News Articles Archive - Page 132 of 140

The Fitzrovia Partnership is the first Business Improvement District in the UK to install Air Purification Units into the public realm. Air quality in Fitzrovia is some of the worst in the UK, with Tottenham Court Road being one of the top ten most polluted roads in London. As a direct response to air quality issues and as part of The Partnership’s commitment to improving and maintaining the local public realm, the BID has partnered with local stakeholders to bring a healthy and beautiful burst of green to The Avenue on Tottenham Court Road.

The installation is supported with match funding through Cross River Partnership’s Mayor’s Air Quality programme Clean Air Better Businesses. It is the first of many micro greening sites to be delivered by The Fitzrovia Partnership in an effort to breathe clean air back into London’s streets.

The Fitzrovia Partnership BID Manager Lee Lyons said:

“We are very excited to be the first Business Improvement District in the country to pilot such innovative technology to support the Mayor’s agenda for cleaner air in London.”

Air purification units – or APUs for short – are vertical garden spaces which integrate technology with plants to capitalise on the natural process of phytoremediation – a process that breaks down pollutants. Current research being conducted by Staffordshire University will soon be published to reveal just how efficient the system is in combatting particulate matter (PM) levels and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions.

For further information contact: Graham Philpot

Over a 2 week period, Cross River Partnership has been promoting the #noidling message through the Clean Air Action Fortnight (highlight days 9th and 16th March).

Hundreds of drivers across central London have been engaged by our trained ‘change-makers’ asking them to switch off their engines when stationary to reduce local air pollution. The goal is to change the behaviour of all those we engage with and spread the word more widely through a London wide campaign.

We had trained around 80 change makers and equipped them with high-visibility jackets with ‘Air Quality Champion’ on the back, myth busting information leaflets explaining the health impacts of vehicle emissions and some branded air fresheners to reward drivers with.

Our first action day on March 9th saw 50 air quality change makers out on the streets in Central London engaging directly with idling drivers. Drivers were asked to switch off and rewarded with a thank you air freshener to hang in their vehicle to remind them of the no idling behaviour.

Air pollution affects us all, so it’s critical that we come together to take action in our communities. Cleaner Air Action Fortnight was possible because it drew on input from the participating local authority partners, Business Improvement Districts, Global Action Plan and King’s College London, which is measuring the impact. By showing that collective action works, we hope to galvanise further action.

The air quality champions have spoken to over 650 drivers about what they can do and we hope that this type of project will be the beginning of an on-going discussion to heighten their awareness of their role in improving air quality.

For further information contact CRP’s Air Quality Champion: Uto Patrick

Cross River Partnership is proud to be supporting delivery of Westminster City Council’s Greener City Action Plan through our Clean Air Better Business programme.

Earlier this week Councillor Heather Acton, Westminster City Council cabinet member for sustainability and parking, hosted an event to update on progress made since the Greener City Action Plan was launched six months ago.

Cllr Acton said:

“Air quality is the number one environmental challenge for London. Westminster can be ahead of the curve on sustainability, with everybody working together to create a greener city. I am so impressed with the commitment we already have from our landed Estates, BIDs, businesses and residents.”

Over the past fortnight, Cross River Partnership’s Clean Air Better Business programme brought together central London boroughs, business improvement districts, and residents to deliver two successful Clean Air Action Days (9^th and 16^th March).

These action days saw over 50 air quality change makers out on the streets in Central London engaging with over 650 drivers. Drivers were asked to switch off idling engines and rewarded with a thank you air freshener to hang in their vehicle to remind them of the impact idling has on air quality.

Westminster City Council’s Marshals also got involved with the campaign and worked with the Change Makers to reach even more drivers as they went about their day-to-day duties.

This type of action shows the benefit of central London partners working together to achieve collective goals such as healthy air and carbon reduction.

CRP is also delivering on other Greener City Action Plan goals through our Frevue, Freight TAILS, Oxford Street DSP and Greening the BIDs projects.

Recruit London Workplace Coordinator Isabelle Benard was shortlisted at the “Putting something back” category Mayfair & St James Community Awards. This award celebrates an organisation or person that has benefitted the local community through their actions. She was nominated for “her tenacity and willingness to go above and beyond for her candidates and employers. She works tirelessly in the local community and has made strong relationships with employers, candidates and local partners.”

The ceremony, held on 26^th January, was hosted by Richard E Grant at The Dorchester. The awards were judged by a panel including The Wolseley restaurateur Jeremy King, GQ Editor-in-Chief Dylan Jones, Fortnum’s CEO Ewan Venters, designer Amanda Wakeley, lawyer and local entrepreneur Nancy Dell’Olio, and writer and explorer Levison Wood.

Isabelle is based at the New West End Company and works as part of the Recruit London initiative which works closely with employers to help them recruit, in order to help local job seekers back to work. The initiative is managed by Cross River Partnership and run in partnership with the New West End Company, The Crown Estate, Capital & Counties CG Ltd and Westminster City Council.

For more information contact Isabelle Benard on ibenard@westminster.gov.uk or 07827980980

On Thursday 28th January 2016, Capco CG hosted a breakfast event at the Ivy Market Grill encourage their commercial occupiers to participate in Cross River Partnership’s Recruit London initiative. The event celebrated Recruit London’s achievements in helping local job seekers into work in Covent Garden and introduced Benjamin Laryea, Capco’s first dedicated Workplace Coordinator. The Covent Garden community was encouraged to make use of the free service on offer to help them fill their job vacancies with local talent.

Attendees heard from Councillor Daniel Astaire (Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration Business and Economic Development), Michele Simon (Head of Operations – Capco CG) and Elizabeth Harris (Employability Coordinator – Cross River Partnership). Attendees included Oasis, Sunglass Hut/Rayban, Miller Harris, Sandro, Club Monaco, Shake Shack, Punch and Judy, The Ivy Group, Maxwell Group, London Theatre Museum, Crème de la Crepe & CG Restaurants.

The breakfast was a great success and has opened up many possibilities for employment with a range of fantastic roles within the Covent Garden area, continuing Recruit London’s great work within the area.

For more information contact Benjamin Laryea on blaryea@westminster.gov.uk or 07940 025 000

Recruit London is run in partnership by Cross River Partnership, Westminster City Council, Capital & Counties CG Ltd, The Crown Estate, New West End Company and the Department of Work and Pensions.

Supported by £869k from the Mayor’s High Street Fund and £380k of Lambeth Council investment, improvement works have started on the iconic and much loved Electric Avenue in Brixton.

Programme managed by CRP Place Making Project Manager, Owain Jones, working for Lambeth’s Regeneration Team, the investment will deliver a much improved environment for the street market, shops, shoppers and local residents, boosting trade, making it easier for local people to shop and increasing visitors to the town centre.

The improvements include new granite paving throughout, as well as improved street lighting, signage and drainage. New power supply, water points and hand held electronic payment systems will be provided for market traders.

By moving stalls to the centre of the street, market traders will also enjoy larger pitches and trading areas. Alongside the removal of the bollards and other street clutter, this will help pedestrian flow and should make it easier for elderly, disabled people, and those with young children, to move along the street.

The improvement works will be delivered in two phases to June 2016 to allow the street market to remain open throughout construction. Opening hours are as normal, Monday to Saturday 8am – 6pm, except on Wednesday when the market closes early at 2pm.

To find out more visit the Future Brixton website.

Following on from the successfully piloted behaviour change intervention by the City of London Corporation, CRP’s Clean Air Better Business has commissioned Global Action Plan to develop a business focussed intervention to reduce emissions from traffic idling, build capacity amongst our BID/Local Authority partners to take action, and create the links for drivers between their behaviour and air pollution.

Opportunity:

This will be a larger scale intervention creating a greater impact amongst CRP partners to encourage them to take action on idling in identified hot-spots within their areas. We aim to train up to 100 change-makers across Central London who will then participate in 2 coordinated ‘Clean Air Action Days’. Businesses within each participating BID can get involved.

Key Dates:

Webinar to brief and train up BID/Local Authority leads – 2^nd February 2016
Training of 100 Change makers – week commencing 29^th February 2016
2 Clean Air Action Days – week commencing 7^th March 2016

The CABB Clean Air Action Days, will be supported with key messages, re-usable branding, templates, materials e.g. high vis jackets for the change-makers to increase visibility, press releases and social media support.

Interested parties should contact CRP Air Quality Champion – Uto Patrick for more information.

The CRP FREVUE project team has initiated discussions with the truck manufacturer EMOSS to explore how their expertise in electric mobility could contribute to the project. With 62 electric trucks driving across Europe, including the UK, EMOSS is one of the very few providers of currently available fully electric trucks of up to 65 tonnes.

EMOSS is already involved in FREVUE in their role of vehicle supplier of the 18 tonne Heineken trucks in Rotterdam. As this category of large electric freight vehicles of above 7.5 tonnes is currently underrepresented in the project, data from additional EMOSS trucks could provide very valuable information.

Based in The Netherlands, EMOSS is a company with 25 employees in R&D, production and sales. They supply electric buses and trucks and manufacture electric drivetrains, charging infrastructure and battery systems. In addition, EMOSS offer software development.

The FREVUE (Freight Electric Vehicles in Urban Europe) project is an urban e-mobility project supported by the European Commission.

For questions or comments, please contact the FREVUE Co-ordinator, Tanja Dalle-Muenchmeyer, on tdmuenchmeyer@westminster.co.uk

http://frevue.eu/

CRP’s Clean Air Better Business programme continues to offer free advice and tools for organisations looking at Delivery and Servicing Plan options.

With more flexible working becoming the norm, organisations are now receiving a large amount of deliveries that are non-work related. Workers are increasingly having items delivered to their workplaces to avoid missed home deliveries.

No one likes missing a delivery at home, but having your online shopping sent to your workplace increases congestion and emissions in Central London. There are lots of other options that have been explored as part of the CABB programme, to ensure you don’t miss a delivery again whilst also improving the environment and safety of our streets within central London.

We have assembled 2 information leaflets targeted at staff and for businesses demonstrating how to send your deliveries to convenient collection points.

1. Personal delivery -Business option
2. Personal delivery- Staff option

A recent report titled ‘Up in the Air‘ by the Environmental Research Group at King’s and Policy Exchange reveals that 1/8 of London has NO2 air pollution levels above legal limits.

The report looked at calculations of the health impacts associated with air pollution in the capital as well as an investigation into the link between air pollution and wider deprivation in London. It highlighted some staggering numbers including the numbers of school children and workers in London exposed to unhealthy levels of NO2 that is linked to respiratory infections and exacerbates asthma.

We’ve pulled out the numbers for the CRP partners below to emphasis the need to continue working together on programmes such as Clean Air Better Businesses which identifies activities and interventions to address poor air quality in central London.

To view the map of exposure click here.

Archives: News Articles

The Fitzrovia Partnership launches Air Purification Unit

Clean Air Action Fortnight

CRP proud to support Westminster’s Greener City Action Plan

Recruit London Workplace Coordinator Shortlisted

Capco Breakfast Event

Brixton’s Electric Avenue – Improvements Started

CABB Clean Air Action Days

CRP’s FREVUE and EMOSS

CABB Delivery Servicing Plans – Tackling Personal Deliveries

Air Quality exposure of central London workers & school children