Overview
Client: Asda Hounslow Superstore
Duration: 2 weeks
As part of its commitment to customers, Asda regularly undertakes improvements to its stores in order to improve amenities and services and make them more convenient places to shop. Most recently, it decided to refurbish one of its superstores in the London Borough of Hounslow.
The Brief
Asda Hounslow is an unusual superstore in that it is one of several businesses located on the ground floor of the Blenheim Centre, a high-rise, residential building containing a large number of apartments. Carrying out major refurbishment work at the store would, therefore, need to avoid causing disturbance or inconvenience to the Blenheim Centre’s many residents.
Noise generated at previous schemes on the site had caused problems for residents and they had complained to environmental health. This caused friction with residents and disrupted the running and delivery of those projects. Asda wanted to ensure that this refurbishment did not cause such issues and chose Sigma, a trusted partner that has delivered GNFR equipment management and construction and contract works to the company for over 20 years, to undertake the refurbishment, ensuring that work was carried out with minimal noise pollution and disruption.
The Challenge
The nature of Asda’s brief presented a number of challenges. The primary challenge was that, to avoid disruption to the store and to enable customers to continue shopping, refurbishment works needed to take place after the store closed at midnight. While this is not an issue in most refurbishment projects, in this case, it meant that work would take place while residents were asleep, increasing the likelihood that even quiet noise would be a disturbance.
This raised several other challenges:
- The ceiling height of the superstore meant contractors would have to use mobile elevated work platforms (MEWPs) to carry out their tasks. Health and safety regulations require these to use pitched tonal alarms when moving around to alert others in the area and prevent accidents. A way was needed to comply with the health and safety regulations without the bleeping noise disturbing the residents.
- The project also required the use of drills to install new LED lighting and the operation of a long-running saw, both of which would generate loud noise.
- During the middle of the night, with little other background noise, even general working noise had the potential to cause issues with residents.
The Solution
Sigma’s solution was to develop a multi-collaborative approach, involving Sigma, Asda, Blenheim Centre residents, subcontractors and suppliers, together with the local environmental health department (the enforcing authority for noise pollution) and specialist noise consultants, RVT Group. A Sigma engineer was placed in control of operations to ensure that challenges were consistently being addressed.
Establishing existing noise levels
In collaboration with the RVT noise consultants, the first stage in the process was to establish the existing night time noise levels that Blenheim residents experience on a day to day basis, for example, from passing traffic and forklift truck operations.
Prior to the commencement of the refurbishment, noise measuring points were set up around the site, including potential hot spots close to residential areas. Over a two-week period, measurements were taken to provide a quantifiable baseline of the average noise level that residents experience on a day to day basis. This enabled Sigma to understand which of the refurbishment tasks would be most likely to cause a disturbance.
Eradicating MEWP noise
While health and safety regulations require MEWPs to emit an alarm when moving, it was important to find a way to prevent this noise from disturbing residents while still being loud enough to be heard by workers on site. Sigma contacted Horizon, the MEWPs’ supplier, about the issue and a solution was found from US company, Brigade.
Brigade’s unique white noise alarm system allows workers in the vicinity of the MEWP to clearly hear the safety bleeps but generates white noise to prevent the alarm from being heard by residents further away. This also helped mitigate the sound of the saw and the drills. The white noise works by dampening the high pitch of the alarm, thus reducing noise levels by 5dB. To the human ear, this makes it four times less noisy.
Liaison with residents
Sigma worked in partnership with the local authority’s pollution control officer to ensure Blenheim Centre residents were fully informed of what the refurbishment work entailed, the dates it would take place and the measures being put into place to mitigate noise and any other potential disruption. A letter drop was organised so that all households in the vicinity were informed.
Continual noise monitoring
Throughout the two weeks of the refurbishment, the Sigma engineer on site continued to monitor noise levels and compare them to the baseline tests recorded prior to commencement. These showed that the noise mitigation measures put in place, including the Brigade white noise alarm, worked effectively and that average noise levels over the working period were in line with the area’s usual levels.
Outcome
Previous work at the store had resulted in complaints from residents about the noise and this had impacted the work being carried out by contractors. On this occasion, thanks to Sigma’s multi-collaborative approach, the noise mitigation measures put in place resulted in no complaints being received at all – a first for the site. At the same time, the local environmental health team were included as stakeholders, provided with all the factual evidence and was aware of the proactive actions being taken by Sigma. This helped ensure any legal obstacles were overcome before the project commenced.
With Sigma keeping noise levels low and communicating effectively with residents, Asda was able to maintain its positive relationship with the Blenheim Centre community, many of whom are also its customers.
From a construction perspective, the lack of complaints from residents and the approval from environmental health ensured the refurbishment went ahead without interruption and was completed on schedule.
Overall, Sigma and Asda are more than happy about the success of this project and how it overcame its unusual challenges. Hounslow now has a bright, modern Asda superstore, finished without disruption, delay or complaint.