Unless the contractors have been issued with a permit, construction sites located within 150m from noise sensitive premises (e.g. hospital, home for the aged) and residential buildings are not allowed to carry out construction work during the time periods (known as ‘no-work’ rule) indicated below:
(a) 10.00 pm on Saturday till 7.00 am on the following Monday; and
(b) 10.00 pm on the eve of public holiday till 7.00 am on the day following the public holiday.
Contractors may apply for permits to carry out quieter work at the architectural phase or near the end of the construction project period. These permitted sites are required to comply with a set of stringent conditions such as;
- implementing a 50m no-work zone from the residential area,
- restricted working hours from 10am to 5pm on Sun/PH;
- no use of heavy machineries or noisy powered tools; and
- contractors to inform the stakeholders i.e. advisors, residents, of the work schedule in advance.
NEA also allows work* of public interest and of safety-critical nature to be carried out during the prohibited time periods. These projects are granted conditional exemptions from NEA’s ‘no-work’ rule. Nevertheless, such projects are required to implement all practicable noise mitigation measures to reduce any potential noise disturbances to the nearby residents and ensure close monitoring of the noise levels generated from the work activities.
*Key infrastructure projects, scheduled road work, emergency work and MRT network renewal work.