building noise at work

[underthecosh]

It is what it says on the tin. I work in a small office, and the building next door has been vacant for a while. Think a row of terrace type townhouses, cheek by jowl on a busy city street. The builders have moved in next door & they are converting it to 2 apartments- my desk is right next to the adjoining wall, and every day there is drilling, demolition, loud building noise and being the geek I am, I measured it. 80dB plus on and off. I can't even think straight, never mind talk to people on the phone most times, and I feel it's really impeding my work. I leave with a massive headache. I'm often in the office on my own, so my boss doesn't have to sit through it for 4 hours (I work part time).
I've tried to do a bit of reading and the general vibe is I have to suck it up. So, wise Mumsnetters, do I? I didn't even know they were going to do this work until it had started, and it's getting a bit too much every day with no sign of an end as yet.

What has your boss said when you've raised these concerns with him/her?

To be honest, I think you have to suck it up. Especially if you're only there part time. Just be glad you're not living next door! You can suggest working from home/elsewhere but that really depends on your job as to whether that's a feasible option or not.

A bit of a shrug, really. He's hardly ever there. I would be keener to brush it off, but I genuinely cannot hear people on the phone, and that is a considerable part of my job, as is a fair degree of concentration- I deal with Letting agreements, and really can't afford to screw that up.

D escalate the problem formally and ask them to move you as far away from the adjoining wall as possible because it's affecting the ability to do your job, and impacting on required business calls with customers.

Presumably the building work has a finite time period. Can your company complain to the builders or to the development company formally?

Sorry I'd escalate that should say.