Noise, Air, Odour and Light – Page 2
Environmental health topics in planning: noise, air quality, kitchen extraction, odour and lighting.
Noise, Air, Odour and Light articles – page 2
263 articlesOdour assessment methods and the dose response question
Annoyance does not track concentration linearly, which is why odour assessment uses percentile metrics and graded benchmarks. Source characterisation, receptor sensitivity and mitigation.
Extract systems for hot food premises: what officers ask
A hot food takeaway is sui generis, so the extract system is argued in full at application stage. Discharge height, abatement staging, fan noise and the maintenance plan officers condition.
Internal noise targets and how councils condition them
A condition requiring 35 dB with no index, no period and no window position is unenforceable. Here is how the BS 8233 values turn into a facade specification and a condition both sides can test.
The four element approach to residential noise assessment
Stage 2 of ProPG has four elements, and the one that gets skipped is the design process. An assessment that reports 30 dB in the bedrooms and nothing else has answered a quarter of the question.
Lighting, bats and keeping a dark corridor
Bats avoid lit flight lines, so a scheme that lights a hedgerow has severed a commuting route whether or not anyone measured it. The design fixes are mostly geometric.
Biomass and combustion plant emissions in an application
Planning assesses the effect of emissions on receptors; permitting regulates the plant. A boiler can need both, and the two processes do not align by themselves.
Choosing a representative background on an industrial estate
A five decibel shift in the adopted background moves a BS 4142 assessment from one impact band to the next. Here is how to choose and defend the figure.
Gym noise: impact from free weights and classes
A gym under flats has two separate noise problems. Impact from dropped weights travels through the frame; class music defeats the floor at 63 Hz.
Noise from a sports pitch with floodlit evening use
Pitch noise is mostly people, so BS 4142 is the wrong tool. What an evening baseline, an acoustic fence and a floodlight curfew should actually show.
Entertainment noise limiters and the condition requiring one
A limiter controls the sound system and nothing else. How the setting is derived backwards from the receptor, which condition wording is enforceable, and why a single A-weighted figure fails on bass.
Glazing and ventilator figures to quote in a noise report
A facade acoustic schedule stands or falls on which quantity it names. The difference between Rw, Rw + Ctr, Dn,e,w and field performance, and what to put in the schedule.
Facade sound insulation testing and the as built evidence
Post completion testing is the only measured part of an acoustic submission. How to select the sample, which test method applies, how to compare results against the design, and how to handle a failure.
Odour and noise from a crematorium or similar facility
Emissions from cremators sit with the environmental permitting regime, while planning controls location, stack height, traffic and plant noise. What the application has to evidence, and which conditions to expect.
Verifying a plant noise limit after installation
Verification conditions are discharged by measurement in the state the condition describes. Defrost cycles, residual sound and the control settings decide most outcomes.
Statutory nuisance and why a condition is not a substitute
Statutory nuisance and planning conditions are separate regimes run by separate teams. Permission is no defence to a nuisance, and a clear numerical condition is usually faster to enforce.
Mechanical ventilation, noise and overheating in conflict
Internal noise is assessed with windows shut and overheating with them open. Approved Document O makes the conflict explicit, and resolving it is a plan-stage decision.
Low frequency noise and the limits of standard metrics
A-weighting discards about 26 dB at 63 Hz, so plant can pass a rating level assessment and still produce a hum complaint. What to measure instead, and which criteria to report.
Acoustic design of balconies and winter gardens
Balcony type does more for the acoustic result than any finish applied later. Decide it with the noise model, not after it.
Roof terrace noise: assessing people rather than plant
There is no standard for terrace noise, because BS 4142 excludes people. That leaves prediction, baseline character and design mitigation to do the work.
Lighting conditions in dark landscapes and reserves
National Parks, National Landscapes and dark sky reserves push lighting design towards task lighting, warm spectrum sources and switch-off rather than dimming. What the submission needs to show.
Designing car park lighting to avoid light trespass
Design the boundary condition before lighting the car park. Environmental zones, column height, backlight shielding, curfew dimming and the drawings an officer needs to assess the scheme.
Verifying a NOx model against local monitoring data
Verification decides whether a predicted nitrogen dioxide concentration is evidence or arithmetic. A step-by-step account of deriving and applying the adjustment factor, and the questions a reviewer should ask.
Selecting and justifying noise sensitive receptors
Receptor choice decides more noise assessments than measurement method does. Screening on distance alone misses the controlling receptor, and a schedule with reasons removes the challenge.
Lighting a sports pitch without an amenity refusal
Floodlighting applications are refused on amenity grounds, rarely on principle. Set the lighting class to the standard of play, then design spill, glare and hours around the nearest windows.
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