+44 1865 259200
Aether was commissioned by Ballymore to undertake an air quality assessment for a proposed energy centre in phase 2 of the development at Royal Wharf in the London borough of Newham. Royal Wharf is a mixed use development and will consist of more than 3,000 homes including townhouses, three and four bed duplexes, two and one bed apartments and suites. In order to discharge pre commencement planning conditions, an assessment was required in order to ensure that the stack heights were enough to prevent any significant impact on residents’ exposure and to ensure compliance with the 1993 Clean Air Act.
The challenge
The Review and Assessment process carried out by the London Borough of Newham has highlighted elevated concentrations of pollution arising from road traffic in congested areas. An Air Quality Management Area has been declared for both the annual mean nitrogen dioxide objective and the daily mean particulate matter (PM10) objective along the main roads in the borough including North Woolwich Road (A1020), which runs along the northern boundary of the site. Therefore it was key that any air pollution arising from the energy centre was not going to substantially impact on local air quality and adversely impact the Council’s air quality action plan.
The solution
The dispersion model AERMOD was used to assess the impact of the energy centre on local air pollutant concentrations. The centre consists of gas fired CHP and large gas fired boilers. Therefore, nitrogen oxides were the main pollutant of concern.
The result
Pollution abatement equipment is being fitted to reduce the nitrogen oxide emissions as far as possible in order to minimise the impact on local residents. For example, the CHP plants will have selective catalytic reducers fitted.
Melanie Hobson
Director
Related case studies
Air quality monitoring
Category: Construction and Property Developers, Air Quality Assessments
Aether was commissioned by Berkeley Homes to undertake an air quality assessment for the proposed installation of gas fired boilers at 250 City Road.
Read case studyResidential AQA, Westbourne Park in London
Category: Construction and Property Developers, Air Quality Assessments
Aether was commissioned to undertake an air quality assessment, air quality neutral assessment and construction dust assessment for a proposed large residential development on Edenham Way in Westbourne Park in London.
Read case studyIndustrial air quality assessment
Category: Construction and Property Developers, Air Quality Assessments
Aether was commissioned by Ballymore to undertake an air quality assessment for a proposed energy centre in phase 2 of the development at Royal Wharf in the London borough of Newham.
Read case studyNews
Latest news
Posted on: 17 March 2026
Central Asia Study Tour: Air Quality Workshop
Aether provided representatives from Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) who were visiting the UK on a study tour with an introduction to air quality management.
Read full storyPosted on: 26 February 2026
Pakistan Training Workshop on Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV), Carbon Markets, and Article 6 Mechanisms
Aether staff delivered a workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan on the fundamentals of MRV and GHG inventories.
Read full storyPosted on: 13 January 2026
Devolved Governments Air Pollutant Emissions Inventories
The air pollutant emissions inventories for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were published in September 2025. The data covers the period 2005 to 2023, for the pollutants ammonia, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, PM10, PM2.5, sulphur dioxide, and lead.
Read full storyPosted on: 11 December 2025
Aether provided training to strengthen Government of Jersey’s climate policy modelling capacity
Aether completed a project for to train staff in Government of Jersey in using Aether's Carbon Scenario Model to quantify the carbon impacts of net zero policies. The model is a key tool for the Government of Jersey for informing policy decisions on climate actions, and other related policies.
Read full storyFilter news by category
Aether Blog Air Pollution Air Quality Assessments Barriers to Net Zero Capacity Building Carbon Footprint Climate Emergency Climate Equality Climate Finance Consumption COP28 Culture Data Visualisation Economic Status Emissions Reporting European Topic Centre GHG Infrastructure Inventories Local Government Mitigation MRV National Government Net Zero Oxfam Paris Agreement Policy Recruitment Society Stakeholder Engagement Waste Sector Wider Impacts
Testimonial
