The Construction Centre.co.uk calls for Further Investigation into Diesel Particulate Filters for Site Plant

The Construction Centre .co.uk announced today its support of the Construction Plant Hire Association’s (CPA) lobby to revise key elements of the Best Practice Guidance, issued by the Greater London Authority, in order to help plant owners and suppliers transition to meet EU emission standards.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) released two schemes in November 2006 to help achieve EU recommended emission standards; the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) scheme which relates to traffic on the road and the Best Practice Guidance (BPG) which was for dust and emissions from construction or demolition sites in and around London. Since the publication of the schemes the CPA has maintained that there is a significant gap between the two policies leaving plant owners and suppliers no room to manoeuvre.

The LEZ scheme states that vehicles up to six years old will currently conform to the guidelines, which allows company’s to forward plan for changes they may need to make to their vehicles in the future. However the BPG has more stringent requirements which forces plant owners and suppliers to act immediately.

Currently the main area of contention lies with the recommendation to fit diesel particulate filters (DPF’s) to all site plant with engines over 37kw, regardless of age. The CPA has argued that the cost and implementation of the filters have yet not been fully assessed, do not give any time allowances to make the changes and could negatively impact this sector of the industry.

As yet the DPF manufacturers have not been able to give accurate costs for production of the filters or details of the warrantees they would be prepared to issue. This has led to a stalemate situation between plant owners and the DPF manufacturers neither of whom are willing to invest on uncertainties.

The Construction Centre .co.uk stated that the DPF issue needed a significant amount of further investigation before the requirement is set in stone. The CPA also argued that the main culprit for poor air quality is road traffic and not emissions from site machinery. A study of on site plant emissions was sponsored by the GLA in 2004 and it was found that there was no increase in particulates in the surrounding area to the development location. The Construction Centre alongside the CPA is worried that plant owners and suppliers will be forced to invest millions in DPF’s without making a significant decrease in the amount of particulates in the air around construction sites.

Richard Simmons, Managing Director and a property developer for over 30 years said “It is easy to understand why the LEZ and BPG have been created and the end goal is admirable. However the big picture needs to be considered. Most plant is only required on site for short periods of time and with the restrictions only relevant in London, many suppliers and owners may find they have to invest in DPF’s for plant which is in the restricted area less than 10% of its working life. This would seem to be false economics and could potentially negatively affect the buoyancy of the sector.”

The Construction Centre was clear in its support for the GLA’s goals with regard to emissions throughout London but called for a more measured approach to on site plant restrictions, further investigation into the costs involved and the feasibility of implementation.

More information can be found at www.theconstructioncentre.co.uk.

Contact:
The Construction Centre
Angela Gallacher (Head of Press and Marketing)
Telephone: +44 (0)1926 865825
Email: info@theconstructioncentre.co.uk
Address: 1 Alpha House, Farmer Ward Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2ED

www.theconstructioncentre.co.uk

The Construction Centre: Number 1 for delivering results on products and people

Targeted at consumers and the building industry, The Construction Centre is an encyclopaedic directory containing over 10,000 UK product manufacturers. Additionally there are over 50,000 contact details for merchants, industry professionals, tradesmen and contractors. Local Authority planning websites, trade publications and jobs can also be directly accessed from The Construction Centre.

Based in Warwickshire The Construction Centre is part of the UK250 Ltd group.

This release was published on openPR.