The maintenance site, which was approximately 15 metres away from a community of houses, was expected to raise a series of complaints to the Highways Agency for contractors Balfour Beatty Mott Macdonald Joint Venture.
However, the use of the Echo Barrier H2 series of barriers, which reduce noise by up to 30dB and are easily erected on heras fencing or similar, meant the works finished on time and without a single complaint to the Highways Agency.
They are light to transport and can be branded, giving the site a more aesthetically pleasing appearance. Clive Hemmings, Construction Engineer said: “We have been working along the A27 for the past 5 months and were unable to site these barriers before as the working space would not allow it.
This inevitably was followed by complaints from residents and stakeholders so as soon as we could we sought out a suitable barrier to try to mitigate the problem. “I personally had never used the barriers on projects before and was quite apprehensive and concerned about receiving further noise and light disturbance complaints from residents as the works are limited to night time hours only.
However, after hearing the Highways Agency receiving no complaints regarding that particular area of works, I now have complete confidence in the Echo Barrier product so far as to say that we have now purchased ex rental barriers for our next scheme in Worthing.”
The barriers have also been used by the contractors for road crossing works, allowing the team to carry out very noisy works within 10 metres of residential properties without a single complaint. Clive continued: “Not only are they quick and easy to erect which makes them popular with the workforce, they show the residents that we are committed to making sure our sites are not an inconvenience for the local community and so we are happy to use the barriers where we can.”
Peter Wilson, Technical Director at Echo Barrier added: “We signed an agreement with Balfour Beatty in 2012 and we are proud to help support their various projects with our technology. This was a particularly important project for us as the site was so near a community, but we are thrilled that a site which was expected to raise lots of noise complaints raised absolutely none once the barriers were erected.”
Echo Barrier offers high tech, market leading solutions for controlling excessive noise. Echo Barrier systems make noise management simple, fast and highly effective. Barriers are flexible, provide exceptional acoustic performance, are easy to store, transport and fit.
They were recently recognised by the Institute of Acoustics and Noise Abatement Society at their annual awards. For more information about Echo Barrier visit www.echobarrier.com.