Air Quality Assessments in Birmingham

Development in Birmingham

Birmingham is the second largest city in Britain and the youngest major city in Europe. Its central location and good access links afforded it a leading role during the Industrial Revolution and provided the perfect location for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. With a mix of historical interest, as captured above by Graham Beards/ CC BY-SA 4.0, and cutting edge architecture, the city offers prime development opportunities.

The aforementioned Games provided a fantastic platform for Birmingham to showcase its transformation from a manufacturing hub to a thriving service-led economy. Upcoming major developments look set to cement Birmingham’s place as an exciting place to live, invest and work in. University of Birmingham, for example, is completing a life sciences campus that will contribute £400 million to the local economy. Birmingham Curzon Street – HS2 will be the first brand new intercity terminus station built in Britain since the 19^th century. Whilst Arena Central will provide over 1 million sq ft of development, primarily for high-quality offices and city centre residential accommodation. With such growth, comes more people, buildings, vehicles and consequently, an environmental impact, of which air pollution is a main player. Given that poor air quality is now the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK, it is essential that the effect from such soaring growth is managed effectively. Air Quality Assessments in Birmingham are a crucial part of the development process to enable a sustainable and clean air future for local residents.

Air Quality in Birmingham

Air quality has become less of a visible issue since the days when thick black soot could be seen in the air of Birmingham. However, we know from the science, as pioneered at the University of Birmingham, that it is just as prejudicial to human health. Long term trends show improvement in air quality across the city, though there are still exceedences of the UK Air Quality Objectives across the city.

In 2021, Birmingham implemented a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in order to help further improve air quality across the city. Reductions of up to 7.3% in Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) were seen within the first year of operation as a result. 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 Birmingham are needed.

Air Quality Assessments for Planning

Air Quality Assessments in Birmingham 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 Birmingham

Success of your planning application could be aided by Redmore Environmental’s 20 years of experience undertaking Air Quality Assessments in Birmingham. You will gain advice on planning applications and discharging conditions to addressing consultation responses and public comments. We have produced Air Quality Assessments in Birmingham for residential and educational schemes, as well as industrial and commercial facilities. Last year alone, over 500 assessments were completed in support of developments similar to yours.

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

• Broad Street, Birmingham – Demolition of the existing buildings and subsequent development of a 35-storey tower, providing residential apartments alongside an eight-storey hotel. Here’s our case study for a more detailed review of the project.
• Summer Hill Road, Birmingham – Demolition of an existing car dealership and subsequent construction of a 4 to 18-storey building to provide circa 198 residential units and associated infrastructure.
• Melvina Road, Birmingham – Change of use of Nechells Green Community Centre to a 96-bedroom student accommodation development including additional massing changes, circa 9 car parking spaces and associated infrastructur.
• Brook Hill Road, Birmingham – Planning application for 21 residential units with associated infrastructure on a brownfield site.
• Queensgate Square, Birmingham – Construction of one 15-storey block and one 12-storey block to provide 159 residential units.

Air Quality Assessment Services

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

• Air Quality Assessments in support of planning applications.
• Air Quality Assessments in support of Environmental Permit applications.
• Environmental Impact Assessments.
• Dispersion Modelling Assessments.
• Odour Assessments.
• Construction Dust Risk Assessments and Management Plans.
• Low Emissions Strategies.

Additional Services

We also have expertise in the following areas:

• Bioaerosol Risk Assessments.
• Ambient Air Quality Monitoring.
• BREEAM Indoor Air Quality Assessments.
• Indoor air quality testing.
• Kitchen Odour Assessments.
• Ecological and Ammonia Assessments.
• Local Air Quality Management reports.
• Air Quality Constraints and Screening Opinions.
• Dust and Odour Management Plans.
• Expert Witness.

Get in Touch

If you are concerned about air quality or require an Air Quality Assessment in Birmingham 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.