Brisbane City Council’s, City Plan 2014 has now been in operation for over 12 months, and developers and consultants have experienced the nuances of the document. The noise aspects of the plan include some familiar assessment methods and some new, more prescriptive approaches to development. For residential development the “Background Plus” approach has been used to set noise criteria for constant noise sources such as air conditioning plant and ventilation fans. This approach has been used successfully in Australia for over 25 years, and effectively limits the noise source to a level equal to or marginally above the existing background levels at the noise sensitive receiver. One of the significant changes has been the requirement for facades of residential buildings. If a proposed residential building is located in a particular zone then the façade must achieve a noise reduction of 30dB. The Acceptable Outcome listed in City Plan 2014 to meet this requirement is glazing with an acoustic rating of up to Rw35. In practical terms this means that buildings may require heavier glazing than was required for a building in the same location under the previous City Plan. The logic behind this approach is that Council is expecting these zones to become vibrant “noisy” areas in the future. Hence regardless of the present noise levels, the façade needs to be designed to allow for these future higher external noise levels. Depending on the design of the building, it may be possible to reduce the glazing required to meet the specified noise reduction of 30dB.