Air Pollution in London – Air Quality Improvement Projects

Reducing air pollution by improving environmental air quality in any big city can be a real challenge… but if done correctly it can also deliver significant health and environmental benefits. Here we take a look at the impact of environmental projects supported by the mayors air quality fund have had on air pollution in London, environmental air quality, environmental pollution and emissions, and the benefits to Londoners. We look at initiatives that have worked to raise awareness of air pollution issues, limit emissions and other measures taken to improve environmental and air quality in the UK’s capital.

Improving London’s Air Quality

Since April 2013 the Mayor’s air quality fund has approved funding for 42 projects across London. Our projects are protecting, educating and enthusing the next generation of Londoners as agents of change.

At Winston Way Primary School… Hussain ‘I have learnt more about what gasses are in the air we breathe, how to make our air cleaner.’

Helen Young – Meteorologist ‘They are so now well informed for children of their age that I know they will take the lessons they have learnt on this project into their adult life as well. The funding here has allowed us to build a green wall which is absolutely fantastic it is very iconic. Commuters as they drive past will see the green wall and hopefully they will think why is that there?’

Reducing Air Pollution in London

Rachel Gates – Air Quality Apprentice – ‘we are reaching many schools and community groups through our Herron Gate air quality apprentice – just encouraging one child to walk or cycle can save society £768 pounds worth of NHS costs and also reduce air pollution and congestion.’

And across London through the breath better together campaign…

Adam Webber – Breathe Better Together – ‘The aim of this project is to say yes it is a problem but here are some really simple things you can do. We have lots of stalls, we have the pollution globe and it is a really attention grabbing thing.’

Al-Khasim – ‘It was fun you can actually feel pollution in the air’

Boris Johnson – Mayor of London – ‘ I think children really care about it, it is their future and they understand it and it is totally wrong that they should be growing up in a city where the air quality isn’t as good as it could be.’

Helping People Vulnerable to Air Pollution

We are combining our efforts with health professionals winning several projects at famous London hospitals such as Barts and Great Ormond Street to reduce the amount of air pollution vulnerable patients were exposed to.

Rowan Boase – Programme Manager – ‘We are giving out warm and well packs to community based clinicians at Mile End Hospital. We are using them as trusted advisors going into people’s homes to give people advice on how they can stay warm and well at home and also reduce domestic air pollution emmissions.‘

Helping London Businesses Reduce Emissions

We are supporting many businesses to identify and reduce their emissions.

Patrick Donnelly – Zero Emmissions Network – ‘In the case of the eco audit we have an expert that comes into the business premises and look at how they light the area and heat it, how they get rid of waste and recommend their ways of reducing energy… growing up to 346 businesses.’

We are encouraging councils to work in partnership to reduce the amount of vehicles on the roads.

Councillor Sally Gimson – Camden Council – ‘The Mayors air quality fund has allowed us to run a fabulous project which is a freight consolidation project. It has cut the number of journeys that our vans are making into London by about half, so there are half as many vans delivering goods to our offices. That is good for air quality, that is good for congestion and in the long term it should save us money.’

With construction being a major cause of air population we are working closely with some of the biggest companies in the sector to help measure and reduce pollution emissions.

Daniel Marsh – Air Quality Analyst, Kings College London – ‘Kings college London are currently using construction sites as living labs for carrying out trails across the sites where we are adding best in class mitigation measures and then measuring the impact on those on local air quality.’

Robin Marshall – Lafarge Tarmac – ‘Changing ways in which we actually run our process to minimize the amount of dust emissions by doing this project we can now establish what is the best technique.’

The Mayor’s air quality fund has supported 42 innovative projects from the breath better together campaign which will reach hundreds of thousands of Londoners to cutting edge projects working to reduce some of the biggest and most difficult sources of pollution such as freight and construction.

Improving London’s Air Quality

Boris Johnson – ‘We are incredibly ambitious to make London one of the cleanest sweetest atmospheres in the world.’

Sally Gimson – ‘There are cities all over Europe who are looking at us and looking at this model and wanting to copy this model and we know that we could have a greater impact if more businesses and more institutions here in the centre of London took part – the air quality fund for us has been an amazing thing for us to have.’

Mayor’s Air Quality Fund – Mayors Office London

World Class Air Quality Testing & Monitoring Solutions

WTS are a leading independent UK water, air, energy and environmental services company offering expert environmental management solutions including professional air quality testing and full support services.

With offices in London serving the South and South East England, Manchester (North West), Birmingham (Midlands), Bristol (South East England and Wales), Leeds (North and North East) and Glasgow (Scotland), supported by regional teams of specially trained engineers, site service specialists and technical experts we can offer air quality and other environmental solutions across the whole of the UK.

Contact WTS today to discuss how an air quality assessment could improve the quality of your working or home environments… contact us →

Further Reading…

More information about air pollution and air quality issues … here →