Air Quality Assessments in Glasgow

Development in Glasgow

The city of Glasgow is a port city on the River Clyde in Scotland’s western Lowlands. It is home to one of the UK’s most diverse art scenes and has been named the UK’s first UNESCO City of Music. The city has been an epicentre of ship building and industry for hundreds of years and is renowned for it’s Victorian-era architecture.

The vibrancy of Glasgow has seen a surge of investment in development and regeneration in recent years with countless more schemes coming forward in the near future. This includes the recently approved plans for development of over 1,100 homes, a hotel and commercial space on the River Clyde’s waterfront, as captured above by Ian Dick/ CC BY 2.0. Candleriggs Square also seeks a £300 million regeneration project and Glasgow’s former meat market in the East End, derelict for over a decade, will see a complete redevelopment to provide 251 houses.

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 Glasgow are a crucial part of the development process to enable a sustainable and clean air future for local residents.

Air Quality in Glasgow

Glasgow has had a long standing history with poor air quality, particularly road vehicle exhaust emissions in the city centre. Long term trends show that there has been improvement, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, though there are still exceedences of the UK Air Quality Objectives at a number of locations across the city and surrounding boroughs.

Glasgow is seeking to reduce pollutant concentrations further over the coming years. Significant progress has already been made through the implementation of Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ). The LEZ was introduced on 1^st June 2023 in order to drastically cut road vehicle exhaust emissions. Households across the city are financially supported by the LEZ Support Fund to help travel more sustainably and ensure compliance with the LEZ. The fund will seek a further £5 million in financial aid from the Scottish Government in 2024/25. It is crucial that all future developments and not just existing households 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 Glasgow are needed.

Air Quality Assessments for Planning

Air Quality Assessments in Glasgow 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 Glasgow

Success of your planning application could be aided by Redmore Environmental’s 20 years of experience undertaking Air Quality Assessments in Glasgow. You will gain advice on planning applications and discharging conditions to addressing consultation responses and public comments. We have produced Air Quality Assessments in Glasgow 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.

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

• India Street, Glasgow – Redevelopment of the site to provide 600 purpose-built student accommodation units and 20 flats. The scheme was an essential step to tackling the student housing crisis and represents a £29 million investment in the city.
• Cambridge Street, Glasgow – Proposed demolition of the existing building and subsequent construction of a student accommodation development. The scheme is a revision to the previously consented apart hotel at the site and will provide incoming students with state of the art living facilities.
• Dalmarnock, Glasgow – Construction of 125 residential dwellings to complete phase two of Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games athlete’s village. The athletes’ village is a landmark development for the East End of Glasgow, bringing high-quality housing for sale and social rent to the area and will be a catalyst for the wider and ongoing regeneration of this part of the city.

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.