The Business Sound Bites

A good night’s sleep with BADS

The Better Apartments Design Standards (BADS) were implemented in the Victoria Planning Provisions and all planning schemes via Amendment VC136 on 13 April 2017.

One of the objectives of BADS is to protect residents from external noise sources.

External noise requirements for BADS –traffic and transport noise

BADS specifies that apartments must be designed to achieve specific noise levels if they are located within a Noise Influence Area.

The Noise Influence Area is defined in Table 1 of the Planning Practice Note 83 and reproduced below.

If an apartment falls within a Noise Influence Area then it must be designed to achieve the following internal noise levels:

• Not greater than 35 dB for bedrooms, assessed as an LAeq, 8 hour from 10 pm to 6 am

• Not greater than 40 dB for living areas, assessed as an LAeq, 16 hour from 6 am to 10 pm

Edward Griffen, Consultant, Marshall Day Acoustics

Does the BADS noise standard work?

How does the BADS noise standard compare with design guidelines that are used by acoustic consultants?

Will meeting BADS provide acceptable internal amenity?

The AAAC (Association of Australasian Acoustic Consultants) provides a guideline for apartment acoustic ratings. The rating system is based on a star rating where a 6 star rating provides the highest level of acoustic quality and a 2 star provides the bare minimum.

For external noise intrusion, the star rating guideline is as follows in Table2 (following page):

The BADS criteria adopts the period of 2200-0600 hrs for measuring noise in bedrooms, while the AAAC standard nominated a longer time period of 2200-0700 hrs which includes the morning peak traffic period between 06000700 hrs.

Notwithstanding this difference, meeting the BADS criteria would result in an apartment with a rating of 2-3 stars. This is at the lower end of the star rating range and is considered to represent a minimum to just acceptable quality level. In addition, BADS does not assess intermittent noises such as the maximum noise levels of train or vehicle pass-bys.

Developers wishing to provide a higher level of amenity should adopt criteria based on achieving 4-6 stars and also include an assessment of intermittent noise.

Will future residents get a good night sleep in an apartment that just meets the BADS criteria? The jury is still out but as more apartments built to BADS standards are completed, there will be an opportunity to assess the result both objectively and subjectively.

Edward is a consultant based in Marshall Day’s Melbourne Office. He graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical and Sustainable Energy Engineering from the University of Adelaide in 2015 and is part of the Marshall Day environmental team.

Edward Griffen EGriffen@marshallday.com

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Reference Documents

(https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/policy-and-strategy/betterapartments#documents)

The following guideline documents are available:

Planning Advisory Note 66 (April 2017)

• Provides information regarding Amendment VC136

• Defines an “apartment”

• Explains new apartment provisions in relation to Objectives, standards and decision guidelines

Better Apartment Design Standards (December 2016)

• Provides design standards for new apartments

• Includes noise objectives, standards and decision guidelines

• Standard B40 and D16 refer to noise impacts

Apartment Design Guidelines for Victoria (2017)

• Provides guidelines for design and assessment of apartments

• Provides design guidelines for meeting standards D16 and B40 (pages 38-43)

Planning Practice Note 83: Assessing external noise impacts for apartments

• Specific guidance for assessing external noise to apartment

• Provides methodology for measuring noise levels

• Includes standard treatments for building façade design

Better Apartment Living: Buyers and Renters Guide

• Includes amenity issues to consider when buying or renting an apartment

• Highlights items related to noise amenity