Residents Stopping Seafarers Project Noise & Vibration guidelines breach

City of Melbourne's own Noise & Vibration guidelines have been breached and residents within the area are suffering. 

City of Melbourne qualifies the piling works, that have been ongoing Mon-Sat since 2nd May 2022, as "High impact project: Includes extensive long-term works such as construction of a multi-storey development, substantial building demolition or major excavation including piling works.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION IF YOU RESIDE OR WORK AT 8 MCCRAE STREET DOCKLANDS, AND/OR NEAR, AND YOU WANT THE NOISE THAT HAS TORTURED YOU FOR WEEKS TO STOP! - (based on below reasons)

City of Melbourne has failed in their responsibilities to uphold the requirements of construction in their own guidelines. These guideline have been ignored and breached as follows:  

•           IGNORED - construction works need to be controlled so that noise doesn’t become a nuisance for our visitors, residents and businesses.  

•           IGNORED - Noise can have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of people, and is linked to hearing damage, stress, sleep disturbance, reduced work performance and general poor health.  

•           IGNORED (Community expectations) - balance the needs of the construction industry with reasonable community expectations.  

•           IGNORED - noise that is causing a nuisance may be assessed by Council’s environmental health officers using the relevant health and environment regulations. 

•           BREACHED - 1.1 Activities Local Law2009 (Local Law), Part 9 Building Works (Nuisance Abatement) of the ‘Local Law’ requires people undertaking building works to "undertake building works in a manner that does not cause a nuisance, which may include adherence to sound and vibration levels designated by Council.  

•           IGNORED (note) - Prescribed hours for general building works times are 7am and 7pm Monday to Friday and  8am and 3pm on Saturday. NOTE: Council may prescribe different hours for works in Docklands.  

•           BREACHED - Section 48a of the Environment Protection Act 1970 makes it an offence to cause unreasonable noise from any residential premises (Residential noise may be unreasonable at any time of the day, depending on its volume, intensity, duration, time, place and other circumstances).  

•           IGNORED - Health Act 2008 Council can also take action under the Nuisances Provisions of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008.  

•           BREACHED (Feasible & reasonable measures) - Complaint resolution: A person may have experienced noise disturbance for some time before they approach the builder/contractor, . The builder/contractor should respond respectfully to a complaint and implement all feasible and reasonable measures to address the issue.

•           BREACHED - High impact projects should have a readily accessible contact point such as a 24-hour toll-free information and complaints line.  

•           BREACHED (Covid caused home-office meetings) - examples of sensitive times that may require special consideration: • an office needing to organise meetings.  

•           IGNORED – The builder/contractor should firstly consult with affected parties and arrange appropriate periods of respite from noise.  

•           BREACHED -  On a typical weekday, more frequent respite periods should be provided where possible, especially during very noisy works, e.g. a break of 15-20 minutes for every hour of jack-hammering may to manage noise impacts.  

•           BREACHED – Universal Work Practice: 2.5.1 Selecting equipment -The builder/contractor should look at different types of equipment that do the same job and compare the noise level data.  

•           BREACHED – Universal Work Practice: 2.5.1 Selecting equipment -The builder/contractor should Investigate high-quality mufflers, acoustic 10 City of Melbourne | Noise & Vibration Management Guidelines enclosures, low-noise tool bits/ blades and inquire from suppliers about lower-noise equipment.

•           IGNORED - Works’ stages (6.3): When noise management information has to be submitted in response to community concern during works’ stages, Council may also request the inclusion of advice from an acoustic consultant. Requests for acoustic information would occur for high impact projects in the following circumstances: - The project has a significant vibration component that is likely to continue for a number of days, - Noise or vibration is affecting a sensitive use (in this case those working from home post-Covid) - Noise levels exceed those prescribed by Council by a significant margin.  

•           IGNORED – Ongoing input from an acoustic consultant will assist decision-making processes, help to provide reasonable and tangible targets for noise reduction and ensure that appropriate noise control measures are introduced, to demonstrate to the community that noise has been adequately considered.  

•           IGNORED – Use of an acoustic consultant to ensure - appropriate work scheduling arrangements to minimise noise impacts, - types of noisy works cannot reasonably be controlled further and requiring additional public consultation or negotiation, - a noise monitoring arrangement suitable for the project and the community.

Please raise any questions, to keep us all up to date,  via https://www.facebook.com/groups/1182774928861606/

Michelle Bradbury    Contact the author of the petition