Background
London City Airport (LCA) is a well-established and busy international airport, located close to the heart of the City of London, providing access for both business and leisure passengers. The Airport first opened in 1987 is neighboured by University of East London, and London Borough of Newham office to the north, as well as residential homes on all sides. Due to the airport being in such proximity to residential homes, there are strict restrictions as to the operation of the runways.
The challenge
London City Airport required improvement works to be undertaken which included resurfacing the existing runway and widening the taxiways. To enable the uninterrupted operation of the airport, construction works were required to be undertaken during the night, with the construction team handing back the runway in an operational condition. During works such as these, there is an obligation to minimise the impact of noise generated by these construction activities on residents.
Section 61
To proceed with the planned works the main contractor (Lagan Construction International) needed to apply to the Local Authority (LA) for ‘prior consent’ for works under Section 61 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 by submitting, in advance, details of the proposed work and the expected impact of noise and vibration on nearby sensitive receptors.
What we did
Working alongside Lagan Construction International we put together a programme of how the works would progress, and details of the works to be undertaken, plant to be used. Due to the stringent emission criteria, we worked out the order of works for each night and what hours each activity during to ensure predictions could be as accurate as possible without breaching limits.
As part of the conditions for the construction works, both weekly attended and continuous unattended noise monitoring was undertaken in the vicinity of the airport for the weekly submission to the local authority and London City Airport.
The result
Following the successful Section 61 application we were able to help Lagan Construction International to complete works on time and enabling them to complete additional works within the original timescale.
