Emissions from construction and road activities

We are working with the construction industry and the Mayor to reduce emissions created by construction traffic and machinery.

Non-road mobile machinery

According to the 2016 London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI); the machinery used by the construction industry contributes 7% of the total nitrogen oxides (NOx), 34% of the PM10 and 15% of the PM2.5 emissions in London. The Mayor is determined to take action to reduce these construction-related emissions and has introduced the world’s first low emission zone for non-road mobile machinery with minimum emission standards required that are progressively tightened from 2020 to support the London Ultra-Low Emission Zone.

Non-road mobile machines are mobile machines or transportable industrial equipment that is often used in construction sites, such as bulldozers, pumps and generators. Since September 2015, all major developments within Greater London are required to conform to the Mayor’s NRMM emission standards. The Central Activity Zone, which includes areas of Waterloo and Vauxhall, have to conform to tighter emission standards.

You can find out more about NRMM emission standards in the NRMM Practical Guide below.

London Low Emissions Construction Partnership

The machinery used by the construction industry contributes 7% of the total NOx, 34% of the PM10 and 15% of the PM2.5 emissions in London. We aim to control and minimise emissions from our construction sites, and we follow the guidance on dust and emissions from construction of The London Low Emissions Construction Partnership.

The London Low Emission Construction partnership was funded through Round 2 of the Mayor’s Air Quality Fund and is now finished. It worked with the construction industry for a number of years to highlight the impact that construction has on air quality. It also provided support to local authorities and staff wanting to minimise construction-related emissions. From this project, a number of guidance documents have been developed to assist local authorities to mitigate emissions from construction.

Resources:

• Non-Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) Practical Guide
• LLECP 'Best in Class' guidance
• Mayor of London - Control of Dust and Emissions

Electric Sweepers

Half of our street sweepers are electric. Using electric models instead of diesel ones prevents 78 tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere each year, and helps us tackle emissions from transport. We were recently successful in bidding for funding from the third round of the Mayors Air Quality Fund to investigate different techniques of Street Cleansing to reduce re-suspended particulates. We are the lead borough in this joint project with Southwark and we will be trialling different street sweeping techniques in the Waterloo Area in 2020.