A recent news story has shone a light on the importance of noise when considering residential development.

The Night and Day Café in Manchester Northern Quarter was served a noise abatement notice in November 2021 due to complaints from a resident who moved into a next door flat during the Covid-19 Lockdowns.

The venue, which was recently described as a “vital organ of culture” by Elbow singer Guy Garvey has operated as a bar and music venue since 1991, long predating the adjacent residential building. However, over the last year and a half its future has been at risk due to noise complaints and an alleged statutory nuisance.

Blame has been shared around the residents, developers, the builders, the venue and Manchester City Council, with noise limits and reduction of low frequencies being proposed by all sides. However, the future of the venue is to be determined in magistrates court later this year.

The Night and Day Café is by no means the first venue to struggle with newly introduced residential developments changing their operation, or closing them completely. In order to avoid situations such as this, an amendment to the National Planning Policy Framework included an “Agent of Change” principal, stating that new developments must be integrated effectively with existing businesses, specifically mentioning music venues.

The document now states that “unreasonable restrictions” should not be placed on the existing businesses, and the new development should be required to provide suitable mitigation before the development is completed.

Therefore, it is more important than ever to design these developments correctly thorough detailed assessments of existing noise environments.

If you have an upcoming project in close proximity to existing high noise level businesses, or a project introducing a bar, club or music venue close to a residential area, please send details to info@clementacoustics.co.uk to see how we can help.

Picture courtesy of Department for Transport (2019). New noise camera trial to crack down on illegal vehicles.

Following advancements in technology and more traffic being on the road than ever, studies have proven direct links between high noise exposure and increased levels of anxiety, stress and overall lack of sleep. This has led to the World Health Organisation (WHO) stating recommendations for suitable internal background noise levels due to the potential impact of noise on human livelihood.

In order to reduce noise that humans are exposed to, a trial was conducted within select UK areas to install ‘Noise Cameras’ on public roads to combat the high levels of anti-social driving where noise nuisance is prevalent.

If this trial proves viable, more ‘Noise Cameras’ could be rolled out across the country in an attempt to decrease undue distress for local residents and increase the likelihood of WHO guidelines to be complied with.

Image courtesy Overbye, Dennis. “That Famous Black Hole Just Got Even Darker”. New York Times, 13th April 2023 [source]

Released via NASAs YouTube channel 4 May 2022, an audio recording has been made available showing us what a supermassive black hole located 240 million light-years away would sound like.

Due to sound requiring a medium to travel through, such as air or water, one would assume that due to space being a vacuum, the expanse surrounding a black hole would be silent. However, due to the enormous levels of gas emitted, sound is able to propagate via this medium.

Actually, this audio is not a true representation of how it would sound standing close a black hole, as aside from the spaghettification you would experience(!), the sound would need to be shifted in pitch into something more audible. For this to be heard by human ears, the audio has been scaled up by 57 and 58 octaves above its original pitch, meaning what we hear is between 144 – 288 quadrillion times higher than the original audio!

Creepy, right?

The UK government has recently set a target of 600,000 air source heat pumps (ASHPs) to be installed a year by 2028 in a bid to accelerate the rollout so households move away from using costly fossil fuels.

It is understood by government officials that ASHPs are a proven technology that is much more efficient than traditional fossil fuel boilers and provide a reliable, low carbon heating solution for residential homes.

How do ASHPs work?

According to Energy Saving Trust, heat pumps are suitable for almost all homes and work by capturing heat from outside and moving it into you home.

An ASHP blows outside air over refrigerant filled coils. This heats the refrigerant turning it into a gas. A compressor then increases the gas pressure which increases the heat. The compressed hot gas is then passed to a heat exchanger to heat water or air to be circulated around the home.

Before installing a heat pump, it is important that you check with your local planning authority if permission is required as the outdoor units do create a certain level of noise.

Some local authorities may allow heat pumps to be installed as ‘permitted developments’ meaning that no permission is required. However, many local authorities require planning permission and for an acoustic consultant to provide a noise impact assessment to demonstrate that the noise of the outdoor heat pump unit will not negatively affect your neighbours. Therefore, it is very important to check with your local authority prior to installing a heat pump.

If you require a noise impact assessment, please get in touch and would be happy to assist.