Social Planning

There are currently no binding sound requirements on maximum traffic noise levels in Sweden. There are several rules, guidelines and recommendations from different bodies with no clear legal foundation.

ACAD has long experience of societal noise and act as a counsellor among guidelines and recommendations in order to attain a satisfactory social environment with a minimum of noise and vibrations.

Working Procedure

Work commonly begins with a discussion and review of plans with project managers and authorities. That work is usually followed by an inventory of existing and planned sound sources, geographic and geotechnical pre-conditions and any measurement of noise and vibration disturbances.

For larger projects, three-dimensional base data for mapping is requisitioned and entered into our calculation program Cadna/A for societal noise. The terrain model is supplemented with planned buildings and sound sources. Road, rail and industrial noise can then be calculated according to the Nordic calculation models.

Cadna/A works just as well for big calculation jobs encompassing tens of square kilometres as for small jobs (traffic diversion, planning of construction site activity, façade dimensioning).

The calculations are then reported either as free-field values in the case of façades or as noise contour lines (lines that connect equal sound levels, for example 55 dB(A) equivalent sound level) or as noise zones (colour-coded areas between noise contour lines).

In following work, changes that lead, for example, to bedrooms on the quiet side and necessary sound damping in façades are discussed.