Winners of ‘The Noise Oscars’

John Connell Silent Approach Awards 2023, Palace of Westminster, 25th October

The John Connell Awards 2023 took place at the Palace of Westminster on the evening of 25th October 2023, kindly hosted by Sir Peter Bottomley, Member of Parliament for Worthing West. The awards were presented by Trudy Harrison MP, Under Secretary of State Defra.

The awards are named after NAS’s far-sighted founder John Connell OBE, who lobbied the Noise Abatement Act through Parliament in 1960 when noise became a statutory nuisance in the UK for the first time. These unique annual awards, known as the ‘Noise Oscars’, are now in their 22nd year. They acknowledge the importance of the quality of sound in our lives, and champion vital advances in reducing the negative impact of unnecessary noise for the public benefit. Over 390 recipients from local authorities, industry, organisations and individuals have now been honoured for the significant impact they have made to improve the aural environment.

The Noise Abatement Society (NAS) is a dynamic UK charity whose aim is to share a better understanding of what sound is, how it affects us and how we can solve noise problems in a pragmatic and sustainable way. Its internationally respected work helps to relieve the physical and mental distress caused by excessive noise which profoundly affects health and wellbeing, learning, productivity and social cohesion.

John Connell Silent Approach Award 2023 sponsored by Brigade Electronics

This award salutes significant advances in industry best practice to minimise noise from operations and logistics by developing proven noise reduction initiatives.

Winner: Philip Dunbavin Acoustics.

This multi award-winning project tackled intense tonal wind-induced noise generated by a huge amount of security mesh in a recently built large scale multi-storey car park – causing complaints
from up to 1 km away.

A complex, innovative aero-acoustic scope and testing protocol was developed to assess the impact of multi-directional wind characteristics and acoustic spectral and tonal sounds. Bespoke mitigation testing high sensitivity to angle orientation relative to the wind and wind velocity was developed and post completion testing showed that no tones were generated from the treated mesh, resulting in the elimination of complaints from local sensitive receivers.

For the “New Main Manchester Airport Multi-Storey Car Park – Security Mesh Noise Mitigation Project” the John Connell Silent Approach Award 2023 Winner is Philip Dunbavin Acoustics.
Gloria Elliott OBE, Chief Executive said “Congratulations to PDA Acoustics for solving a highly complex and unusual noise problem which affected many residents over a large area.”

Contacts:
Dr. Max de Salis, Director at Philip Dunbavin Acoustics: maxdesalis@pdaltd.com
Award sponsor: Brigade Electronics – emily.hardy@brigade-electronics.com
NAS contact: johnconnellawards@noise-abatementsociety.org

John Connell Silent Approach Award, Sponsored by Brigade Electronics UK
Winner: Philip Dunbavin Acoustics for their New Main Manchester Airport Multi-Storey Car Park – Security Mesh Noise Mitigation Project
Presented by: Trudy Harrison MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

The Noise Abatement Society, John Connell Awards 2023 at the Terrace Pavilion, Palace of Westminster, at the House of Commons, London, hosted by Sir Peter Bottomley MP for Worthing West. Awards were presented by by Trudy Harrison MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Defra.