National Air Quality Awards 2015 finalists announced

Winners in five categories at the inaugural awards will be announced at IAQM event in Bristol this week (October 22)

Judges have announced the finalists for the first National Air Quality Awards across five categories ahead of a ceremony to announce the winners later this week (October 22) in Bristol.

Supported by the Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) and with the British Lung Foundation as charity partner, the awards are being presented at Bristol’s Grand Hotel on Thursday evening following a call for entries back in the summer.

The three judges for this year’s awards — IAQM’s Claire Holman, Mapping for Change’s Louise Francis and AirQualityNews.com’s news editor Michael Holder — had some agonising decisions to make in drawing up the shortlist in each category, underlining the quality of all the entries for the inaugural event.

Finalists cover a range of sectors, including local authorities, hospitals, businesses, vehicle manufacturers, regulators, analysts and technology developers.

Vying for the best local authority initiative award, work to improve traffic emissions on Putney High Street by Wandsworth council goes up against Oxford city and county councils’ Low Emission Zone, as well as the Zero Emission Network which involves several London boroughs and private partners.

The Grand Hotel, Bristol will be the venue for the Awards on October 22

Other finalists include car exhaust testing firm Emissions Analytics, liquid nitrogen technology company Dearman, Heathrow Airport and bus manufacturer Optare.

The event compliments IAQM’s Routes to Clean Air Conference (October 22-23), which also takes place in the city as part of the Bristol Green Capital 2015 programme and features a number of academics, professionals and policy makers as speakers.

The finalists in each of the five National Air Quality Award 2015 categories are as follows:

Local Air Quality Initiative of the Year – Sponsored by EMINOX

• Oxford city council and Oxfordshire county council: Low Emission Zone
• Wandsworth council: Putney High Street
• Zero Emissions Network (London boroughs of Islington, Hackney and Tower Hamlets)

Best Air Quality Communications Campaign

• Cool World Consulting and Great Ormond Street Hospital: Clean Air Yeah!
• London Low Emission Construction Partnership
• SEPA: Learning About Air Quality

Innovation in Air Quality Technology Award – Sponsored by SHAWCITY

• Emissions Analytics: Emissions Test Programme
• Dearman — Transport Refrigeration Systems
• ENS Europe: Aufero, Merlin & Titan

Passenger Transport Air Quality Award – Sponsored by EMISSIONS ANALYTICS

• Cross River Partnership: Wellbeing Walk
• Heathrow Airport: The UK’s Best Connected Transport Hub
• Optare Electric Vehicles

Air Quality Champion Award

• Ruth Calderwood: City of London Corporation
• Ben Coakley: Chiltern district council
• Fiona Daly: Barts NHS Health Trust