Arena Renovation
Southwestern Ontario, CA
Solutions: Noise Walls, Building Applications
Sectors: Institutional
Arena Renovation
Building Applications – Municipal – Southwestern Ontario, Canada
The renovation of an arena in Southwestern Ontario saw the roof raised to increase space. A new condenser unit was required to meet the additional operational demands. It wasn’t long after having the unit in place before the noise complaints began to roll in from nearby homeowners.
The immediate neighbors were subject to a constant drone from the unit even when inside their homes. Having an impact on their quality of life, the complaints were raised with the city council and an acoustic consultant was brought in to assess the situation.
A noise study confirmed that the sound from the arena’s evaporative condenser was more than twice as loud as the standard 50 decibels the Ministry of the Environment sets for residential settings.
A ground mounted noise wall was determined as the best solution to mitigate the noise for the long-term and would also help contain the noise of other equipment located in the vicinity of the condenser. The acoustic consultant determined a wall height of 18-feet and 30-feet in length to fully block the noise using double-sided absorptive panels.
Once Durisol obtained the geotechnical report from the consultants, they went to work on detailing the wall design and construction coordination.
Project Details
Given the limited space between the backyards of the neighboring properties and the equipment itself, the site accessibility during installation was the biggest issue to tackle.
In addition to the limited accessibility above ground, we were also faced with some challenges below the surface. Our typical process calls for the use of large drilling equipment to drill the post foundations so that we can drop our posts into place. But the underground utility lines in the area forced us to
pursue alternative methods. The best way to excavate the soil, locate underground utilities and prevent any potential damages was the use of a HydroVac.
Thankfully our end client was cooperative and cleared some of the overhanging branches of the neighboring tree line that would have interfered with where our noise wall was to be installed. To prevent further disturbances to the vegetation, we opted to use a crane and bucket to pour the concrete footings as opposed to the using a chute straight off a ready-mix truck.
With little margin for error, the installation company used their crane to lift the posts and carefully set them in place into the concrete footings. Once everything was cured, it was just a matter of positioning each of the grey stone patterned panels so that they could be carefully dropped in place one by one.
Fortunately, we worked with an experienced installation partner who was able to successfully work around the challenges and build a wall system that was modular and easily maneuvered on site.
The municipality is now able to operate their newly renovated arena with peace of mind knowing that the nearby residents are shielded from the noisy condenser unit. Now that operating hours no longer need to be considered, the arena can offer more flexible scheduling options for their customers. This project has had tangible benefits to the community who have already been vocal about how much of a difference the sound wall made to their home life.
