Air quality assessment in Westminster

12 February 2016

Aether has been asked to undertake an air quality assessment using dispersion modelling for a proposed development site in Westminster, London. The development consists of the refurbishment of restaurant space on the ground floor, as well as refurbishment and extension of the residential dwellings on the first, second, third and fourth floors. Because of its location, the development suffers from elevated levels of air pollution, mainly due to high levels of traffic. There was concern whether there will be exceedance of the air quality objectives for particulate matter (PM10) or nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at the proposed site.

The assessment was undertaken using ADMS-Roads, a dispersion model that can determine the scale of potential impacts due to small networks of roads and industrial sources. In addition, an air quality neutral assessment was undertaken, assessing the impact of the proposed building in accordance with the London Plan Policy 7.14, which requires all development proposals within Greater London to be at least ‘air quality neutral’ and not lead to further deterioration of existing poor air quality. The work will provide the developer and the Local Authority with the information they need to make an informed decision about the air pollution mitigation options required, so that residents are not exposed to high nitrogen dioxide concentrations.

See all news

Testimonial

Don't just take our word for it...

“Professional team and very collaborative communication. Effective result in terms of suggestions for improvement in the quality of the inventory and proposals on how to streamline specific topics.”

Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research

“Saint Lucia embraces the professional approach with which this project was undertaken by Aether, particularly their ability to develop mentorship relations with local government experts. This provides a basis for ensuring that the pool of local experts remain engaged and recognized over successive processes.”

Annette Rattigan-Leo, Chief Sustainable Development and Environment Officer

“It has been a pleasure to work with Chris Dore and Richard Claxton from Aether: they did their job in a very professional and timely manner. The workshop was organized and carried out in a cooperative spirit; the information provided to the workshop participants was complete and clear.”

Alina Novikova, UN/ECE Secretariat

“The support provided by Aether for this project was especially remarkable considering the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tools and methods used in order to engage local stakeholders really added value to the capacity building of the national team.”

Shanna Emmanuel, Saint Lucia BUR Project Coordinator

“Chris was excellent to work with and always very pro active in making suggestions, taking work forward and applying his considerable technical knowledge in effective ways.”

Robert Vaughan, Defra Air Quality Team

“The team at Aether works very professionally and communicates very well which makes working with them a pleasure. Outputs are delivered on time to high quality. The team brings the rigour of technical knowledge and expertise and finds innovative ways of communicating complex messages. I would be happy to recommend the Aether team to organisations working on analysing and presenting emissions information in the public domain.”

Fiona Glover, States of Jersey

“The Aether team were a joy to work with and I would recommend the consultancy - the service provided throughout the process was exceptional. Where there were problems, they provided solutions. The team were working to very short time scales but were able to deliver a high quality piece of work within the specified time frame.”

Sefton Council - for the Merseyside Atmospheric Emissions Inventory

“A heartfelt thank you to all the Aether team for this very comprehensive review – this is certainly turning out to be one of the most beneficial capacity building projects I have ever been involved in.”

Saviour Vassallo, Senior Environment Protection Officer, Malta Resources Authority

“Aether's approach to couple innovative visualisation with high expertise manpower delivered valuable insights for our inventory work.”

Umweltbundesamt (Germany)

“If we have a need for any more reports in the future Aether will be first on my list.”

Alan Hardy, Kyson Design

Contact us

Get in touch

Call us on +44 1865 261 466, complete the short form below, or go to the Contact page

 Security code