Pile Driving vibrations caused by builder in urban environment.

Grizzly

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About 60 yds from where I live in South County Dublin a builder is constructing a number of house and apartments. We are having a number of problems with this site which is on the grounds of an old house.

The latest problem is the constant noise/vibrations from pile driving on the site. It is constant for several hours throughout the day. Our whole hose is reverberating with this vibration. It is absolutely awful.

Earlier on in the year we ended up having to leave our home during the day when this was taking place. It stopped for awhile and has now started again.

I have read online that it is not best practice to engage in pile driving in an urban environment and I am surprised that planning permission may have been given by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown for this.

It may even be causing problems to the nearby houses.

Is there anything that can be done about this?
 
Have you an engineering friend or similar who can give you some advice on this? I'd imagine some proof will be needed along with what is your opinion.
 
The hours in which work can be done are often specifically conditioned at the planning permission stage - take a look at the grant of planning permission on the council's website. Adherence to the conditions is enforced by the Planning Enforcement Section. If work is being done in adherence to the conditions then i suspect you will just have to put up with the noise during those hours - as miserable as that might be.

On the vibrations, I believe the builder will be liable if damage is caused to your house but the onus would be on you to prove that the work carried out caused the damage.
 
Started at 8 a.m. this morning. It would appear that DunLaoghaire Rathdown waived the need for an Environmental Impact assessment for the site.
 
Do a detailed survey of your house for cracks or anything like that and take lots of photos. Then if something does materialise, at least you will have evidence of things being ok beforehand. IF you do find anything you can attach a crack gauge to it and photo it weekly as the works progress and complain to the builders ASAP. At this point you would want to engage a structural engineer to handle your side of things I would think.
I have been involved in construction projects previously where maximum vibration levels at neighbouring properties were stipulated in the planning, and we had to monitor vibrations at these locations - check whether there is anything listed in this application.
 
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