The John Connell Awards 2023 took place at the Palace of Westminster on the evening of 25th October 2023, hosted by Sir Peter Bottomley, Member of Parliament for Worthing West. The awards were presented by Trudy Harrison MP, Under Secretary of State Defra.
The awards are named after NAS’s far-sighted founder John Connell OBE, who lobbied the Noise Abatement Act through Parliament in 1960 when noise became a statutory nuisance in the UK for the first time. These unique annual awards, known as the ‘Noise Oscars’, are now in their 22nd year. They acknowledge the importance of the quality of sound in our lives, and champion vital advances in reducing the negative impact of unnecessary noise for the public benefit. Over 390 recipients from local authorities, industry, organisations and individuals have now been honoured for the significant impact they have made to improve the aural environment.
The Noise Abatement Society (NAS) is a dynamic UK charity whose aim is to share a better understanding of what sound is, how it affects us and how we can solve noise problems in a pragmatic and sustainable way. Its internationally respected work helps to relieve the physical and mental distress caused by excessive noise which profoundly affects health and wellbeing, learning, productivity and social cohesion http://noiseabatementsociety.com/
John Connell Silent Approach Award 2023 sponsored by Brigade Electronics
This award salutes significant advances in industry best practice to minimise noise from operations and logistics by developing proven noise reduction initiatives.
Highly Commended: Transport for London and Anderson Acoustics & Partners
To make it easier for pedestrians and other road users to identify that the adjacent vehicle is a bus and whether it is moving or stationary, this transport authority worked with other partners to develop a responsive Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System so that the playback level for a newly created urban bus sound could be adjusted based on the vehicle’s location. This unique bus sound has been UN approved and may be used by other bus operators.
For developing the “Urban Bus Sound and Responsive AVAS System”, the Silent Approach Award 2023 Highly Commended goes to Transport for London, Anderson Acoustics and Partners which include AECOM, Zelig Sound and Ardent
Gloria Elliott OBE, Chief Executive said ‘‘Congratulations to the collaborative partnership for pioneering this sound alerting system for buses, an invaluable safety measure for pedestrians all over the UK.”
Photo L-R: Graham Jump (Transport for London); Matthew Muirhead (AECOM); Neil Crowther (Ardent Limited); Eduardo Manzano (Anderson Acoustics); Matthew Wilcock (Zelig Sound); Grant Waters (Anderson Acoustics); Duane Gatland (Brigade Electronics) with Trudy Harrison MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
For more information on the project, head over to our Soundscape sector page and read the case study.
