Top acoustic firm locates to Plymouth Science Park

Noise can be a major blight in modern society and one Plymouth Science Park based company is helping to ensure housebuilders, developers, industrial sites and local businesses stay on the right side of the law.

HA Acoustics is an environmental consultancy firm which provides noise monitoring and acoustic assessments for councils, planners and architects to reduce the impact of unwanted sound.

Their specialist equipment helps ensure building façades are constructed to reduce noise, that construction sites meet local authority requirements and that musical concerts operate within set parameters to ensure local residents are protected from excessive noise.

The team works across the country where they regularly carry out noise assessments – everything from how extraction systems in restaurants can affect nearby homes through to reducing the impact of large scale outside events (without spoiling it for festival goers).

They can also examine how residential properties can be constructed to ensure external noise doesn’t affect future residents.

Company director Stuart Nixon studied Ocean Science at the University of Plymouth and is delighted to be returning to the city.

“The knowledge gained of wave formation at sea and the physics involved in it led me to develop a natural interest in sound propagation,” he says.

“At HA Acoustics we are applying what we’ve learnt from oceanography and using our knowledge of acoustics in the world of noise monitoring, and noise impact assessments, to the benefit of business and the community.”

Plymouth Science Park’s growing reputation for excellence in the world of science and technology was a key factor for HA Acoustics’ decision to base itself on the 25-acre site at Derriford.

“PSP is exceptionally professional and is based in a high growth area – both geographically and also for the companies which it hosts.”

“There are good links between PSP and the University of Plymouth. Lots of businesses on the site have a natural symbiotic link with what we do which provides us with lots of potential contacts with other science based firms on the site.”

Plymouth’s growing engineering and construction projects have been a further key factor for HA Acoustics decision to locate to the area. The firm says its niche expertise will benefit local businesses keen to build, and further enhance, the city’s growing reputation in education and research.

“It’s been nearly 15 years since I was at the university and every time I return I am amazed at the development, I still feel Plymouth is a fantastic city – everything from its modern array of high tech companies through to its sense of history with Plymouth Hoe, the Citadel, Smeatons’ Tower and the Breakwater.”