+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
Residential 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 studyResidential Air Quality Assessment, Dartford
Category: Construction and Property Developers, Air Quality Assessments
A case study of the Air Quality Assessments Aether delivers for residential developments, here for a proposed development in Dartford.
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: 10 September 2026
Rail Freight Group award win
Aether were the winner in the Innovation category at the Rail Freight Group Annual Awards. The award recognises two RSSB research projects which are already delivering improvements for the rail freight sector.
Read full storyPosted on: 19 June 2026
NECD Review Week in Brussels
Aether spent a week at the European Commission in Brussels as part of the review of air pollutant inventories submitted under the EU’s National Emission reduction Ceilings Directive (NECD).
Read full storyPosted on: 18 May 2026
Power Query Workshop in Estonia
Aether travelled to the Estonian Environmental Research Centre (EKUK) in Tallinn to deliver a two-day training workshop for the inventory team to build capacity on the Excel power queries used in the GHG inventory templates previously set up by Aether in 2022.
Read full storyPosted on: 30 April 2026
Capacity Sharing in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Aether delivered a three-day GHG inventory capacity building workshop in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, towards development of the BTR1.
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
