Category: Construction and property developers, Air quality assessments

Air quality monitoring

Aether was commissioned by Berkeley Homes to undertake an air quality assessment for the proposed installation of gas fired boilers at 250 City Road.

Aether was commissioned by Berkeley Homes to undertake an air quality assessment for the proposed installation of gas fired boilers at 250 City Road. Dispersion modelling was undertaken and a ‘slightly adverse’ impact on local nitrogen dioxide concentrations was found at worst case locations. Other pollutants were not of concern. One uncertainty in the modelling was the background nitrogen dioxide concentrations, as the data obtained from the nearby background monitoring station differed to that obtained from the Defra background concentration maps. In addition, the current pollution contribution from City Road was also uncertain. Therefore a nitrogen dioxide monitoring survey using diffusion tubes was commissioned to determine the current pollution levels at various points around the development site.

The challenge

At the time of monitoring, the area was a building site and therefore none of the buildings that will be constructed as part of the development were available for monitoring at. The site also needed to be clear of obstructions. Therefore the diffusion tubes were placed around the perimeter of the development site and from this interpolations had to be made. 

The solution

Five diffusion tubes were exposed at the extremes of the site for periods of between 4 and 5 months in accordance with the UK Nitrogen dioxide survey timetable. One location was at first floor level to provide an indication of concentrations above ground level. 

The result

The results indicated that concentrations exceeded the annual mean nitrogen dioxide objective in some residential locations close to City Road, which confirmed the indications provided by the dispersion modelling. Therefore, the installation of NOx/NO2 filters was recommended at these locations.

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Melanie Hobson

Director

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Testimonial

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“Engaging Aether to support us to develop the first GHG Inventory System and first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for the United Republic of Tanzania has been a rewarding experience due to their high level of professionalism, creativity, timeliness and value for money. We will definitely consider Aether in our future initiatives.”

Abbas Kitogo, Programme Specialist Energy and Climate Change, UNDP Tanzania

“The professional service provided by your company was of very high quality and completed within agreed timelines.”

Matthew Dudley, UNFCCC Secretariat

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

Alan Hardy, Kyson Design

“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

“Aether is a great partner for work in the area of European Air Emissions. The team was committed, reliable, well organised and had a deep technical understanding and motivated other partners with their good spirit.”

Umweltbundesamt: Environment Agency Austria

“Aether delivered training workshops and generated learning materials for our SSN members, providing technical content in a manageable and comprehendible format. We particularly benefitted from their extensive knowledge and ability to interpret the needs of our members into the training materials.”

Jennifer Anderson, Sustainable Scotland Network

“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

“It is always an absolute pleasure working with Aether. I always know what is expected of me. Their work ethic is of a very high standard and projects are always handled in a very professional manner. I have learnt many skills in terms of project management, quality control and workshop training styles from Aether and I hope to carry these principles forward in my own work. I look forward to collaborating with Aether more in the future.”

Luanne Stevens, Gondwana

“The Aether team were a joy to work with and I would recommend the consultancy - the service provided throughout the process was exceptional.”

Clare Bayley, Defra

“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

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