Air Source Heat Pumps Noise & Permitted Development reports published by Welsh Government, which make recommendations for how to make sure noise is not a barrier for residents

Sustainable Acoustics have collaborated with Apex Acoustics to complete an extensive piece of work, which yesterday was published by Welsh Government, and can be found here.

Written Statement: Publication of the “Air Source Heat Pump Noise & Permitted Development Rights in Wales” report (phase 1 & 2) (11 January 2024) | GOV.WALES

The Minister for Climate Change, Julie James MS said "We wish to encourage residents to transition from fossil fuel heating to low carbon alternatives, but without creating noise nuisance. Therefore, we commissioned acoustics experts to investigate this distance rationale, to obtain and review related evidence, and to recommend whether the PDRs should be changed".

Peter Rogers, the Managing Director who delivered the Phase 1 and 2 reports says "it is great to see our work published, which uses acoustics to provide an evidenced based set of recommendations for the Welsh Government in this important area for tackling climate change. We have considered carefully how the roll out might occur without causing people undesirable noise impacts to themselves or their neighbours, and how PDR might assist the roll out to pick up pace of delivery. Noise is a factor that needs considering in the selection and positioning of units, and through our work we hope will be a part of accelerating delivering of a sustainable future, using acoustics, which is our vision as a carbon neutral company"

Phase 1 report deals with the evidence supporting noise being one of the biggest factors constraining deployment in Wales.

The Phase 2 report identified key findings from the work, recommending that the 3m rule shoudl be removed as one of the big ones.