The wretched St WIlliam’s Yard development is going through an incredibly noisy phase of construction as the site is cleared and sheet piles are driven along the site boundary to enable the basement car park to be dug out. The noise this Saturday morning was appalling – from before nine o’clock the most awful noise was being created that reverberated around this densely populated residential area. I shot a video to get the noise across which should play if you click the window below (remember to turn your speakers on). If that doesn’t work for you click here.
MONDAY UPDATE – Cllr Paul Convery is on the case and has mailed the Council officials and the construction company as in the attached document. There is some handy information in there about vibration in construction Download st_williams_yard_convery_mails_re_vibration.doc
Kings Cross Environment 
This has become very serious. It was quite a shock to be woken early on Saturday morning by this extraordinarily noisy procedure. But that may be the least of our worries.
The vibration effects caused by this piling method are already showing signs of damage to our houses. I noticed dust from opened cracks in the plasterboard of walls and a small piece of pointing in our external brickwork fell off the house. This was the result of just a half dozen or so piles being inserted and it is clear that there are several hundred still to go if the entire site is to be bounded.
Unlike impact piling where a hammer drives the piling into the ground, this technique vibrates the pile downwards (there’s basically just soil and clay to go through). However, it shakes the area for many hundred metres around and it feels just like there’s a washing machine on spin cycle in the same room – and every room – in the house.
I have alerted the Borough’s public protection people and asked the developer to call an immediate halt to this work. Legal action has to be a serious consideration if our homes are not to be shaken to bits.
The piling continued during Monday 15th but, it seems, with rather less noise and vibration than on Saturday 13th. On Wednesday 17th at 11.30am I have arranged for Sukky Choongh, a Senior Technical Officer in the Council’s Public Protection Division, to visit and inspect. It is possible that the lower levels of noise and vibration will pass muster.