Featured Articles
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Data centre noise 101 for project teams, where the noise actually comes from
September 14, 2026Most data centre noise summaries are written as a list of equipment. Chillers, cooling towers, fans, transformers, generators. The list is accurate and not especially useful, because it does not… -
Noise risk and community acceptance in BESS project design
July 3, 2026Battery energy storage systems are one of the fastest-growing infrastructure categories in Australia. As installations increase in scale and move closer to residential and rural communities, acoustic performance is becoming… -
The new acoustic challenge of hyperscale data centres
July 1, 2026The acoustic profile of a hyperscale data centre bears little resemblance to the industrial facilities that informed the noise control frameworks most engineers have historically applied to large-scale mechanical plant….
All Articles
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When an acoustic louvre is the right choice and when it is not
October 12, 2026An acoustic louvre is asked to do three incompatible things through the same aperture. It has to let air through, keep water out, and attenuate sound. Each of those improves… -
Insertion loss, transmission loss and Rw, choosing the right metric for the job
October 9, 2026A mechanical engineer sizing a duct attenuator, an architect specifying a plantroom wall and a project manager reviewing a supplier submission can all be looking at a number followed by… -
The acoustic specification brief, what consultants need from suppliers at tender stage
October 5, 2026Three suppliers return prices against the same acoustic scope. The spread is forty per cent. Procurement reads that as a commercial finding, asks the lowest bidder to confirm compliance, receives… -
Tonal noise in BESS, why a compliant dB(A) figure may not tell the whole story
October 3, 2026An overall A-weighted level answers one question. How much acoustic energy arrives at the receiver, weighted roughly for the sensitivity of human hearing. It does not answer the question residents… -
Designing BESS sites for social licence, what noise planning can contribute
October 2, 2026In August 2026 the ABC reported on community concern about a proposed 520 megawatt battery energy storage facility at Uriarra Station in the Australian Capital Territory, around two kilometres from… -
BESS noise 101, fans, chillers, inverters and transformers explained
September 28, 2026Battery energy storage is often described as quiet technology, and at the cell level that is true. There is no combustion, no reciprocating machinery and no prime mover. Everything around… -
BESS noise starts with source data, what to request from OEMs before procurement
September 25, 2026A published noise impact assessment for a battery energy storage project at Glen Innes in northern New South Wales contains a sentence that should be read carefully by anyone procuring… -
Why rooftop plant changes the noise risk for data centres
September 21, 2026Putting heat rejection plant on the roof is usually a sound decision. It frees ground level area for electrical infrastructure and access, it shortens pipe runs, it keeps plant away… -
Acoustic headroom, the design allowance that protects future data centre expansion
September 18, 2026Data centre projects reserve capacity as a matter of course. Electrical infrastructure is sized with spare feeder capacity. Cooling is designed with redundancy and a growth path. Structure is built… -
Data centre noise 101 for project teams, where the noise actually comes from
September 14, 2026Most data centre noise summaries are written as a list of equipment. Chillers, cooling towers, fans, transformers, generators. The list is accurate and not especially useful, because it does not… -
What Australia’s data centre boom means for acoustic design before DA submission
September 11, 2026In August 2026 the NSW Government published the NSW Data Centre Guidelines, which record around 60 data centres already operating in the state and 19 projects in the State Significant… -
Infrastructure projects are being asked to do more than ever before
August 31, 2026The requirements attached to infrastructure projects have multiplied. A road project is also a noise abatement project, a biodiversity offset project, and a social procurement project. A water treatment upgrade… -
The infrastructure pipeline is growing. The approval pipeline is not.
August 28, 2026There is more infrastructure in planning across Australia right now than at any point in the past twenty years. Defence, energy, resources, water, transport, and digital infrastructure are all in… -
Australia’s renewable energy buildout is creating an infrastructure coordination challenge
August 24, 2026The renewable energy construction programme running across Australia is unlike anything the sector has delivered before. Wind, solar, battery storage, and the transmission infrastructure connecting them are all being built… -
Major projects are becoming interface management projects
August 21, 2026The complexity of major infrastructure projects has shifted. The technical problems are not getting harder. The interface problems are. More contractors, more packages, more design consultants, and more independent scopes… -
The water sector has entered its biggest investment cycle in decades
August 17, 2026Australia’s water sector is in the middle of a capital investment period that has no recent precedent. Ageing infrastructure, population growth, drought resilience requirements, and the transition to decarbonised treatment… -
Australia’s resources sector is building the next generation of processing infrastructure
August 14, 2026The resources sector is in a construction phase that goes beyond anything seen in the last decade. It is not simply a capacity expansion. The nature of what is being… -
The next infrastructure bottleneck may not be power
August 7, 2026The power conversation has dominated infrastructure planning for two years. Grid capacity, connection timelines, and energy procurement have become real programme constraints across the sector. Most of the attention in… -
Australia wants more data centres. The grid wants something else.
August 3, 2026Australia is commissioning data centres at a pace the grid was not designed to handle. The demand side is clear. Hyperscale operators, sovereign cloud programs, AI infrastructure investment, and federal… -
Data centres, neighbourhood amenity and the emerging planning challenge
July 31, 2026Data centre development in urban and peri-urban locations is increasing the rate at which large-scale continuous noise sources are introduced into areas where community amenity expectations are shaped by residential,… -
Why acoustic performance can be lost between design and construction
July 27, 2026An acoustic treatment scheme that is well-designed and correctly specified can still fail to deliver its intended performance if the gap between design documentation and site execution is not actively… -
What energy and industrial facilities teach about acoustic treatment in harsh environments
July 24, 2026Acoustic products installed in energy infrastructure and industrial facilities are subject to operating conditions that have no equivalent in commercial building applications. Coastal salt air, industrial chemical atmospheres, high UV… -
What project managers should look for beyond the noise report
July 20, 2026An acoustic assessment submitted as part of a project’s design documentation is a technical document. It contains noise predictions, comparisons against applicable criteria, and mitigation recommendations. For acoustic engineers, it… -
Why tonality in modern mechanical plant is becoming a project risk
July 17, 2026Tonal noise from mechanical plant is not a new engineering problem. It has been present in HVAC and industrial equipment for as long as rotating machinery has been used to…