Tangiwai Sawmill acoustic assessment

Challenge

The Tangiwai sawmill, located in New Zealand is a processing operation that produces a range of timber and pulp products derived from renewable plantations of Radiata pine for the domestic and international markets.

The existing sawmill plans to redevelop their site by demolishing and/or repurposing the existing multi-rip shed, stackhouse and roundtable sorting activity structures, to accommodate the new automated bin sorter and trimmer buildings.

Winstone Pulp International Limited required consultancy services to evaluate if compliance with the relevant Ruapehu District Council noise limits would be achieved after the planned redevelopment and, if necessary, identify appropriate additional control measures to achieve compliance.

Solution

The Acoustic and Vibration team undertook a detailed acoustic modelling assessment of the proposed redevelopment of the site to inform whether the acoustic effects would remain reasonable at the nearest dwellings to the sawmill. In our assessment we recommended limited mitigation measures to achieve compliance.

Impact

As part of the conditions for the redevelopment, our team was able to demonstrate that noise emitted from the redeveloped site by completing the compliance measurements after the project was completed. Our infield findings aligned with what was predicted in our assessment.