Facts
Company D. filed an application for a building permit to demolish the existing buildings on plot no. 474 in Lausanne and construct two mixed-use residential and office buildings. The project was opposed by the condominium association C. as well as A. and B., owners and occupants of the neighboring plot. Although the project was authorized by the Lausanne municipal authorities and the cantonal court, the Federal Supreme Court ultimately annulled these decisions. The Federal Supreme Court considered that not all reasonably feasible protective measures had been taken, particularly regarding the arrangement of noise-sensitive premises and constructive measures. Despite the overriding interest of the project in spatial planning, the significant exceedances of the immission limit values (up to 8 dB(A) at night) on certain facades and the lack of sufficient additional measures led the Federal Supreme Court to refuse the application of the derogatory regime provided for in Art. 31 para. 2 NAO.Considerations
According to the Federal Supreme Court, the issuance of a building permit in a noise-exposed area requires that all reasonably feasible protective measures have been taken, whether in the arrangement of noise-sensitive premises or in any constructive measures. In this case, the cantonal court did not sufficiently examine these aspects.
Furthermore, even if the planned measures did not allow compliance with the immission limit values, the project could have been…