[WATCH] Walking in Gzira where construction noise persists throughout ‘quiet’ afternoons

Construction noise persists throughout afternoon 'quiet hours'

The law stipulates clearly that any construction work which takes place between the hours of 2pm to 4pm must nost exceed a noise level of 65dB.

However, in an exercise carried out by MaltaToday in Gzira – where we visited six building sites in the town’s several under-construction areas – it emerged quite clearly that the regulations requiring that the level of noise be kept to a certain limit in the “siesta” hours were being disregarded.

The law stipulates that during that two-hour break period, no construction work generating more than a 65dB level of sound can take place.

However, all six sites we visited appeared to be breaking this rule, with work remaining ongoing during the break period, and noise levels exceeding those permitted for that time of day.

A smartphone app, which we used to measure sound, registered levels of around 70 to 75dB on five of the sites, while one other construction site, situated on The Strand, was generating a level of 8 dB and over.

All site visits took place between 2pm and 3pm on Thursday. The readings were confirmed using a second sound-measuring meter app, which generated nearly identical results.

Some perimeter fencing - as in the photo above - requires attention to ensure no unathorised visitors can gain access to the sites

On a positive note, we observed that all the sites we visited managed to contain the dust generated on-site and stop it from spreading outside their perimeters.