Dr Tom Woolley, Rachel Bevan Architects

Presentation: Why indoor air quality and limiting materials emissions is as important as external pollution

Tom Woolley B.Arch., PhD is an architect and environmental researcher living in County Down Northern Ireland and working for Rachel Bevan Architects. He is known for his work on sustainability, building materials and low impact construction. A graduate of Edinburgh University, he was Professor of Architecture at Queens University Belfast from 1991 to 2007and is a visiting Professor at Anglia Ruskin University and at the Centre for Alternative Technology. He is Chair of the UK Clean Air Steering Committee.

Tom Woolley has published widely on construction, planning, housing, green architecture and buildings and health, including the Green Building Handbook, Natural Building, Hemp and Lime Construction and Low Impact Building, Building Materials, Health and Indoor Air Quality and most recently Thermal Insulation Materials. Tom has spoken at numerous conferences and workshops around the world including Canada, South Africa, Malaysia, Holland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Chile.

He carries out research and consultancy on the circular economy, innovative sustainable construction methods including natural building and indoor air quality. He has been chair of the Northern Ireland Building Regulations Advisory Committee and on the board of the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Ballynahinch Credit Union and the Drumlin Wind Co-operative. He is a member of the UK Indoor Environment group and the Fuel Poverty Research Network and has carried out a number of studies investigating ways to improve indoor air quality.

Tom is a consultant to ECOS, the European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standards and represents them on a range EU sustainability standards working groups. Tom has been active in the co-operative movement since the 1970s when he established an architect’s co-operative and the community technical aid movement. He has worked with a wide range of co-operative housing groups and is a member of the Irish Hemp Co-operative.

Mella Waitt, Environment Agency

Ammonia and Agriculture: Challenges from a Regulators Perspective

Mella is a Senior Advisor in the Environment Agency (EA) currently working on evaluating advice led approaches to reduce national ammonia emissions through the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme. With a background in air quality and dispersion modelling, specialising in assessment of impacts on air quality on habitats, Mella has worked in the public and private sector with over 20 years’ experience in environmental and air quality.

As lead for the Permitted Pig and Poultry sector she oversaw a permit review and the introduction of revised pig emission factors and implemented new ways of working to improve the EA’s National Permitting service approach to Habitats Risk Assessment. During this time she was the lead Air Quality advisor in the national Agriculture team, advising on strategic regulatory work programmes including proposals under the Government’s Clean Air Strategy. She chairs the EA’s Ammonia working group and works closely with Natural England on Air Quality impact assessment approaches.

Specific interests include agricultural emissions, nutrient balancing, ammonia and particulate matter, HRA and evaluating cross media effects.

Nick Molden, Emissions Analytics Ltd

Presentation: Is vehicle cabin air now dirtier than what comes out of the tailpipe?

Nick founded Emissions Analytics in 2011 in order to understand real-world fuel economy and emissions from vehicles. The concept was to find a way to characterise vehicles in a relatively short test, and be able to conduct a large number of comparable tests. The resulting EQUA database is now a platform for analysing and modelling emissions performance, which covers the UK, Europe, USA and South Korea.

Nick is chairman of the European standardisation CEN Workshop 90 on collecting real driving emissions data, which has led to the publication of the AIR Index. He is also chairman of CEN Workshop 103 on standardising the collection of vehicle interior air quality data, with a focus on particle ingress and carbon dioxide build-up.

Dr. Caroline Chapman, DTA Ecology

Presentation: Decision-making thresholds for Air Pollution for ecological assessments – where next?

Dr Caroline Chapman is an experienced practitioner in the interpretation and application of the Habitats Regulations. Caroline is the Director of DTA Ecology and is frequently called upon to provide advice and training across a broad public-sector client base. Previously, Caroline held a role within Natural England as the National Air Quality Specialist and was Project Manager for Natural England’s input to the EA Review of Consents.

Caroline started out as an Area Habitats Directive Co-ordinator for the Environment Agency and was a founding member of the Air Quality Technical Advisory Group and the APIS Steering Group. Caroline is an elected Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, having been nominated by her peers in recognition of her significant contribution to the field. Caroline is also co-Director of DTA Publications Ltd, a company set up to publish and maintain the award winning Habitats Regulations Assessment Handbook.

Adam Crowther, Bristol City Council

Presentation: Evolution of the Bristol Clean Air Zone

Adam Crowther is Head of City Transport at Bristol City Council with responsibility for all change related transport projects in the city, working on areas such as mass transit, strategic transport projects, walking and cycling schemes, local neighbourhood projects, flooding, public transport and the transport impacts of major developments. Adam previously managed the city’s traffic signals and street lighting teams for 10 years and has an in depth knowledge of traffic and transport movements around the city. Prior to this Adam worked at Transport for London. Adam is Bristol’s technical lead on the Bristol Clean Air Zone project and has helped to develop the CAZ scheme through its evolution to the current Small D Zone proposal.

Christina Hood, CERC

Presentation: Modelling air quality in complex urban environments: Hong Kong

Christina Hood has worked at Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants since 2011, with a focus on atmospheric dispersion model development for complex urban areas. She was involved in the conceptual development, implementation, evaluation and documentation of the ADMS-Urban advanced street canyon dispersion, road tunnel dispersion and urban canopy flow modules. Christina has taken a key role in the development and evaluation of CERC systems that couple ADMS-Urban local scale modelling with regional scale models. She has led recent developments to support more regional models, implement the system on Linux and streamline user inputs and supports application of the system by CERC and external users. Christina been involved in a wide range of projects including model applications in China, India and the UK. She received a PhD in Bioengineering from Imperial College London in 2010 for work modelling respiratory air flow and has published scientific papers in leading journals.

Julian Watkins, Environment Agency

Presentation: Joint Air Quality Inequalities Project

Julian works as an Evaluation Advisor in the Environment Agency’s central Evaluation team. Julian works across the EA, offering advice and guidance and helping to promote a ‘people-focussed’ approach to research and interventions.

Julian has a keen interest in working to improve the natural world and to address inequalities. With a background in frontline work, Julian believes in putting lived experience at the centre of decision making and in the creation of policies that respect the diversity of need and circumstance of the public.

Julian holds an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development and an LLB in Law. Julian leads on the Joint Air Quality Inequalities Project.

Joe Swift, Environment Agency

Presentation: Joint Air Quality Inequalities Project

Joe is a senior advisor in the ‘Public Health and Air Quality Team’ at the Environment Agency working to protect public health and wellbeing, and also providing strategic advice on a range of air quality matters including the, Defra’s Clean Air Strategy, the Environment Bill and the air quality monitoring networks.

With over 15 years’ experience in environment and sustainability Joe specialises in air quality, greenhouse gas management and environmental management systems. Joe has was worked as a senior consultant and lead advisor in both the public and public sector, and is award winning for his Corporate Social Responsibility work.

Joe is currently working on environmental equity and leading on the Joint Air Quality Inequalities Project.

Ed Wealend, Cundall / CIBSE AQWG

Presentation: Existing building stock: Key refurbishments strategies for ventilating existing buildings

Ed is a chartered engineer with 15 years design experience, joining Cundall in 2010. His project work covers many countries, including nearly 5 years in Asia-Pacific.

A mechanical engineer by training, Ed has produced low carbon design strategies for a wide range of commercial and domestic projects. He is chair of CIBSE’s Air Quality working group, and an active member of CIBSE’s Knowledge Generation Panel (Building Physics and IEQ panel). He is also a member of a number of research networks related to healthy indoor environments, Biotech, and AI in the built environment.

At Cundall, he is also responsible for R&D, with a focus on Net Zero, Health and Wellbeing, and Digital Engineering. He developed Cundall’s environmental monitoring system – the IEQube.

Ian Mudway, Imperial College London

Presentation: Implications of the New WHO Guidelines

Dr Ian Mudway is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Toxicology within the MRC Centre for Environment and Health at Imperial College London. He is a member of the UK Governments Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutant and has advise widely on air pollution and health for the EU, WHO, local and national government and NGOs. Currently his work is focused on understanding early and late life impacts of pollutants on the lung and brain in urban populations, as well as furthering our fundamental understanding of the mechanisms that drive these adverse effects and modify an individual’s long-term susceptibility to air pollution. Core to his work is the evaluation of the effectiveness of air pollution mitigation measures, such as the introduction of Clean Air Zones and the transition away from petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles.

Ben Marner, Greater London Authority

Presentation: Decision-making thresholds for Air Pollution for ecological assessments – where next?

Ben has been responsible for a large number of air quality assessments in the UK and abroad. He has also helped to shape industry best practices, through contributing to national air quality guidance and developing widely used modelling tools.

He has led air quality modelling studies covering a variety of spatial scales, from small residential developments to large infrastructure schemes and from small Local Air Quality Management studies to large Clean Air Zone feasibility assessments. He has also helped to develop approaches used to assess air quality impacts on designated ecological sites.

He has provided public inquiry expert witness services, as well as support and advice to Defra, Highways England, the Environment Agency, Transport Scotland, Transport for London, the Government of South Africa, and numerous UK local authorities. He currently advises Defra as part of its Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG).

Katherine Nield, ClientEarth

Clean Air Zones: where did they come from and where are they headed?

Katie is the Lead Clean Air Lawyer for the UK and Western Europe at ClientEarth. Her work focuses on clean air issues and promoting compliance with EU-derived and domestic air quality standards. Since 2011, ClientEarth has launched three successful legal challenges against the UK Government’s failure to commit to action to reduce pollution to within legal limits, and has taken a suite of successful cases in Germany.

Before joining ClientEarth, Katie practiced as a planning and environmental lawyer at an international law firm. She holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and an MSc in Environmental Technology.

He has provided public inquiry expert witness services, as well as support and advice to Defra, Highways England, the Environment Agency, Transport Scotland, Transport for London, the Government of South Africa, and numerous UK local authorities. He currently advises Defra as part of its Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG).

Ed Rowe, UKCEH

Revision of critical loads for nutrient nitrogen

I am an ecologist with a focus on soil and vegetation change, particularly in response to nitrogen (N) pollution. I design and apply dynamic models of soil and vegetation processes, such as the feedback between dissolved-organic-carbon leaching and soil pH, or changes in plant species composition due to air pollution. I also do empirical research, mainly using survey approaches to detect ecosystem change.

My work informs UK responses to the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), and I am head of the UK National Focal Centre for critical loads mapping and modelling. I am a member of the Welsh Government’s Clean Air Advisory Panel, and of Defra’s International Air Quality Expert Group.

Anna Savage, AECOM

Developing & Using CAZ to improve air quality

Anna has worked in the field of air quality for 20 years and is an Associate in AECOM’s air quality team. She has a strong understanding of local air quality management (LAQM) and the European and UK legislation underpinning this process. She has previously worked for a local authority, the GLA and TfL where she was responsible for the monitoring of the London Low Emission Zone. She has worked in the private sector for the last 10 years where she manages projects for a variety of clients including local authorities and governments including several Local Plans and Clean Air Zones studies.

Kieran Laxen, Air Pollution Services

The weather, a very British topic of conversation, but what does it mean for air pollution?

Kieran is a Director of APS and has over eleven years’ experience in the field of air quality. He has extensive experience of air quality assessments for residential and commercial developments, road schemes, waste management processes, industrial processes, power generation facilities, air quality monitoring and is a leading UK expert in the assessment of power generating facilities for both permitting and planning applications.