noise assessment · the source being assessed, but may include other existing industrial or...

LF Acoustics Ltd

Wrest Park Enterprise Centre

Building 52, Wrest Park

Silsoe, Bedfordshire

MK45 4HS

t: 01525 888046

e: [email protected]

Registered in England

Company Reg: 8434608

NOISE ASSESSMENT

CHANGE OF USE FROM WAREHOUSE

TO DRY MIXED RECYCLING FACILITY,

INSIGHT HOUSE, BLICK ROAD, WARWICK

FORTRESS RECYCLING LTD

MAY 2016

Insight House Noise 260516.docx

NOISE ASSESSMENT

CHANGE OF USE FROM WAREHOUSE

TO DRY MIXED RECYCLING FACILITY,

INSIGHT HOUSE, BLICK ROAD, WARWICK

FORTRESS RECYCLING LTD

MAY 2016

This report has been prepared using all reasonable skill, care and diligence within the resources and brief agreed with the client.

LF Acoustics Ltd accept no responsibility for matters outside the terms of the brief or for use of this report, wholly or in part, by third parties.


CONTENTS

1. Introduction 1

2. Applicable Standards and Guidance 2

3. Site Description 3

4. Noise Monitoring 4

5. Calculation and Assessment of Noise Levels from Operation of Waste Transfer Facility 6

6. Assessment of Noise Levels 7

7. Summary 8

References

Figures

Appendices

Insight House Noise 260516.docx 1

1. Introduction

LF Acoustics Ltd have been appointed by Fortress Recycling Ltd to undertake a noise assessment

in support of a planning application for the change of use from a warehouse to a dry mixed

recycling facility at Insight House, Blick Road, Warwick.

Insight House is located within an existing industrial estate, with no dwellings or other

particularly noise sensitive receptors in the surrounding area.

During consultation, Environmental Protection Officers have requested a noise assessment be

carried out to evaluate any potential noise effects at the adjacent Polar House. Polar House is an

industrial unit, with offices on the ground and first floor levels within the front part of the

building, adjacent to Blick Road. Fortress Recycling are presently negotiating a lease on this

building, which they propose to use for additional office space and storage of bins within the

warehouse area. The officers are concerned that there may be a potential for a different occupier

of this building in the future, although unlikely, who may be affected by noise from the proposed

use.

This report presents an assessment of the likely noise levels at Polar House associated with the

operation of the site with regards to the requirements of BS 4142 and BS 8233. Section 2 provides

reference to the applicable standards and guidelines. Section 3 provides a description of the site

and Polar House. Section 4 provides information on the noise monitoring exercise carried out to

determine the existing noise environment at Polar House. A description of the proposed site

operations, calculations and assessment of the noise generated by the site is provided in Section

6. Finally, Section 7 presents a summary of this report.


2. Applicable Standards and Guidance

A description of the noise units referred to within this report is provided in Appendix A.

2.1. British Standard BS 4142

BS 4142 [1] is the British Standard for rating and assessing noise of a commercial or industrial

nature. The Standard has been recently updated to reflect the guidance within the National

Planning Policy Framework to consider the significance of potential adverse impacts upon

surrounding noise sensitive receptors.

BS 4142 is a comparative standard in which the estimated noise levels from the proposed

development are compared to the representative background noise level from existing uses.

BS 4142 relates the likelihood of complaint to the difference between the Rating Level of the

noise being assessed and the background noise level.

The background noise level is the LA90 noise level, usually measured in the absence of noise from

the source being assessed, but may include other existing industrial or commercial sounds. The

background noise levels should generally be obtained from a series of measurements each of not

less than 15 minute duration.

The Rating Level of the noise being assessed is defined as its LAeq noise level (the 'specific noise

level'), with the addition of appropriate corrections should the noise exhibit a marked impulsive

and/or tonal component or should the noise be irregular enough in character to attract attention.

During the daytime, the specified noise levels are determined over a reference time interval of

1 hour, with a 15 minute reference period adopted when assessing night-time noise.

If the Rating Level of the noise being assessed exceeds the background level by 10 dB or more

BS 4142 advises that there is likely to be an indication of a significant adverse impact, depending

upon context. A difference between background level and Rating Level of around 5 dB is likely

to be an indication of an adverse impact, depending upon context. The lower the Rating Level is,

relative to the background noise level, the less likely the specific source will have an adverse or

significant adverse impact. Where the Rating Level does not exceed the background noise level

is an indication of a low impact, depending upon context.

2.2. British Standard BS 8233

During consultation, officers specified that the assessment should take account of the guidance

within BS 8233, to assess the potential effects of noise from the proposed recycling facility.

For offices, the Standard recommends the following ambient noise levels should not normally be

exceeded when they are unoccupied:

• Staff / meeting room – 35 – 45 dB LAeq,T; and

• Executive office – 35 – 40 dB LAeq,T.


3. Site Description

3.1. Insight House and Proposed Operation

Insight House is a modern industrial unit, having been constructed approximately 10 years ago.

The building is constructed from blockwork at the lower level (up to ~2.5 metres), with cladding

to the upper parts of the building and roof. The cladding is an insulated system, Kingspan KS1000

or similar, which in addition to the thermal properties, provides a good level of sound reduction,

typically of the order of 25 dB RW.

There are offices located within the front part of the building, adjacent to Blick Road, with the

main warehouse located within the rear portion. There are two access doors to the warehouse,

located at the rear of the building, which it has been assumed would be left open throughout the

day, when the site was operational.

The proposed recycling operation would all be carried out within the building. Fortress RCVs

would return to the site once or twice per day to unload. They would reverse into the building

and tip onto the floor. Some hand sorting of the material would be carried out on the building

floor, with the material then transferred to the internal storage bays using a JCB loader (or

equivalent). Periodically, a larger vehicle would arrive and reverse into the building to be loaded

with the stored material.

The use of the loader would be periodic throughout the day, with noise levels within the

warehouse area generally low.

Compared with the permitted warehouse use, it is anticipated that the noise levels generated

from the operation of the unit would be broadly equivalent, as the consented distribution use

allows for vehicle movements, loading, which would require the use of forklifts etc.

3.2. Polar House

Polar House is the adjacent industrial unit to Insight House and is constructed closer to Blick

Road, than Insight House. This is an older unit, although clad with insulated cladding, with further

internal blockwork within the office areas. The offices on the ground and first floors, which are

considered to be the potential noise sensitive areas, are located at the front of the unit, adjacent

to Blick Road, and located within the area of the unit beyond Insight House. The majority of the

office windows are located on the front façade facing onto Blick Road, with a single window, to

a former first floor executive office, located in the side façade, facing towards Insight House. The

windows within the offices are double glazed, although it was noted that the openable windows

when closes did not seal fully, reducing the overall acoustic performance.


4. Noise Monitoring

In order to evaluate the existing daytime noise climate within Polar House, a noise monitoring

exercise was carried out during the morning of Friday 20th May 2016.

Weather conditions for the survey were fine and dry, with winds averaging 2 – 3 m/s, which were

considered suitable for undertaking the survey.

Two Rion NL-52 Class 1 Sound Level Meters were used for the survey, which were calibrated

before and after the exercise using a Rion NC-74 Class 1 Acoustic Calibrator, with no drift

recorded.

One of the meters was placed externally, 1 metre from the side façade of Polar House, adjacent

to the potentially most affected window / office, with the microphone set at a height equivalent

to the middle of the window.

The second instrument was placed within the office, at a positon just off centre, with the

microphone set at a height of 1.2 metres.

The monitoring positions are indicated on Figure 1.

Measurements were obtained at both positions over a period of 1 hour (making 12 consecutive

5 minute measurements) with the windows to the office closed and a second 1 hour period,

when the windows were open. This duration was considered sufficient to obtain typical noise

levels from the existing surrounding industrial units for the periods when the facility would

operate.

The results of the monitoring are provided within Appendix B, with a summary of the noise levels

measured presented in Table 4.1 below.

Measured Noise Levels [dB LAeq, 1 hour] Difference [dB(A)]

External Internal

Windows Closed 59.0 34.3 -24.7

Windows Open 58.1 42.3 -15.8

Table 4.1 Summary Results of Noise Monitoring

Noise levels within the office were influenced by a number of noise sources, in particular:

• Vehicles travelling along Blick Road;

• Occasional activities audible at SITA (particularly tipping of glass externally), located at the

end of Blick Road;

• Metal working activities at Radford Panel Company, opposite on Blick Road;

• Metal working activities at Spa Gates, opposite on Blick Road; and

• Distant road traffic on the main road network.


The results taken within the office indicate that the ambient noise levels with the windows closed

achieve the requirements of BS 8233 for an executive office and are below the lower limit of

35 dB LAeq,T recommended for these spaces. With windows open, noise levels for an executive

office would be above the limits recommended within BS 8233 at present. It is worth noting that

the offices have comfort cooling, thus reducing the requirement for opening windows.


5. Calculation and Assessment of Noise Levels from Operation of Waste Transfer Facility

5.1. Proposed Operation

As discussed previously, the operations would all be carried out within the building, with the

external areas utilised for parking.

The RCVs would return to site periodically during the day and would reverse into the building to

tip. The tipped material would then be subject to an initial sort by hand and transferred to the

internal storage bays. Once sufficient material was stored a larger vehicle would be used to

transfer the material off site. Again, this vehicle would reverse into the building, where it would

be loaded using a loading shovel.

Generally, noise levels within the building would be low, as there are minimal plant

requirements, with periodic higher noise levels associated with the use of a loading shovel and

the tipping.

It has been assumed that the two loading doors within the rear façade of the building would be

left open throughout the day.

5.2. Source Terms

A source term noise level obtained from a similar facility has been assumed for the operations

carried out internally, which encompasses the tipping and loading operations. This indicated a

level of 80 dB LAeq,T internally, which has been assumed for this facility. This is likely to represent

a worst case, as the plant would not operate continuously within the building, as was the case

where the measurement was taken.

It has been assumed that there would be 10 vehicle movements per hour, on the access road

running from Blick Road to the rear of the building, with a noise level of 105 dB LW assumed for

the RCV movements. Again this is likely to represent a worst case for normal daytime operations.

5.3. Calculation of Noise Levels

Noise levels at the side façade of Polar House have been calculated using the Soundplan

modelling software. This modelling software adopts the methodology from ISO 9613 to calculate

noise levels.

The model has taken account of the source terms identified above and the building construction

of Insight House, which were obtained in octave bands to provide a more accurate calculation.

The modelling results are presented graphically on Figure 2 and are summarised below.

Activity Calculated LAeq, 1 hour Façade Noise Level [dB]

Internal Operations 46

External Vehicle Movements on Access 46

Overall Site Noise Level 49

Table 5.1 Calculated Noise Levels


6. Assessment of Noise Levels

Noise levels associated with the operation of the proposed waste recycling facility at Insight

House at Polar House would be low, as the operations would all be carried out internally.

Noise levels associated with the proposed operation, which include vehicle movements around

the site (permitted under the present use), are anticipated to be 49 dB LAeq,T at window of the

potentially most affected office, which is between 9 – 10 dB(A) below the existing ambient noise

levels at this façade.

The site noise levels would additionally be 5 dB(A) below the prevailing background noise levels,

which would be a positive indication that the operation would not generate any significant

adverse effects when considered against the BS 4142 guidance.

The overall noise levels at this façade with the facility operational, would increase by 0.5 dB(A)

and would ensure that the internal noise climate within the potentially most affected office

within Polar House remained within the design guidance recommended within BS 8233.

The existing permitted use for Insight House has the potential to generate equivalent noise levels

to those proposed, as the permitted distribution use would include regular vehicle movements

and the potential for plant movements and loading both within the building and externally within

the rear and side service yards.

In summary, the proposed waste recycling facility would not generate any adverse noise effects

within the offices of Polar House.


7. Summary

An assessment of the noise levels associated with Fortress Recycling Ltd operating a waste

recycling facility within Insight House, Blick Road, Warwick, has been undertaken.

The unit presently has planning consent for distribution and planning consent is being sought for

the change of use to a dry waste recycling facility.

The unit is located within an industrial estate and is surrounding by other industrial units. During

consultation, officers were concerned that noise from the proposed operation had the potential

to impact upon the offices within the adjacent unit, Polar House. It is proposed that Polar House

will be occupied by Fortress Recycling, utilising the additional office space and warehousing

facility, however, the future use of these premises cannot be guaranteed or controlled through

planning conditions and there may be a potential for another tenant to occupy them in the

future.

An assessment of the noise levels within the potentially most affected office within Polar House,

which has a window on the site façade looking onto Insight House has been undertaken based

upon the proposed operations, which would all be carried out within the existing warehouse at

the rear of Insight House.

The calculations and assessment indicated that the proposed operation would not give rise to

any noticeable increases in noise levels within the offices at Polar House and would be broadly

equivalent to those attributable to the existing consented use. Noise levels within the office

would be maintained within the guidelines specified in BS 8233 and would thus not result in any

adverse noise effects.


References

1. British Standards Institute. Methods for Rating and Assessing Industrial and Commercial Sound.

BS 4142. 2014.

2. British Standards Institute. Guidance on Sound Insulation and Noise Reduction in Buildings. BS

8233. 2014.


Figures


Appendix A

Noise Units

Decibels (dB)

Noise can be considered as ‘unwanted sound’. Sound in air can be considered as the propagation

of energy through the air in the form of oscillatory changes in pressure. The size of the pressure

changes in acoustic waves is quantified on a logarithmic decibel (dB) scale firstly because the

range of audible sound pressures is very great, and secondly because the loudness function of

the human auditory system is approximately logarithmic.

The dynamic range of the auditory system is generally taken to be 0 dB to 140 dB. Generally, the

addition of noise from two sources producing the same sound pressure level will lead to an

increase in sound pressure level of 3 dB. A 3 dB noise change is generally considered to be just

noticeable, a 5 dB change is generally considered to be clearly discernible and a 10 dB change is

generally accepted as leading to the subjective impression of a doubling or halving of loudness.

A-Weighting

The bandwidth of the frequency response of the ear is usually taken to be from about 18 Hz to

18,000 Hz. The auditory system is not equally sensitive throughout this frequency range. This is

taken into account when making acoustic measurements by the use of A-weighting, a filter circuit

that has a frequency response similar to the human auditory system. All the measurement

results referred to in this report are A-weighted.

Units Used to Describe Time-Varying Noise Sources (LAeq, LAmax, LA10, and LA90)

Instantaneous A-weighted sound pressure level is not generally considered as an adequate

indicator of subjective response to noise because levels of noise usually vary with time.

For many types of noise the Equivalent Continuous A-Weighted Sound Pressure Level (LAeq,T) is

used as the basis of determining community response. The LAeq,T is defined as the A-weighted

sound pressure level of the steady sound which contains the same acoustic energy as the noise

being assessed over a specific time period, T.

The LAmax is the maximum value that the A-weighted sound pressure level reaches during a

measurement period. LAmax F, or Fast, is averaged over 0.125 of a second and LAmax S, or Slow, is

averaged over 1 second. All LAmax values referred to in this report are Fast.

The LA90 is the noise level exceeded for 90% of the measurement period. It is generally used to

quantify the background noise level, the underlying level of noise that is present even during the

quieter parts of measurement period


Appendix B

Results of Noise Survey


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noise assessment · the source being assessed, but may include other existing industrial or...

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