Member States in Europe are required to comply with European Directives on air quality and report data that show compliance with legally binding air quality standards and limit values. In the UK, Defra is the mandated authority to report air quality data. Defra is responsible for the UK air quality network for compliance reporting. The network is comprised of over 100 monitoring sites and provides near real-time data on pollutant levels across the UK via Teletext and Ceefax and a website (www.bv-aurnsiteinfo.co.uk). Defra needed a management system capable of effectively tracking all of the data at their monitoring sites.

Bureau Veritas was chosen to manage the infrastructure, technology, utilities and routine maintenance and servicing of equipment as because of its in-depth and detailed understanding of air quality legislation.

Data from all sites is polled via telemetry links directly to Bureau Veritas’ London office where data is screened and validated; anomalies are flagged and investigated by maintenance engineers from equipment support units, who also examine trends in the data and the diagnostics of the operation. Primary focus on deliverables is the maintenance of quality assured data and good temporal coverage (i.e. 90% over a year). Data is transferred to the Data Dissemination Unit on an hourly basis to the Air Quality Information Archive. Routine maintenance and calibration of equipment is largely performed through locally appointed organizations.

Bureau Veritas has developed a long standing professional relationship with Defra and our team of experts advises Defra on issues of technology, uncertainty in measurements and compliance with reference methods. Bureau Veritas’ purchasing power on utilities within the market place has meant that significant cost savings to the project have been achieved over the years despite a backdrop of increasing prices. The management system continues to effectively monitor the network even taking into account greater legislative requirements and a significant increase in the number of monitoring stations required to comply with Directives.