Planning to perfection!

Cirrus Research helps The Banks Group to keep at the forefront of noise measurement

With the experience of over 35 years in land development, The Banks Group continues to develop land throughout England and Scotland for a variety of uses including surface coal mines, onshore wind farms, commercial and residential property schemes and sustainable waste management facilities. With the aim of being one of the UK’s most successful land developers, it comes as no surprise that the organisation has a strong environmental policy in place to support the continued development of the business.

Due to the activities that The Banks Group undertakes, the business recognises that its actions have the potential to make significant changes to both the environment and local communities.  The group aims to maximise environmental benefits and minimise any adverse impacts arising from its activities.

As such, Banks produces environmental management plans (EMPs) for each of its mining, wind farm, property and waste projects and these EMPs detail how significant environmental issues, such as noise, are to be controlled. To assess the environmental performance of individual projects, a programme of audits and monitoring is undertaken and this includes noise measurement surveys. To help with this task, Banks has purchased noise measurement instruments from Cirrus Research, a leading expert in the design and production of noise measurement instruments.

Chris Rush, Environment and Sustainability Coordinator at The Banks Group, explains: “Before planning permission is granted for one of our developments, a noise impact assessment needs to be carried out, this allows us to assess the impact that noise might have on the community to ensure that it is acceptable. This is especially pertinent when our sites are in close proximity to sensitive properties. When we carry out the background assessments it is necessary for us to use a noise measurement instrument that is reliable, hard wearing and has long battery life, as the equipment will be outside, braving the elements from anything from three to five days.”

To carry out this task, Banks uses Cirrus Research’s Outdoor Noise Measurement Kit together with the Optimus Green sound level meter. The kit provides a complete outdoor noise measurement solution for environmental and community noise monitoring as it protects the sound level meter and the microphone capsule from the weather as well as contaminants that may affect the measurements.

Chris comments: “Local authorities require noise measurements over a typical representative period. It is therefore critical that we are able to supply the authorities with accurate sound measurements. The Optimus Green sound level meter combined with the outdoor kit is perfect for this job. The sound level meter has a large memory that is capable of storing data over a stretch of days, whist its capacity for the simultaneous collection of a variety of sound levels and frequencies, provides us with an “all-in-one” piece of kit. The reliability and accuracy that the Optimus Green provides us with is essential to ensure our noise impact assessments are correct.”

“Additionally, the NoiseTools software, that comes free with the Optimus Green, allows us the means of downloading the data quickly and easily. The sheer amount of data that we collect can then be managed and broken into categories and projects making analysis much simpler.”

He continues: “Throughout the life of the site, we undertake regular noise assessments to ensure that the local community is not being unduly affected by noise generated from the work we carry out and to check that noise control measures are successful.”

Cirrus Research, has been designing, manufacturing and providing ongoing support for its high quality noise measurement instruments in the UK for over 40 years and this experience is something that Banks Group values. Chris comments: “Cirrus Research and Banks have a long standing relationship and from the very outset we have always valued that Cirrus Research is a UK based company. Some of the advantages that this UK set-up offers includes: easy contact for after sales support, the yearly calibration of the instruments is quicker and simpler, plus it is good to be supporting a born and bred UK business.”

Chris concludes: “With a steady flow of projects continuing to be developed throughout the UK our environmental policy remains pivotal. The Optimus Green and outdoor kit, contributes to us fulfilling our responsibility towards the environment and local people, ensuring noise produced by our activities is minimised.”

Cirrus Research is a leading expert in the creation and production of noise measurement instruments in the UK. Formed in 1970, Cirrus Research uses the latest scientific and technological developments to produce noise measurement equipment to accurately measure noise and its impact. Cirrus Research’s products are manufactured in the UK and come complete with a 15 year warranty (terms and conditions apply). Its products can be used in a wide range of applications and across a variety of industries.

Instrument information:

Jaymee-lee Tolliday

Marketing Executive at Cirrus Research plc

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