We are thrilled to have worked alongside H. G. Construction Ltd to achieve planning approval for a student accommodation scheme at St James’ Boulevard, Newcastle.

In 2016, Mayer Brown Ltd was originally commissioned to undertake an Air Quality Assessment (AQA) to accompany a planning application for the construction of 269 student accommodation studios and ancillary facilities. The planning application 2016/1764/01/OUT was granted outline planning permission in June 2017, subject to a number of planning conditions. Condition 23 required an Air Quality Scheme to provide clean air into the building (e.g. Mechanical Ventilation).

In 2023, Mayer Brown Ltd was again commissioned to help address the requirements of planning condition 23. Mayer Brown Ltd suggested the preparation of an addendum report with the main focus of confirming the findings of the previous report completed back in 2016 and hopefully satisfy the requirements of the planning condition.

Identified Challenges

·       Introduction of new sensitive receptors (Student Accommodation) to what was considered a highly polluted/congested area.

·       Multiple Air Quality reports had previously been undertaken and submitted for this application by other parties and generally concluded that Mechanical Ventilation was not required. However, these conclusions were not considered acceptable by the Planning Authority.

·       The purpose of our 2023 Air Quality Addendum was to provide sufficient evidence to help discharge the planning condition and establish whether Mechanical Ventilation was required to ensure good indoor air quality to the future users of the site.

The Findings of the Air Quality Addendum

The Air Quality Addendum identified that:

·        All of the closest monitoring locations were >5% below the national annual mean objective for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) and Particulate Matter (PM₁₀) for the assessment year (2022).

·        The site would still fall within APEC-A for site suitability, which is defined as “No air quality grounds for refusal; however, mitigation of any emissions should be considered”.

·        The Air Quality Addendum report confirms the findings of the 2016 Air Quality Assessment as still valid and more importantly that mechanical ventilation or filtration was not considered necessary.

Resolution

On 12^th January 2024, Newcastle City Council issued a notice of “approval of details submitted to comply with a condition” based on the strength of the Air Quality Addendum report prepared and the Clean Air design strategy proposed.

If your project requires an Air Quality Assessment or if you are interested in finding out how Mayer Brown Ltd can help you overcome the various Air Quality challenges most sites face throughout the planning process, please contact either Lucinda Pestana lpestana@mayerbrown.co.uk or Emma Longhurst elonghurst@mayerbrown.co.uk, Tel: 01483 750 508.