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Noise impacts on existing and new residents can stop a business in its tracks. Find out how to avoid the pitfalls top tips from the experts. Peter Rogers will be presenting to the guests of @Popall today, and will explain why the following is essential to the continued smooth running of businesses into the future : 1. Hearing loss - risk assess your noise output and risk to staff and patrons on a regular basis 2. Avoid shock abatement notices by getting your mitigation in order - nothing short of Best Practical Means will do as a defense 3. Register with you planning authority - they will flag and encroaching residential for which an Agent of Change objection would be appropriate 4. Get your operational noise output quantified - Soundscape assessment, to give a baseline for you to protect your valued vibrancy contribution to the area 5. Good preparation combined with good design advice will result in a more cost effective solution and well protected business from noise problems into the future For more contact Peter @ progers@sustainableacoustics.co.uk

With the sun shining stronger, and warmer weather on the way we got digging today in the Sustainable Acoustics garden, in Winchester. We planted a blackberry bush and some raspberry canes, ready to give us organic tasty treats this summer, and more spring bulbs. Growing our own fruit organically may not keep us all fed but means staff can enjoy a tasty treat and get connected to outdoors as they take a break. We aim to point out through this that staying healthy without purchasing intensively farmed fruit that have encountered pesticides, from the supermarket, is by far the preference for the future. It tastes better and is better for you! There is a crisis in the countryside – and a massive decline in insect numbers could have significant consequences for the environment; a third of what we eat is curtsy of our pollinators... Current research has proven that intensive farming supports virtually no insect life, due to the use of pesticides, and this means that as intensive agriculture spreads there are fewer and fewer islands of natural habitat left to support them. At Sustainable Acoustics we help the environment wherever we can, whether that’s through our biodiversity projects, or through our sustainable acoustic solutions for cities, schools, businesses, entertainment or healthcare settings. We are even driving forward industry awards to recognise where this is done well. Furthermore, being outside on a beautiful and warm Spring day in direct contact with the sunlight was fun and whether you are 5 or 50 it definitely it helped improve our day!

We are really excited to have installed four nesting boxes for Swifts on the exterior of our building in Winchester - and will be using acoustics to attract them. Swift calls played through a small speaker fixed below the gutter will attract the birds to the new nesting boxes and alert them to the presence of potential new nesting sites when they return from Africa this summer. Every year Swifts travel unimaginable distances from the UK down through western France and eastern Spain into Morocco, before crossing the Sahara desert and the Congo rainforest - finally reaching Mozambique. Swifts live up to their name, they have been recorded as flying 3,000 miles in five days and anything up to 17,000 miles in total. Swifts arrive back in the UK in early May and stay until the end of July. It’s awe-inspiring to think they will be nesting and raising their young right outside our office after this incredible journey, offering our staff an exceptional opportunity to connect with nature. The population of Swifts has plummeted by more than 50% in the last twenty years. Research suggests that the main reason is a lack/loss of nesting sites for returning birds. In a bid to make our houses and buildings more energy efficient and air-tight modern construction methods do not leave the little gaps by which Swifts have historically entered their nests. The great news is that it is easy to help Swifts! They will readily accommodate wooden nesting boxes and these are very reasonably priced to purchase and install. And unlike Swallows and House Martins they do not leave a lot of mess below. We have worked in partnership with Tim Norriss at Hampshire Swifts (link to www.hampshireswifts.co.uk) on this project and would like to offer Tim our sincere thanks for his expert advice and encouragement, and to our landlord for giving us permission. You can help too. If you'd like to get involved the typical costs are: £20 per nesting box (as image below) £5 installation per box (depending on location) £30 for the bird call speaker system to attract the birds to the new nesting sites. Please connect with Katherine Howlett-Davies in our Sustainability Team for advice or any information you need to get your own acoustic nesting project going - we are happy to help – or contact www.hampshireswifts.co.uk Roll on Summer 2019 - and the beautiful sound and sight of Swifts.

Will Londoners accept that if their city never sleeps that they might not be able to either? It's a tricky fly in the tiger-balm for those pushing forward a 24/7 city dream, with the economic benefits that come with it. Today the London Night Time Commission launched its Think Night report , which provides 9 recommendations to the London Mayor, and also extents the definition of night time to between 6pm and 6am (where currently 11pm is typically taken in standards to be the start of night time). New York is understood to be emulating this approach too. This report is available in full at: Think Night Report . There are many admirable aims, but one of the main challenges is that it appears to gloss over the impact of unwanted sound (or noise) on residents, focusing very much on the positives of a 24/7 city economy. It is of course a matter of perspective, as one persons music is another's noise (as they say). There are some mentions of noise, mainly in recommendation 1, but it is left to the silver bullet of Agent of Change to add in mitigation to new developments over time, and not existing residential or noise sources. Planning of our night "soundscapes" (meaning how we perceive our sound environments) is also touched upon within Recommendation 2 (as part of best practice), so there are some signs of awareness of the challenge. Why it is extremely important to think about how our cities sound, when trying to make vibrancy work close in dense populations? People need respite as well. It is balancing these factors which is key when we are building a model for a sustainable future. Some big picture statistics supporting this are: "68% of people in the UK will live in urban centers by 2050" (UN 2018) , up from 55% currently. In the UK over 90% already do !. "Noise is an important public health issue. It has negative impacts on human health and well-being and is a growing concern" (WHO 2018) So hand in hand with any vision to extend the vibrancy of our cities into the night-time must be a clear strategy to deal with the impact of this on Londoners and visitors. We could call this the Sound night-time strategy. The structure of this is included as a 5 Step approach as a starting point: Urban sound planning - using soundscapes to zone and provide good data for developers, where residential is integrated into vibrant night time areas Good acoustics design that sensitively responds to provide protection when it is needed, but allows connection when it is not Tackling the unwanted noise of transportation (such as vehicles, trains and night tubes) - quietening the infrastructure Encouraging quiet night time deliveries near residential areas Providing premises with guidance on managing to reduce their impact to acceptable levels, and using licensing controls to define what they are objectively can generate so that residents know what they can reasonably expect. So the good news is it can be done, but must be integral to the planning and licensing regimes. Sustainable Acoustics hopes the London Mayor, and Night Czar take this on-board to make London a city that reverberates with the sound of a lively night time economy, in a way that allows people to get a decent night's sleep too, thereby forging a mould that can help shape global urbanisation in our future megacities (>10million). Now that would be a legacy to be proud of! Peter Rogers (MD and Founder) BSc(Hons) MSc FIOA MIOL CENG Background : Peter spent 5 years as an enforcer in Local Authorities before becoming a Consultant in acoustics and after a further 15 years became convinced that finding practical solutions, based on science and good design can help solve the problems facing the world as we try to do more with less. He runs his independent acoustic consultancy Sustainable Acoustics, and also is a Trustee of the Institute of Acoustics and an active member of the Institute of Licensing.

Peter Rogers is acting as the chairman of a new working group , set up by the Association of Noise Consultants with the purpose of introducing standardisation to testing methodologies of products and within buildings. In addition the working group will consider whether acceptability criteria can be defined or recommended to assist Local Authority to be able to determine whether mitigation schemes are likely to be workable in practice. Sebastian Woodhams joins Peter as a working group member along with a mixture from acoustic consultancy, Local Authority and suppliers.

Making buildings healthy is a part of the investment for business wanting the best out of their people, say @MindWork in a recent article, where light, acoustics and air quality were key: https://workinmind.org/2018/10/22/productivity-and-profit-why-we-need-to-invest-in-healthy-buildings/ What we mean by good "effective acoustics" is something that requires optimising the design for the space, and the intended use, so remember you can't afford to not get good advice. We await your call @SustainableAcoustics.

The World Health Organisation have published Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region providing guidance on protecting human health from harmful exposure to environmental noise. If you are adversely affected by noise levels where you live or work, Sustainable Acoustics can help. Contact us to discuss a noise assessment. The guidelines set health-based recommendations for five relevant sources of environmental noise: road traffic noise, railway noise, aircraft noise, wind turbine noise and leisure noise. The Environmental Noise Guidelines aim to support the legislation and policy-making process on local, national and international level. The WHO guideline values are public health-oriented recommendations, based on scientific evidence of the health effects and on an assessment of achievable noise levels. They are strong recommendations and as such should serve as the basis for policy-making processes. It should be recognized that in that process additional considerations of costs, feasibility, values and preferences also feature in decision-making when choosing reference values such as noise limits for a possible standard or legislation. Compared to previous WHO guidelines on noise, there are five significant developments in the 2018 version: stronger evidence of cardiovascular and metabolic effects of environmental noise; inclusion of new noise sources, namely wind turbine noise and leisure noise, in addition to noise from transportation (aircraft, rail and road traffic); use of a standardized approach to assess the evidence; the systematic reviews of evidence define the relationship between noise exposure and risk of health outcome; and use of long-term average noise exposure indicators to better predict adverse health outcomes, compared to short-term noise exposure measures. The development process of the current guidelines adhered to a new, rigorous, evidence-based methodology. Two independent groups of merited experts from the environmental noise community were instrumental in their development. A guideline development group was appointed to define the scope and key questions of the guidelines, and developed the recommendations based on the distilled evidence provided by the systematic review team. In addition, an external review group provided valuable comments, whilst the WHO steering group oversaw implementation of the project. The guidelines are underpinned by eight peer-reviewed systematic reviews of the pertinent literature in order to incorporate the significant research since the publication of the WHO Night Noise Guidelines for Europe in 2009. The eight systematic reviews were based on several health outcomes – cardiovascular and metabolic effects, annoyance, effects on sleep, cognitive impairment, hearing impairment and tinnitus, adverse birth outcomes, and quality of life, mental-health and well-being – and the effectiveness of interventions in reducing noise exposure and health impacts. Further information is available here: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/environment-and-health/noise/environmental-noise-guidelines-for-the-european-region

Sustainable Acoustics pledges to support Plastic-free Winchester, a community group set up by three local residents to fight the growing misuse of plastic in the Winchester area. Plastic Free Winchester is holding a plastic free week in October to coincide with Green Week (15 - 21 October), where they are asking companies and individuals to take their "Plastic Free Pledge" - to cut out or cut-down on the amount of single use plastic used during that week. Their ultimate aim is to get Plastic Free Community Status, their primary concern being to reduce single-use plastics. Sustainable Acoustics has provided stylish re-usable coffee cups (made with natural bamboo fibre – one of the world’s most sustainable resources), to each staff member in order to encourage them to take part and a pledge box has been created for staff to commit to their single use plastic reduction. In a continuing effort to reduce single use plastic consumption company wide, Sustainable Acoustics has moved to glass milk bottles and biodegradable bags for their composting waste.

In our bid to continue to play an active role in driving forward the sustainability we have joined the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), and hope to be a part of raising acoustics up the green agenda to deliver truly sustainable buildings that are fit for the future and measure up to the sustainability tests. The UKGBC exists to bring people together for a better built environment, which its well with our vision https://www.ukgbc.org/

The prosecution under Section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 has been brought by Dr O'Bryan-Tear, a resident of East Meon, Hampshire against Mr William Tyrwhitt-Drake of the Bereleigh Estate failed to achieve the evidence threshold required by the court. The full judgment can be now requested from the court, under reference M-00582235 from East Hampshire Magistrates Court. District Judge Callaway said " Mr Rogers and Mr Grant are difficult to reconcile". Peter Rogers gave evidence underwent 4 days of cross examination as an acoustic expert in this case, and who's evidence supported to prosecution in this challenge to game shooting. The case has been picked up by the Telegraph and is reported at this link. The case demonstrates how difficult it is to prove nuisance to the criminal standard in court, and that although a noise may in itself be very disturbing when it occurs, that if it happens infrequently that this may be enough to undermine the argument, where counter evidence is being presented.

Across the UK, the sound of children starting back at school fills our schools, but many will be facing classrooms that are not fit for purpose acoustically. Most school stock does not provide acceptable conditions for pupils to hear their teachers properly, and this makes retaining new information harder than it needs to be because of the cognitive load caused by the brain trying to filter out the noise. This is compounded if you have temporary or permanent hearing impairment or a special educational need, so why are classrooms not designed to be optimal for all ? All new schools need to comply with minimum acoustic standards, but that does not mean optimal standards, and for those with hearing impairment where the provision was not included they may not have a suitable space available, so even our new schools are failing them in many cases. With 85% of deaf children now being taught in mainstream schools there is an attainment gap building (NDCS report 2010). The technical evidence base supports that low background noise of 30dBA and a low reverberation time of 0.4 to 0.5 seconds is optimal for speech for all pupils, which can be usually dealt with by a retro fit, but it is much more cost effective to get this done at the time of building, but contractors won't do it unless they have to. The win win for getting this right at the start means that all spaces will be suitable for all, and research shows this will benefit their learning outcomes. Imagine that those pupils starting back have no obstacle to learning because of the classroom they are in - it is hard to justify otherwise. This leaves a gap at present, and no clear route for funding upgrades currently, although this may be about to change if the Department of Education permits acoustics to be eligible for Conditional Improvement Funding (CIF) applications. Nevertheless it leaves most of the school stock not suitable for inclusive learning, which is a sad indictment for our society in 2018. The Governments school report reads - "Could do better on acoustics", who have passed the responsibility to the school client bodies to make sure they are "suitable for their intended use" under the School Premises Regulations. If you are part of a school client body trying to get new schools right, or a teacher with voice strain, or a parent unsure whether your child is being educated in complainant learning spaces get in touch as we can help. Below are some easy checks to decide whether it is likely a space is non complaint with the minimum and if evidence of a full acoustic assessment is needed to demonstrate that it is adequate in use, as is the legal responsibility of the school. These include : Stand in the middle of the classroom and clap once loudly, with a cupped hand - if the sound dies away quickly this is good, if you can detect the reflections going on for longer than half a second this may not be good enough if your child has hearing impairment. If longer than a second it will not be adequate for a normal hearing pupil in a secondary school. Sit quietly in the class room and listen, with any assisted ventilation on at least medium setting, or windows open slightly where there is none. If it is as quiet as you would expect your bedroom to be, (ie. without distractions from outside), then this may be adequate. If not, it probably is inadequate. Ask someone to go next door to the next classroom and talk their way through the alphabet in a raised voice, then a normal voice. If you can hear them clearly in either situation it is unlikely the sound insulation is adequate. If you can not understand the letters for a raised voice, or not hear it at all it may have adequate sound insulation. If you have a hard of hearing child there is a tool kit available to help you from the National Deaf Children's society (NDCS), and the Equality Act 2010 requires the school to make adequate provision.

Ideas for Ears today launch #HearingAccessProtocol, which provides guidance on how meetings & events should be run so proceedings can be heard & followed by everyone, whatever their hearing ability.  Acoustics, is one of its 5 must do points it includes, where it states "Be aware of noise and poor acoustics. Be extra considerate of the hearing needs of others when speaking in a room that has poor acoustics or background noise. Even slight noise or echo can make listening much more difficult. It can also create considerable discomfort for some. " Peter Rogers says " for inclusive environments this makes huge sense, and I'd recommend it be adopted as a baseline for what should be expected UK wide". The full document can be found here .