Basement-construction-vibration-guideline

3.    Legislative requirements
The following legislative documents have helped to inform the development of this guideline.
3.1    Queensland Environmental Protection Act and subordinate legislation
There are no specific limits for construction noise and vibration contained in this legislation, only hours of
building work are provided.
Section 440R of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 provides:
(1) A person must not carry out building work in a way that makes an audible noise—
(a) on a business day or Saturday, before 6.30a.m.
(b) or after 6.30p.m; or on any other day, at any time.
(2) The reference in subsection (1) to a person carrying out building work—
(a) includes a person carrying out building work under an owner-builder permit; and
(b) otherwise does not include a person carrying out building work at premises used by the person only
    for residential purposes.
Under this Act, from Monday to Saturday during the hours 6.30 am to 6.30pm there are no noise
restrictions. Work occurring outside of these hours or on Sunday or public holidays must not cause
audible noise.


3.2    Council of the City of Gold Coast Local Law No. 8 and 8.1 (Public Health,
Safety and Amenity) 2008
The City administers noise complaints through the EPA (Environmental Protection Act); this provides
limits on the hours of work between 6.30 am – 6.30 pm; however, the EPA also allows the City to
prescribe noise standards by local law. If a local law noise standard is prescribed, it then applies as a
noise standard instead of the Environmental Protection Act default noise standard.

The City’s current Local Law No. 8 (Public Health, Safety and Amenity) 2008 makes provision for a noise
standard where a permit for building work noise is given for regulated works (out of hours building work).
An out of hours work application including basement construction will need to show compliance with this
guideline.



3.3    City of Gold Coast development approval conditions
A planning development approval issued by the City may include conditions for the developments that
seek to protect amenity. Subject to the development type, specific conditions will be considered by the
assessing town planner for inclusion including the following.

      Basement construction – vibration management plan
This condition requires the lodgement of a vibration management plan with the City prior to works being
undertaken to detail how the vibration issues are to be addressed for basement construction. Refer to
Section 5 of this document for further information on how to prepare a vibration management plan.
Monitoring of vibration will be required unless it can be demonstrated the design vibration values will not
be exceeded. Refer to Sections 4.5 and 6 for further information on vibration monitoring

      Building construction – construction management plan

This condition requires the lodgement of a construction management plan with the City prior to works
being undertaken to ensure the impacts of works to residents are minimised, that Council’s and other
assets are not damaged, and the general safety of the community is maintained.



CONSTRUCTION VIBRATION MANAGMENT GUIDELINE (A45139253)                                     Page 6 of 13