Policy

Whilst the Building Code of Australia has provisions for constructing residential development to ensure acoustic privacy for internal noise between adjacent dwellings, there are curiously no requirements for residential development to be constructed to reduce noise from external sources.

This issue was investigated in a 2007 report by Bassett Consulting, The External Noise into Residential Apartment Buildings Scoping Study Report

Some State Governments have introduce planning controls for residential development along railway corridors and busy roads to reduce noise, whilst others have introduced development control plans or local overlays requiring acoustic glazing within specific geographic boundaries. These provisions would be unsuitable for entertainment areas in towns and cities as they are rated using dba measurements and not the dbc rating that assesses low frequency noise.

Other areas where noise attenuation in construction has been required is around airports, and in Sydney, Luna Park has an exemption from the noise provisions under environmental protection regulations that otherwise apply to the rest of NSW

In 2005 Brisbane City Council introduced their Valley Music Harmony Plan special entertainment precinct to support the live music scene in Fortitude Valley

In 2014 Wollongong City Council determined that mixed use residential development in the CBD should have appropriate acoustic construction measures for the location and double glazing for acoustic privacy should be required in the entertainment area of the CBD.