What should I build, and what will it cost?
Height, length, position and returns, modelled for your own boundary, with an indicative cost and a straight answer if a fence won’t help.
A calculated estimate from national road and rail data, not an on-site measurement. Accuracy & limits
- one report, the total you pay
- £349
- barrier calculation over your own boundary
- ISO 9613-2
- all modelled, not decided by eye
- Height · length · returns
- once, if you upgrade from your Feasibility report
- £99 credited
Every design starts as a wireframe
Height, length and position — modelled from your real boundary, then built up board by board into the same geometry your report specifies. Scroll to watch it resolve.
And an honest answer if a fence will not help
The standard barrier calculation treats a garden fence as though it runs forever. Modelled honestly — as a line of sources along the road — a typical 16 m fence gives under 3 dB, which most people would not notice. Some properties simply cannot be fixed with a fence. We would rather say so before you spend money on a fence than after.
Cost against benefit, not height against hope
The barrier card sets the recommended height beside what it buys and an indicative installed cost, and compares it with the permitted-development height and the best possible, so you can see what each extra metre is worth before anyone quotes.
The Fence Feasibility Check (£99) runs the same engine and gives you a plain verdict -- worth it or not -- plus an indicative cost range. If you upgrade to this full design afterwards, the £99 you paid is credited once, against the same assessment, when you upgrade from your Feasibility report: you pay £250 more, not £349 again.
Try the physics yourself
Drag the fence height and watch what each metre actually buys.
Illustrative fixed geometry — Maekawa screening of a single source at 500 Hz, shown side by side with the realistic whole-road case above. Your actual report runs the harder, honest calculation on your real boundary, road and terrain — and it says so if a fence will not help.
What you get
- Modelled fence height, length and position
- Where returns need to go, and how long
- The acoustic shadow mapped across your garden
- An interactive model you can drag
- Matched acoustic fencing products
What this is — and what it isn't
- Automated and modelled — produced by our software from national datasets, not measured at your property.
- No site visit and no individual human review of your report.
- Every report states its uncertainty range. Figures are estimates within that range.
- Not suitable as the sole or primary evidence for a planning application or appeal, legal proceedings, an insurance claim, or anything else needing a precise measured level.
- In a purchase or price negotiation it is supporting context for your own decision — not a valuation, and not a measured figure the other side has to accept.
If you need a figure that will stand up for planning, a legal dispute or an insurance claim, you need a measured survey by a qualified acoustic consultant — not this report. We will tell you that rather than sell you the wrong thing.
Why returns often matter more than height
Where end-effects dominate the sound path
- Past a point, extra height buys comparatively little on its own
- Sound arrives obliquely, around the ends of the fence
- Returns close those paths — often several dB where more height gives a fraction of one
- And a fence up to 1 m stays within permitted development next to a road used by vehicles (2 m elsewhere)
What this doesn’t cover yet
Real limits, stated up front
- Planning permission — the recommended height is capped at the limit usually allowed without it; taller is often physically possible but likely needs a householder application
- The Party Wall Act — work on or near a shared boundary can trigger its own separate notice requirements
- Leasehold consent — a lease will often also require the freeholder’s or landlord’s written consent
- Structural design — wind loading, foundations and fixings for a barrier solid enough to work acoustically; have a builder or structural engineer check this separately, before you build
The report you download
Eight pages for the sample property: the result, the 24-hour profile, the noise map, and the fence design with its options, returns and costs. Hover to pause.
The downloadable Acoustic Barrier Design PDF, scrolling page by page — fictional sample property, not a real assessment
Built on the national datasets
Modelled from national datasets with the standard UK methods — and labelled as modelled, always.
Questions fence-builders ask
Do I need planning permission for an acoustic fence?
In most gardens, up to 2 metres falls within permitted development (1 metre next to a highway) — England rules; always confirm locally, especially in conservation areas. The design report flags when a recommended height would need an application.
Why might the report say a fence will not work?
Because sometimes it will not, and pretending otherwise would sell you a fence that does not help. If your geometry cannot break line of sight, or flanking around the ends would undo the screening, the report says so before you spend.
What makes a fence acoustic rather than ordinary?
Mass and continuity: a surface mass of roughly 12 kg/m² or more, no gaps or slots, boards that stay sealed as they weather — and enough length, with returns, that sound cannot simply come around the ends.
Do fencing suppliers pay to be recommended?
No. The fencing products matched in your report are selected on acoustic performance alone. No fencing supplier pays AcoustaPLOT, and we do not use affiliate links. If that ever changes, we will say so next to the recommendation.
How precise are the height and position you specify?
The design runs ISO 9613-2 barrier calculations over your drawn boundary, your road geometry and terrain, and states its uncertainty. You get a specific height, length and position — with a sensitivity table showing what each extra half-metre buys.
Do I need my neighbour's agreement to build this?
Often, yes. A fence or wall on or near a shared boundary can engage the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, which has its own notice requirements separate from planning permission. If the property is leasehold, the lease will often separately require the freeholder's or landlord's written consent for an external structure like this — the report flags both, but take your own advice before starting work.
Every AcoustaPLOT report is a desktop model — fast, honest about its uncertainty, and the right tool before a decision. Where a figure must stand up formally, for planning or a dispute, the route is an on-site measured survey by a qualified acoustician. How that works →
The Complete Property Noise Report (£499) includes everything here, plus mitigation options with indicative costs, a priority order, a future-risk check and negotiation context.
Know what the fence will do before you pay for it.
For £349: the modelled height, length, position and returns for your boundary, an indicative cost, and an honest verdict if a fence won’t help.