News / Planning
‘This would not be tolerated next to a school or hospital’
Construction noise raises hackles of childcare centre’s families
Emma Giles
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Parents at a Coburg early learning centre are concerned about the impact of constant noise from a construction site across the road is having on their children’s health and wellbeing.
For weeks, educators and children at Kids on the Avenue (KOTA) have attempted to cope with loud noises from earthmoving equipment at the site on the corner of The Avenue and De Carle Street.
The land, which was previously the Moreland campus of the Kangan Batman TAFE, is undergoing a transformation by Development Victoria into 275 new apartments.
The project recently entered a new phase with excavation works and the installation of deep retention piles into the ground that necessitate heavy drilling equipment. This work is scheduled to continue until at least the end of June.
In the meantime, parents say the daily works are causing multiple problems for the 70-plus children aged from six months to five years who attend the centre and for their educators.
Nikki Castle, parent of four-year-old son Avery, said numerous parents had raised concerns with her about the potential damage the noise could have on young ears.
“The major concern now is the impact of the extreme noise on children’s health and wellbeing,” Castle said.
To the educators and children, the noise levels are more than an inconvenience but are are actively making their day-to-day activities more difficult, she said.
“Educators have struggled to communicate with children because they simply can’t hear each other properly,” she said.
Independent noise monitoring commissioned by the child care centre measured peak readings of 100.0 decibels (dB) and an average level of 76.7 dB over eight hours.
The peak readings were the equivalent to the maximum levels recommended by the World Health Organisation for adults for short periods of time from devices like headphones. By comparison, the WHO recommends railway noise should not exceed 54 dB.
Kids on The Avenue has only just been labelled as a sensitive site in the last month, which means it requires greater restrictions and care in terms of noise barriers.
Development Victoria has acknowledged the change to the site label and says it is working with the centre to mitigate the impact.
“We’ll continue to work closely with KOTA management, parent representatives, the EPA [Environment Protection Authority] and our acoustic consultant to monitor impacts and strengthen controls throughout construction,” a spokesperson said.
But parents disagree that there has been active support from the government agency and say there have been consistent issues with noise regulation.
Another parent, Jack Naylor, is frustrated with the lack of management to keep the children comfortable.
“This would not be tolerated next to a school, a hospital, or an aged care home. So why is it acceptable besides a daycare full of babies and toddlers?” Naylor said.
Naylor and Castle both emphasised the importance of the outside play areas for the children, which have now become difficult to use with children unable to hear the educators.
“Children as young as six months old should not be spending their days next to deafening construction work,” Naylor said.
The sound is currently the most significant issue but it was only a few months ago that children were returning home with noses full of dust, Castle said.
She said the management of the amount of dust which was being removed from the construction site caused alarm for parents.
While this appears to have ceased, parents remain concerned that similar issues may start to occur again.
Development Victoria’s spokesperson said some some changes have been made to construction practice since initial concerns were voiced.
“This includes acoustic hoarding, agreed working hours, including no work for an hour during lunch which was something we discussed with families earlier this year”, they said.
Parents have said this is not enough and have asked for more effective acoustic barriers, heavy drilling only on Saturdays (when there are no children at the centre) and no drilling during nap time which is currently set for 12-2pm.
None of these requests have been accepted at this stage, Castle said.
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