Perhaps the most visible air quality information in London?

Southern and Thameslink have partnered with Imperial College London to bring greater attention to air pollution concerns in south London.

Peckham Rye station is one of the capital’s busiest transport hubs and now commuters can check local air quality through an AWAIR display positioned by the station exit. The installation uses straightforward red, amber, yellow and green LED lights to indicate air pollution levels.

Southern and Thameslink Community Engagement Manager Rob Whitehead (left) and AWAIR project lead Andrew Grieve

The display reveals whether air quality currently falls within World Health Organization guidelines (rather than the UK’s rather more forgiving limits) or exceeds them, while also providing a forecast for the following day.

With as many as six million passengers passing through the station each year, the display is expected to reach a huge audience.

Information is refreshed every hour using live data from an air quality model created by Imperial College London, drawing on pollution readings from monitoring stations across the city.

Imperial’s Environmental Research Group (ERG), which manages the AWAIR initiative, has already installed 15 similar displays on lampposts throughout Peckham, alongside units at Peckham Theatre and Dene Community Centre. Additional displays can also be found at Gipsy Hill station and nearby streets.

Importantly, the AWAIR device is not, in itself, an air quality monitor.

In order to be both cost-effective and highly reliable, the displays are updated every hour using information from a live air quality forecasting system known as a ‘Nowcast’. The system was developed and is managed by the ERG.

The Nowcast combines air pollution readings collected over the previous hour from the London Air Quality Network’s monitoring stations across the city. These stations use reference-grade measurements, the gold standard for monitoring air quality.

That data is then fed into the model, allowing pollution levels across London to be refreshed and updated every hour in near real time.

Air Quality Technologist and AWAIR project lead at Imperial College London, Andrew Grieve, said: ‘Given how busy Peckham Rye station is, this could well be one of the most looked-at air quality information displays in all of London. I’m so happy to have Southern and Thameslink’s support.

‘Air pollution affects every single one of us, from our first breath to our last, from the youngest to the oldest. What the displays do is integrate air quality information into people’s daily lives in an easy and understandable way. They look up and it’s there. They don’t need to visit a website or download an app.

‘If you have a health condition, maybe this can help you plan for tomorrow because we have tomorrow’s forecast on there as well. For everyone else, we hope that by showing what air quality is like, it can help build consensus for improving our air in the longer term.’

Jason Brooker, Head of Environment and Sustainability at Southern and Thameslink, added: ‘At Southern and Thameslink, we have worked with AWAIR and Imperial College London to provide a deeper understanding of the quality of the air around this railway station and raise awareness about this vitally important issue.

‘It’s part of our sustainability strategy to work with our communities as a responsible business. Together, we can build a sustainable future.’