Brit Oval Wins Prestigous Noise Award

18 November 2009

The Brit Oval’s commitment to minimising its impact on local residents has been awarded with an honour by the prestigious Noise Abatement Society.

The award was presented to the Sharps Redmore Partnership – the firm employed by the ground to ensure council noise control targets were met and exceeded – at a recent ceremony at the House of Commons. Named in honour of John Connell OBE, founder of the Noise Abatement Society, it recognised the innovative work done to minimise the noise disruption caused to Kennington residents.

With the ICC World Twenty20, the npower Ashes and Surrey’s own roster of domestic Twenty20 games, there were a large number of high profile and busy games staged at the Brit Oval this summer and it was vital that the noise levels were kept below the 67dB level imposed by the London Borough of Lambeth.

As part of their successful solution, Sharps Redmore Partnership used line array speakers, which offer a highly directional emission pattern, allowing all amplified noise to be directed towards specific areas and reducing the impact on surrounding residential properties.

There was also close liaison between staff from Sharps Redmore and the speaker suppliers Arteis UK and sound system operators K2B to ensure that the required sound level was hit and maintained whilst ensuring there was no compromise to the quality or level of sound in the stands.

Combined with an independent off site monitoring team situated in key areas to ensure the off site levels stayed within their target, the process successfully reduced the ground’s offsite noise exposure by 10dB.

Gloria Elliott, Chief Executive of the Noise Abatement Society, said: “This commendable achievement was made possible by partnership-working with speaker suppliers, PA system operators, the Local Authority and local residents. The whole working concept is a shining example to other outdoor and music venue operators to show that sound levels acceptable for all interested parties can be achieved.”