Noise from Essential Services car park fans

This is not quite neighbour noise.  But noise from OC owned equipment.

The ventilation system of our underground car park is listed as an Essential Service on our Occupancy Permit.   So the OC is obliged to operate, repair and maintain it and any alteration to it requires a Building Permit and possibly an amendment to our Occupancy Permit.

The car park exhaust fans start up and run for some minutes after a car has entered or exited.  We only have 14 car spaces and traffic movement is light – so it operates probably less than 10 times a day.

The problem is it’s noisy.

But it was just as noisy 8 years ago when the building was first certified and occupied.  Possibly (I’m not sure) council noise requirements were met then.  And to date no one have ever complained.  I have even asked a few residents who live near to the car park and they have always said “It doesn’t bother us”.

But now it does bother 2 new residents.    So as a responsible OC, we are trying to do something.  If it was an air conditioner we’d know there are rules about AC noise and hours of operation.  But this is Essential Services equipment – we are required by law to operate it for health/safety reasons.  I’m not sure if that overrides general noise laws…

The complainers want the system replaced because it can disturb their sleep (maybe a few times a night, on a busy night, for a few minutes).  Replacing the system will no doubt  be very expensive. The complainers have not offered to pay – claiming it’s building defect.  We have said we’ll look into fitting noise dampers and have contacted an Acoustic Engineer (as per the fan manufacturer’s advice).  And we’d like to get objective rather than subjective noise readings.

I’m sympathetic for the complainers – there’s no doubt the fans can be heard – but are they that noisy for that often?  Others in the building don’t think so.

Still, we are trying to do something.  But getting Acoustic Engineers even interested is proving problematic.