PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
In 2018 the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) selected a Kier / VolkerFitzpatrick joint venture to build supporting facilities for two squadrons of US F-35 Lightning at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The works ensured that the base became the first permanent site for US F-35 Lightning in Europe. The project included the construction of a flight simulator facility, a maintenance unit, new hangers and storage facilities. To carry out these works and to ensure disruption was kept to a minimum on base, Kier / VolkerFitzpatrick proposed to setup a temporary works compound and car park just outside the base on agricultural land in the Breckland Special Protected Area (SPA).
We were appointed by to provide multidisciplinary technical services and advice in support of a planning application for the compound and car park. Our team produced a number of documents to support the application including an Air Quality Assessment and Transport Assessment.
After the planning application had been approved, several pre-commencement conditions were highlighted that needed to be discharged including the requirement for an Ecological Noise Impact Assessment due to the proximity of Stone Curlews, which had nesting grounds nearby and are listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. The potential noise from the temporary compound and car park represented a risk to the birds and their nesting grounds, who in turn also represented a risk to military aircraft taking off from the base; an occurrence called a bird strike.
In order to discharge the pre-commencement conditions, our team monitored noise levels on the site, taking into consideration aircraft manoeuvres and flight training that took place most days. We set up a meter to capture sound logs and data and used the Norsonic software NorReview to evaluate, postprocess and interrogate the sound levels. Along with this information, several other data resources were collected, including noise contours from the airbase, and the DEFRA GIS mapping for bird species.
Using everything they had collected, our team made an informed decision surrounding noise mitigation. The mitigation measures we had recommended, which included construction of an earth bund, were implemented during the installation of the temporary compound and car park.
WHAT WE DID:
PLANNING
- Transport Assessment
- Access Designs
- Ecological Noise Impact Assessment
- Noise Monitoring
- Air Quality Assessment
- Traffic Flow Diagrams
- Traffic Signal Modelling
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS / BENEFITS
- Part of the mitigation included construction of an earth bund to decrease sound levels from the compound, along with behavioural cues around site and practical guidance on how to minimise traffic and reduce extraneous sound levels.
- Our proposed measures protected the birds and military aircraft, whilst also ensuring the compound location was approved and built in time for the infrastructure works to take place.