The Air Quality team at Merton is delivering cleaner construction across London.

The London 'Construction Low Emission Zone' is a world first. Our entirely new approach cleans up London’s construction industry, through education and awareness, with boots on the ground, checking machines and removing the most polluting.

Neighbourhood communities are directly benefitted through reduced pollution, and therefore better health outcomes.

By recording engine standards, alongside power and operational hours, modelled emissions savings from project activities can now be calculated.

The project covers all of London, from wealthy areas to the very most deprived. Regeneration frequently takes place in close proximity to dense housing in less affluent areas. Research shows that those exposed to the worst air pollution are more likely to be poorer Londoners and those from minority communities.

Although the larger organisations benefit from in-house environmental teams, the majority of construction in London is undertaken by smaller contractors. By hunting out undeclared sites, smaller developers can be effectively engaged to play their part.

Engaging a single site can lead to wider organisational change, sometimes on a national scale. The activity in London is rightly seen as the shape of things to come more widely.