Brighton - Environmental Statement

Flow Analysis Ltd were commissioned to perform part of an Environmental Impact Assessment for a residential and leisure development in Brighton. Specifically, the task was to conduct a local wind assessment with reference to pedestrian comfort. The analysis concentrated on two blocks of the extensive development.

A CFD model of the site, the surrounding existing buildings and important terrain features (in particular the steep terrain to the west) was created.

An up-to-date MET office wind data set was obtained to enable the local wind statistics to be determined. This enabled the analyses to be performed at the appropriate wind speed for 12 wind directions so that the results could be compared with accepted criteria.

The CFD results enabled the local wind flows around site to be determined in detail.

The results showed that the site is sheltered by the high terrain and high buildings to the west with the consequence that winds from the east/west are relatively benign. The only vulnerable part of the site is predicted to be a ‘channel’ between the two blocks and the steep terrain to the west, which tends to funnel winds from southerly and northerly directions.

 However, for the baseline scheme, conditions are predicted to fall outside the accepted criteria within only a small part of a sitting area.

The inclusion of mitigating measures (a bicycle shed and gate) are predicted to successfully deflect these relatively high northerly/southerly winds around these sitting areas, so that conditions are predicted to fall within the accepted criteria. There remains the risk of relatively high local winds when the wind blows from the south-west, but these winds tend to be relatively warm.

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