St Peter’s Eaton Square Primary School leads the way on ground-breaking new project for cleaner air

BY YANN TEAR
yann@slpmedia.co.uk

A school is the first to trial a ground-breaking new project which reduced the pollutants from the air its children breathe.

Air purification units have been installed at St Peter’s Eaton Square Primary School in Victoria thanks to a deal between taxi app Gett and environmental company Evergen Systems, who have funded the trial.

Pollution levels in central London risk children’s health due to increasing vehicle numbers and idling traffic. According to City Hall data, 10 per cent of hospital admissions for children were linked to an adverse response to poor air quality.

And now St Peter’s Eaton Square Primary School has received three PureAire Monolite units to remove dangerous pollutants from the air inside the school, which have been installed in the main hall.

And the results have been so encouraging that the units will stay. Other schools now seem certain to follow suit.

With all of central London experiencing high particle pollution readings, the trial has explored whether the air cleaners could provide better air quality for children during the school day.

Following installation at St Peter’s, particle pollution readings in the school have dropped, with Nitrogen Dioxide levels – which particularly cause inflammation of the airways – and Ozone falling well within safe levels, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

As a comparison, Nitrogen Dioxide levels peaked at 47.1 parts per million before the purifiers were installed, which is above the WHO guideline of 40. Post-installation readings had a high of no more than 32.1.

Miles Ridley, St Peter’s headteacher said: “This problem is not unique to St Peter’s – all schools in London are being affected by rising pollution levels.
“This technology could not have come soon enough, and I’m delighted to see it making such a measurable difference to the air quality in the school.

“Our hall is used almost every minute of every day from different year groups, so every pupil gets to benefit from this improvement.

Everyone at St Peter’s is grateful to Gett and Evergen for this partnership that is funding this important technology.”