Building Project: Oakdene Café

Oakdene Café, Wrotham, Kent

Detailed liaison with environmental health officials was a key part of our remit while working on an acoustics project featuring a site change of use from a café to seven light industrial units.

The Syntegra acoustics team offered advice from the planning stage through the detailed design stage to assist with the discharge of planning conditions in relation to external activity noise and noise breakout from the units at the site in Kent.

We worked closely with environmental health representatives to establish acceptable noise criteria and to agree an acceptable planning condition on behalf of our client. Assessment was carried out to cover internal and external activity noise, including detailed noise breakout calculations from the units and heavy vehicle manoeuvring and plant noise in accordance with BS 4142 (British Standard 4142:2014+A1:2019 “Methods for rating and assessing industrial and commercial sound”) and noise from additional vehicles on the public highway in line with DMRB methodologies (Design Manual for Roads and Bridges).

Syntegra’s Director of Acoustics, David Yates, said: ‘This project involved a complete overhaul of a site for a significantly different use.

‘It was vitally important the correct levels of acceptable nose were understood from the outset so we could advise our client on appropriate solutions to embed at various stages of the project. Without that, they could have faced major overhauls to their design during later phases which could have proved costly.

‘Our staff are well versed in liaising with environmental health officials and other bodies to secure the best outcomes on industrial sector projects in line with best practice guidance and specific local authority requirements.’