Impact of Road Works on Scott and Zaara Streets

This report describes the impact of road works undertaken by City of Newcastle around “The
Carlton” building at 19 Scott Street Newcastle.

Fig 1

The Carlton Building was originally a private hotel and is one of the East End’s iconic buildings with
local Heritage listed facades. The building’s strata consist of 10 residential apartments and 1
commercial lot.

Fig 2
The building dates back to the 1880’s and consists of a mix of masonry load bearing walls (the
facades) and reinforced concrete columns and beams arising from later redevelopment. The facades
sit on shallow foundations on reclaimed sand dunes.

The building was cracked as a result of the road work undertaken by Supercars in September 2017,
as a result of trenching work, milling , compaction and the placing of 4 Tonne barriers around the
building to build the race track . The most damaging vibration impacting the building was from
vibration rollers ,which were used within 3 metres of our foundations even though we note that the
NSW Transport Roads and Maritime Services - Construction Noise and Vibration Guidelines August
2016 expressly prohibit the use of such equipment near sensitive structures ( the vibration roller
used near our building was 8 Tonnes which in section 7.1 (see below) of the above guidelines should
not operate closer than 15 metres ( note – “The minimum working distances for cosmetic damage
must be complied with at all times”)

We were informed by Ryan Tranter that the Council conform with the NSW R&M Guidelines, which
clearly, they don’t.

Email received 15th February 2019

Mr Davies,

The works to be completed is standard road maintenance under our Road Resurfacing Program as
part of the City of Newcastle asset renewal process.

Work on the kerb and gutter and footpath is currently underway. This is being completed under
standard work practice for this type of work, which would include jack hammering, excavation, sub
base shaping, adjustment to utilities, and then placement/finishing of concrete. The footpath will be
replaced in concrete to allow greater performance of the surface around the existing utilities points
at this location, and reduce ongoing maintenance of this point.

The road resurfacing works is currently scheduled for night works over 24/25 February. You will
receive specific notification to all residents in relation to this work, which will include times of work,
access changes, parking changes, contact details, and information around traffic controls in place.
The works will be standard road resurfacing, and will include milling, excavation, placement,
compaction (including vibration), and removal/replacement of traffic devices in the road.

All works will be conducted as per standard City practice, in line with the guidelines as set by the
NSW Roads and Maritime Services.

Regards

Ryan

Ryan Tranter | Program Manager - Major Events

City of Newcastle | Strategy and Engagement

Major Events and Corporate Affairs | Events

T:+61249742817 | M:+61478879220 | E:rtranter@ncc.nsw.gov.au

Newcastle - a smart, liveable, sustainable global city.

Cooperation | Respect | Excellence | Wellbeing

The Carlton employed Vibration and Acoustic Consultant Robert Carr and Associates (RCA) to
monitor both vibration and noise levels around the Carlton building and we have their reports.
These reports cover;

1) The road and track build including the race in 2017

2) The track build and race in 2018

3) The road repairs in February and March 2019.

In 2017 we monitored vibration that exceeded the DIN 4150 specification which is endorsed by the
NSW R&M Services guidelines. In particular the Vibration Rollers did damage to our building both
internally and externally.
The roll out of the 4 Tonne barriers delivered the biggest shock to the building that we measured.

During the recent road repairs on the 24th February 2019, multiple vibration rollers were used well in
to the early hours of the morning on the 25th February 2019. These rollers shook our building while
delivering noise levels of over 85 dB (and this was a Sunday night). The following photos show the
activity in Scott and Zaara Streets outside of the Carlton’s entry at 12.20 am on the 25th February
2019.

Fig 3
Fig 4

The vibration measured in the Carltons foyer was as follows;

The noise levels during the evening was well in excess of the ICNG Guildlines

Below is a summary of the results of our noise measurements provided by our consultant RCA

So what has all this vibration done to our building. Below are some photos showing the cracks that
have opened in the building over the last year.This is but one of many with units within the building
have ceilings cracked and floors moved.
3rd March 2018 Zaara and Scott Corner near Carlton Entry. Photo taken as part of Dilapidation
Report .

4th March 2019 Zaara and Scott Street Corner near Carlton Entry
Recommendations

Given the damage that the race is inflicting on the East End from vibration during track build
and repair as well as the race roll out it seems that the EPA and City of Newcastle should do the
following;

1) Ensure all work is done in accordance with CoN’s own stated policies (see Ryan Tranter
email).

2) Ban the use of Vibration Rollers anywhere in the East End of Newcastle

3) Ensure that all work is conducted in accordance with the ICNG guidelines

4) Review the vibration levels being transmitted by the temporary speed humps which we have
measured and which are transmitting vibration well in excess of the DIN 4150 standard. We
measured vibration in the Carlton foyer arising from the speed hump on the corner of Zaara
and Scott Street at 8.8 mm/sec on the 24th October 2018 and this is well over the DIN max of
8.00 mm/sec.