Air Quality Assessments in Belfast

Belfast Air Quality Assessment

Development in Belfast

Belfast is the largest city in Northern Ireland, home to nearly 400,000 residents and accounting for almost a third of all workers in the country. As a vibrant port-city, its economic success routes back to its history in the engineering and linen industries, at one point being the largest linen-producer globally.With a mix of historical interest, as captured above by Roger Price/ CC BY-SA 2.0, and cutting edge architecture, the city offers prime development opportunities.

The city is currently undergoing major regeneration, with a particular focus on city centre living. The council plans to build 31,600 homes across Belfast by 2035. This, combined with recent developments including the £340 million Grand Central Station, which opened its doors in September 2024, sets Belfast up for rapid growth over the coming years.

With growth comes an increase in people, buildings, vehicles, and, inevitably, environmental impact, with air pollution being a significant factor. Poor air quality is now the leading environmental risk to public health in the UK, making it vital to effectively manage the impacts of such rapid expansion. Air Quality Assessments in Belfast play a key role in the development process, ensuring a sustainable future with clean air for local residents.

Air Quality in Belfast

Air pollution has recently been said to be linked to approximately 800 deaths per year across Northern Ireland. Though air quality has been steadily improving in recent years, there are still multiple locations across Belfast which experience elevated nitrogen dioxide concentrations due to road vehicle exhaust emissions.

In order to mitigate poor air quality within the city, Belfast City Council has launched their Air Quality Action Plan, which includes the enhancement of the Park and Ride facilities and provision of e-bikes across the city, alongside other measures. Additionally, Belfast has been involved in a European project to introduce hydrogen-fuelled buses to the local transport network.

It is crucial that developments continue to support an improvement in air quality. This should be managed through sound determination and effective mitigation of air quality impacts associated with proposals. This is why Air Quality Assessments in Belfast are needed.

Air Quality Assessments for Planning

Air Quality Assessments in Belfast are now required in support of nearly all planning applications for new developments. Typically, these comprise assessment of three main elements. These are:

  • Potential exposure of future occupiers to harmful pollution levels.
  • The impact of emissions from vehicles travelling to and from the scheme.
  • The impact of dust emissions generated during construction.

Addressing these as part of your application could be the deciding factor for its success or refusal.

Air Quality Assessments in Belfast

The success of your planning application could be aided by Redmore Environmental’s experience undertaking Air Quality Assessments in Belfast. You will gain advice on planning applications and discharging conditions to addressing consultation responses and public comments. We have produced Air Quality Assessments in Belfast for residential, as well as industrial and healthcare facilities. Last year alone, over 500 assessments were completed in support of developments similar to yours.

Across Belfast, we have been involved in a number of exciting projects in recent years. These include:

  • Ormeau Road, Belfast – Air Quality Assessment to support a planning application for the demolition of the existing building and subsequent construction of an eight-storey development to provide 271 residential dwellings and associated infrastructure.
  • Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast – Air Quality Assessment to support the construction and operation of two gas-fired boilers and associated exhaust flues to serve Royal Victoria Hospital.
  • Belfast Power Plant – Plume Assessment in support of the construction and operation of a 480MW power plant fuelled by natural gas adjacent to Belfast City Airport. This will contribute to the transition away from coal powered energy production across Northern Ireland.
  • Diageo, Belfast – Air Quality Assessment to support installation of a new emissions stack to serve an existing boiler at Diageo International Supply Centre.

Air Quality Assessment Services

Our air quality experts specialise in all aspects of air quality consultancy. Those relating to planning include:

Additional Services

We also have expertise in the following areas:

Get in Touch

If you are concerned about air quality or require an Air Quality Assessment in Belfast undertaking to support a planning application for your development, then please get in touch today to discuss how we can help you ensure permission is granted.

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