Noise Impact Assessment for Fitness Centre - Environmental

Environmental Noise Impact Assessment for Fitness Centre

In October 2021 PDA were appointed to assess the impact of building services noise from an existing Gym and Fitness Centre on nearby housing.

The impact of commercial sound on residential properties is assessed using the methods of British Standard BS 4142:2014+A1:2019. This basically involves measuring the underlying ‘Background Sound Level’ excluding the building services in question at the residential properties and then comparing this with the sound level of the building services plant alone in order to obtain an indication of the likely impact of the sound on the residents. The initial comparison must then be adjusted to account for the particular context for each case, including the nature and level of the existing sound climate, any mitigation applied to the house facades, the absolute level and character of the building services sound and other relevant factors.

Environmental Noise Impact Assessment

Often such assessments are carried out for planning purposes, to ensure that mitigation is applied before planning permission is granted, and to ensure that the two neighbouring uses are compatible.

In this case, the housing was developed with the gym already in operation, and any mitigation applied to the house facades at the time of the development is unknown. The gym operator has appointed PDA to assess the impact of its operations on the housing to assess if any complaints from the residents are justified and to give advice on any potential mitigation measures which may be applied to reduce the sound from the building services.

Noise Impact Assessment

It is important to note that in such cases where planning permission has been granted, both the residential use and the commercial gym use are legal developments and as such any formal noise complaint would need to be dealt with by means of the Statutory Nuisance provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Although no such Statutory Nuisance has been alleged in this case, the gym operator wishes to understand whether any future complaints may be justified and what options are available to minimise the building services sound as far as practicable. PDA have been appointed to advise on these issues.