinators and fellow co-professionals to understand their needs, such that our assessment is as coordinated as possible. This is particularly necessary where schemes are significant enough to require an Environmental Impact Assessment. We use our significant EIA experience to produce simple, understandable noise and vibration chapters as part of the project Environmental Statement.
We don’t spend all our time assessing environmental noise and equally we’re not limited to only thinking about the acoustics inside buildings. Peninsular Acoustics has been practising full acoustic consultancy for over 20 years. We use our significant experience both in building acoustic design and external acoustic assessment, to enable us to capably assess and minimise the effects of environmental noise and/or vibration and also accurately establish building design mitigation where required.
