It has been a month full of progress for the ACCON UK team, successes coming from finding appropriate breaks in the weather to undertake noise surveys and the completion of several projects, issuing Technical Reports to our clients so they can be submitted to support planning applications. The highlights over the last month include:

Noise

For the Noise Team, there has been a strong focus on train stations.

We have undertaken three extended noise surveys simultaneously over a 3-week period at train stations located within Basildon, Westcliff and Laindon on behalf of CK Rail. The purpose of these surveys was to monitor noise levels from ongoing construction and maintenance activities along the railway line to ensure that noise from these activities was not causing a nuisance to nearby residential receptors. We utilised 3 Class 1 noise monitors to undertake these surveys. These monitors were the ideal solution for these projects as when connected to an external long-life battery, they can last for over a month on site without any need for intervention from our team. With remote access to the live data in the event of a breach in the noise limits, alerts were instantly sent out to the ACCON team as well as the client. We provided weekly reports on the noise levels at each of the sites, identifying any breaches that may have occurred during construction and maintenance activities.

Challenges presented themselves with these projects due to the sensitive nature of railway stations; therefore, we had to ensure that we had the correct access and permissions to undertake these surveys following the correct health and safety protocols to keep our team and the public safe.

Following the recent train theme, we have successfully undertaken another survey in Twickenham. This survey was for a residential development in close proximity to a train line and station. The focus of the survey was to identify the noise levels from trains so we could recommend the appropriate level of mitigation for the proposed residential development to ensure that there is an acceptable level of amenity.

Air Quality

The Air Quality Team enjoyed engaging with the Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) in February by attending a very insightful webinar on, “Cleaner air, healthier hospitals: Implementing the UK’s clean air hospital framework”.  This webinar focused on the Air Quality within and around hospitals as well as how activities associated with the hospitals can have a wider adverse impact on Air Quality. The presentation introduced and explained the Clean Air Hospital Framework (CAHF). Newcastle NHS Foundation Trust has committed to the CAHF and the audience learnt about the measures that have been implemented at this hospital and the impact they have had on reducing air pollution.

Daylight and Sunlight

The Daylight / Sunlight team are predominantly desk-based, utilising 3D Sketchup and MBS daylight/sunlight software to undertake their assessments. However, they recently enjoyed undertaking a site visit in High Wycombe. Site visits are essential to ensure that we have identified all the existing sensitive receptors surrounding a development site and to gain added context. This ensures that we are correctly modelling the existing and proposed building, resulting in accurate results.

Call us on 0118 971 0000 or email enquiry@accon-uk.com to see how we can help you on similar projects.