Air quality monitoring on the King’s Cross estate as part of Breathe London Communities
King's Cross stands as one of the largest and most successful redevelopment projects in London. Over the past two decades, this once underutilised industrial area has been transformed into a vibrant and dynamic space. Spanning 67 acres, King's Cross now boasts new streets, squares, parks, homes, shops, offices, bars, restaurants, schools and even a university. Its canal-side charm, rich heritage and strong local community make King's Cross a unique and exceptional place. The redevelopment has been guided by seven Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) priorities, ensuring that all operations benefit residents, workers and visitors. These priorities include achieving net zero carbon by 2035, connecting with nature, creating a circular economy, tackling inequality, maximising social impact, promoting safety and belonging and creating healthy spaces.
We are committed to delivering net zero carbon by 2035 through innovative approaches. The King’s Cross Energy Centre is transitioning to a fully electric system, including plant optimisation and installation of ground and air source heat pumps, heat recovery heat pumps, thermal storage and electric boilers. We are also investing in carbon reduction measures within our buildings to optimise energy consumption. Innovation is at the heart of our vision for King’s Cross. In early 2024, we launched the ‘10 in 10’ campaign, encouraging 10 businesses to reduce energy usage by 10% over 10 weeks. Supported by our energy management team, the initiative achieved over 184,000 kWh in savings – around an 11% reduction.
As part of our ‘Creating Healthy Spaces’ workstream, King’s Cross has partnered with Imperial College London and Breathe London Communities to install six Clarity Node S sensors across the estate. These sensors monitor external air quality and pollution sources, targeting emissions from road traffic, canal boats, rail, and food outlets. The project aims to continuously monitor air quality at different locations across the King’s Cross estate to protect residents, children, leisure visitors and pedestrians.
One of the estate’s Breathe London Communities sensors – installed to measure air quality in a residential and leisure setting at Gasholders Park – is shown in the image below.
In December 2024, as part of our circular economy workstream, we partnered with Carrot to offer a user-friendly waste data dashboard to retail and office occupiers. This platform enables tenants to monitor and improve their recycling and waste performance with access to key data and anonymised comparisons.
To enhance biodiversity, we have collaborated with the environmental consultancy, Greengage Environmental, to install eight Agrisound ‘Polly’ sensors. These sensors monitor specific pollinators like bees and capture environmental data including temperature, humidity and luminosity, providing insights into the health of our ecosystems.
To ensure compliance with regulations and effective management of environmental risks, the King’s Cross estate is ISO14001 certified. This reflects our commitment to accountability, transparency and continuous improvement in environmental practices. Our Environmental Management System is audited and certified annually by an external organisation, demonstrating our dedication to responsible environmental stewardship.