BESA to Host Two Sponsored Walks for Clean Air Day 2025

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25 April 2025

The Building Engineering Services Association is organising two sponsored walks to mark National Clean Air Day.

The first event will take place on 19 June 2025 in London to highlight the impact of air pollution in an urban setting and the second in the Peak District on 20 June to emphasise the wellbeing benefits of clean air.

The walks are in support of the Ella Roberta Foundation, which is named after Ella Kissi-Debrah, who died at age 9 from a severe asthma attack triggered by excessive levels of air pollution nitrogen dioxide (NO2) near her home. Ella was the first person in the world to have air quality listed on her death certificate as a contributing cause of her death.  

Ella’s mum, Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah CBE is now an air quality and child health campaigner and Honorary President of The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) Indoor Air Quality Group.

Almost nine million premature deaths are caused by air pollution worldwide every year, including 43,000 in the UK, according to the World Health Organisation.

The London walk will be led by Adam Taylor, Chair of the Indoor Air Quality Group, and it will start at Ella’s memorial in south London and then split into three groups. One will follow the heavily polluted South Circular Road associated with Ella’s death, another will plot an alternative “cleaner” route, and a third will use a new software tool to plot “clean air paths”.

Danielle Norfolk, BESA’s NextGen operations manager, will lead the Peak District walk around Mam Tor to demonstrate “mindful and scenic reflection on the importance of clean air”.

If you would like to take part in either (or both) walks, visit the website to register, or donate directly to the Ella Roberta Foundation here.

Picture: a photograph of Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah CBE. Image Credit: BESA

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 25 April 2025

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