Case Study

Hadley Property Group - IQL North, London - Air Quality Positive Statement

The Client & The Project

The Greater London Authority’s (GLA) London Plan encourages all large-scale developments to not only negate their impacts on local air quality but, if possible, benefit air quality. The GLA’s newly introduced Air Quality Positive approach aims to enable developments to achieve the best possible outcomes across all air quality related design aspects.

In 2023, Phlorum was commissioned by one of the south-east’s leading development companies, Hadley Property Group (HPG), to prepare an Air Quality Positive Statement for Stratford’s IQL North planning application. The development will introduce 672 new homes for Newham, including 172 social rent homes, 909 student beds, and commercial, retail and community spaces.

Image Source: Hadley Property Group

The Challenge

Due to the scale of this development in a densely populated urban area, the potential for it to negatively impact local air quality was considerable.

With this in mind, and noting HPG’s ambitions to deliver housing using progressive and sustainable approaches, HPG, Phlorum and the project’s design team worked collaboratively from the start of the design process to investigate all avenues for bettering the scheme’s impact on air quality.

The Services Provided

The top-level approach was to pursue a landscape-led design that would focus on pedestrian accessibility and amenity, with the most sensitive uses located on upper storeys, increasing the separation distances between residents and polluting emissions from road traffic.

As part of an air quality assessment for planning, building massing was also carefully considered to ensure that the six tower blocks would not create ‘urban street canyons,’ which are known to adversely affect air quality by reducing the effective dispersion of pollutants.

At the detailed design level, Phlorum’s air quality consultants looked into how the scheme’s few on-site pollutant emission sources could be designed to minimise public exposure. To this end, the development’s emergency generator emissions will be dispersed from a flue at roof level, whilst the underground car park extract louvres will be positioned away from amenity areas.

Additionally, multiple strategies have been incorporated into the scheme’s design to minimise the development’s traffic emissions and encourage residents to adopt sustainable travel modes such as walking, cycling, and public transport.

Image Source: Hadley Property Group

The Outcome

Following a substantial amount of work, HPG, Phlorum and the design team developed a series of sustainable design proposals that minimised air quality impacts and demonstrated how the development could benefit local air quality in the future.

In October 2024, the IQL North planning application received unanimous approval from the London Legacy Development Corporation’s (LLDC) Planning Committee. The GLA also endorsed Phlorum’s Air Quality Positive Statement in the planning approval.

Based on our experience working on the successful IQL North project and the recommendations that followed, Phlorum is providing Air Quality Positive statements for numerous other developers throughout London.