Produced for Claylands Green Area NLE Action Group, 18 May 2011

NORTHERN LINE EXTENSION AND YOUR HOME

Groundborne noise and vibration

30

40 38 36 34 32 28
41.7 37.8
41.8 41.3 40.8 40 39.3
7

The numbers 30m

shown in bold
approx above
(Not to scale) indicate the noise
impacts on Nos 28-40 of a tunnel running beneath 40,
Claylands Road.

There will be similar impacts on Nos 42-52 and on

homes everywhere else on either side of the two
24m
tunnels that will run through our area.

We have extrapolated the figures from data taken from

the 2008Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)2 that
was carried out in for the Battersea and Nine Elms
Developers, who are behind the NLE. It is the only EIA
they have published.

What is groundborne noise and vibration?

As trains pass along the NLE, they will create vibrations that will be transmitted
through the soil to houses close to the line. When they reach your house, they
will set the fabric in motion. This motion will radiate from the building surfaces in
the form of low frequency sound and vibration. You will feel and hear a rumble.
Effectively, your house will have been turned into a giant loudspeaker.

The effects of groundborne vibration include

• Feelable movement of floors
• Rattling of windows
• Shaking of items on shelves or hanging on walls
• Rumbling sounds.
• In extreme cases, it can cause damage to buildings.

Among the factors that exacerbate groundborne vibration and noise, there are
two that are particularly relevant to us
• The nature of the soil - clay soils transmit vibration more efficiently
• Building design - structures with no or minimal foundations and solid
floors are more susceptible to vibration
1. The noise levels are in decibels (dB). Without getting too technical, the scale used for measuring noise
is logarithmic. This means that 31dB is 10% louder than 30dB; 40dB is twice as loud; 50dB is four times as
loud.
2. http://www.northernlineextension.com/media/5548/urs_nle_prelim_env_assessment_final.pdf
Produced for Claylands Green Area NLE Action Group, 18 May 2011

What does this mean for you?

The EIA uses a threshold of 40dB, and concedes that noise will exceed even
this by up to 5dB along the whole of the NLE i.e. up to 45dB.

The developers are now claiming that they will be able to reduce noise and
vibration to 30dB, i.e. to more than halve it. HOWEVER, these claims are not in
writing anywhere, and they have not provided any technical information or
scientific data to support them.

There are other features of groundborne noise you need to bear in mind when
considering any noise and vibration threshold the developers might propose.
1. Groundborne noise sounds louder than ‘normal’ noise at the same dB
level.
2. Annoyance from it often occurs when it exceeds the threshold of
perception by only a small margin.
3. Ground-borne noise causes greater annoyance in areas with low levels
of ambient noise, such as street traffic, than in areas where traffic noise
is louder.
4. Annoyance increases with frequency. 28 trains an hour will run along the
NLE in each direction – one every two minutes. If you live between the
tunnels, or where tunnels run side-by-side, then 56 trains an hour will be
passing by close to your house – one a minute.
5. Annoyance is greater at night times. The NLE is likely to be operating
from 6 in the morning until after midnight, 364 days a year.

What can you do as an individual?

Houses can be shielded to some extent against airborne noise by double-
glazing, curtains etc. If there is street noise outside the front of your house, you
can escape it by moving to the back.

It is virtually impossible to shield buildings from groundborne noise. There is no

escape from it, except by leaving home. Your whole house is affected.

Groundborne noise has got to be stopped at source.

What can we do together?

We can
• Fight for noise and vibration thresholds that are acceptable to
us
• Fight for NLE to be designed, constructed and maintained to a
specification and standard that can be guaranteed to meet it
• Insist that the developers’ claims about noise and vibration
and their proposals for reducing it are subjected to scrutiny
and validation by independent experts acting on our behalf.

Until this happens the present ‘consultation’ is meaningless.

Produced for Claylands Green Area NLE Action Group, 18 May 2011

NORTHERN LINE EXTENSION AND YOU

The Claylands Green Area ventilation and access shaft

Operating the NLE requires the construction of three shafts spaced at roughly kilometre
intervals. Their main function is to discharge heat and dust from the lines below, but
some will also allow access to the tunnel for routine inspection and maintenance or in
the event of an emergency. While the NLE is under construction, a number of
temporary access shafts will also be needed. The developers are proposing to place a
combined ventilation and access shafts in our area. The purpose of this leaflet is to
give you some information on what the shaft will involve. Data are taken from the
developers’ 2008 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – the only one they have
published1.

The shaft will be 15m (almost 50ft) wide and 30m (100ft) deep. Seven double-decker
buses could be stood on top of each other inside the shaft and still not reach the top!
Above the ground the shaft will finish in some form of ‘vent’ or chimney. There are no
details yet of how big this will be, or how it will be constructed and finished. All we know
is that it will be 6m (20ft) high – roughly the height of a two storey house.
While the shaft is under construction

15m The EIA does not say how exactly long it will take to
complete the shaft, but the developers concede that it
could be in excess of two years. Three main impacts
are likely.
1. Noise
Government guidance is that construction noise in
residential areas should not exceed 70dB at the façade
of the nearest building. Even at this level you would
30m have to shout to make yourself heard by someone
standing next to you. The EIA states that noise could
actually be up to 95dB at a building 10m (33 feet)
away from the site. This is far above the level
advised by the Government advises.
2. Site traffic
We calculate that constructing the shaft will involve
excavating 6535m3 of spoil - enough to fill two Olympic-
sized swimming pools. The EIA says that

1
http://www.northernlineextension.com/media/5548/urs_nle_prelim_env_assessment_final.pdf
Produced for Claylands Green Area NLE Action Group, 18 May 2011

this will be by road. Using 32-ton four-axle tipper lorries with 15m3 capacity, disposing
of this volume of spoil will require 872 journeys along quiet residential streets and
already congested main roads. Each one will give rise to noise, fumes, dust, damage to
road surfaces and potential damage to buildings through vibration. Two of the
temporary access shafts near Kennington will be used to remove the tunnel boring
machine. On top of this, there will be all the lorries bringing equipment and materials to
the sites…..

3. Vibration
We have no details on how the shaft will be constructed, but it will almost certainly
involve sheet piling (driving steel sheets into the soil to prevent it collapsing while the
shaft is being built). The EIA acknowledges that vibration from this can cause damage
to buildings up to 20m away. Many homes will be much closer than this. Older
houses are likely to be particularly susceptible.
Once the shaft is finished
Construction impacts are temporary, but even when completed, shafts will impose
operational impacts on the neighbourhood. These will be permanent.

1. Visual impact
The developers’ acknowledge the sensitivity of locating a 6m high piece of industrial
plant in the middle of a Conservation Area. In addition to this, there is a risk that mature
trees will have to be felled or will be compromised by the building of the shaft.

2. Air pollution
The exhaust air that is emitted from the shaft will carry dust in concentrations
that are up to 30 times above current limits and more than 60 times the target set
for 2012. Everyone within 30m of the shaft could be affected. In the event of an
underground fire, the shaft will act as a chimney for the products of combustion –
smoke, soot, gases, chemicals (e.g from burning plastics).

3. Noise
The developers’ solution to the dust problem is simply to dilute the concentration of it
by spreading it out. To do this they will install fans in the ventilation shaft to speed up
the exhaust air so that the ‘plume’ of dust rises higher and so falls more widely. The
EIA gives no information on their design, construction or operation of these fans. How
noisy will they be? When will they operate? While trains are running (i.e. 0600-2400)?
Or 24/7? Whichever it is, any noise from them will be emitted on a level with many
people’s bedroom windows.

4. Access and security issues

All of the shafts represent weak points for the security of NLE. It is likely therefore that
they will need to be security hardened to prevent terrorist access. This has major
implications for their appearance. In the event of an incident or accident underground
access shafts will also need to be accessible not only by the emergency services but
by the military. Access for the numbers and types of vehicles required is likely to be
problematic along narrow residential streets with dense on-street parking. This issue is
not even considered in the EIA.

Summary
All of the information above has been taken from the 2008 EIA – the only source of
‘official’ information we have. Every time we have raised our concerns with the
developers, they have told us that the 2008 EIA is ‘out of date.’

HOWEVER, they have been unwilling or unable to provide us with written details of
• the criteria and standards they are currently working to
Produced for Claylands Green Area NLE Action Group, 18 May 2011

• the techniques or technologies they intend to use in order to reduce the impacts
we have described
• the precise benefits of those techniques and technologies
In conversation we have received inconsistent and contradictory information from the
developers’ spokesmen.

The verbal assurances of paid spokesmen are not acceptable. We

insist on written responses backed by evidence and data that can be
scrutinised by independent experts acting on our behalf.

Until this is provided, we believe that the current ‘consultation’

over the location of the shafts is invalid.