Projects & Clients

Some clients we've provided services to: AECOM, ARUP, Atkins, Entec, Eskom, European Commission, ExxonMobil, NHS Hounslow, NHS Kingston, NHS Luton, Newport City Council, Northern Ireland Roads Service, North West London Waste Authority, Redrow Homes…

Salim’s Past Achievements Before PHD

Highlights

 
 

Projects

Mining Health Impact Assessments

Coordination, Expert Advice and Capacity Building for Mining Health Impact Assessments

Client: Anglo-American, Global, 2020-2021

Seconded to the Anglo American Group Social Performance team for 20 months to support the development of Community Health and Safety (CHS) Management guidance (section 4C of the Social Way Toolkit, build awareness and capacity across the organisation on CHS management topics and support business units and sites across Latin America, Canada, Australia and Southern Africa, to transition into Social Way 3.0 and implement its 4C requirements.

Oil and Gas Development Health Impact Assessment

El Borma Field Produced Water Treatment Plant

Client: Eni, Tunisia, 2020
Partner: RINA

Led the Health Component of the Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment of a Produced Water Treatment Plant for a 50 year old oil and gas field.

Strategic Masterplan Health Impact Assessment Guidance

Framework for Mainstreaming Health Impact Assessment
and Healthy and Age-Friendly City Action and Management Planning
for Cities, Projects, and Master Plans

Client: Asian Development Bank, PRC, 2019-2020

Coordinate and lead the development ADB Policy Brief and an ADB Blog article on a Framework for Mainstreaming Healthy and Age Friendly City Action and Management Plan for Cities, Projects and Masterplans, focusing on the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Airport Development Health Impact Assessment

Heathrow Western Hub Preliminary Environmental Information Report

Client: Arora Holdings
Partner: Royal Haskoning

Led the Health Component of a Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) on the potential effects of the Heathrow West Project during the construction and operational phases.

 Housing Development Health Impact Assessment

Daresbury, Halton Outline Planning Application Health Impact Assessment

Client : Redrow NW, UK, 2015

The HIA assessed the potential health and wellbeing impacts of the this 550 home mixed residential development.

The development was made up of t wo areas of residential development comprising up to 550 houses on approximately 28 hectares of land; a network of open spaces for nature conservation, recreation and surface water management including public open spaces to serve the residential areas; walking and cycling routes and expansion of the greenway network; a local centre up to 3,000 sqm of Use Classes A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and D1; commercial/office/research development up to 15,000 sqm alongside the Bridgewater Canal; new junction improvements to the A558 as part of the main road access; downgrading and realignment of Keckwick Lane to pedestrian and cycle access only and downgrading of existing railway underbridge on Keckwick Lane to bus/emergency/pedestrians/cycle route, controlled by signalling; and closure of Delph Lane south of the Chester-Manchester rail line.

Health Impact Review Project

Equity Focused Review
of the Airport Commision's Community Health Relevant Assessments

Client : London Borough of Hillingdon, UK, 2015

The aim of the Review was to review the Airports Commission’s Appraisal Framework, published in April 2014, and the completed community health-relevant Assessments, published in November 2014, from a health equity perspective i.e. using a “health equity lens”.

Overall, the Airports Commission’s Assessments would have benefited from a further detailed assessment of health and health equity impacts of each potential new scheme through a separate Health Impact Assessment (HIA) that sits alongside and synthesises the findings of the suite of health-relevant assessments (including the Quality of Life Assessment) undertaken by the Airports Commission.

The recommendations identified in this Review Report, if undertaken, are likely to improve the quality of the analysis, in regard to the health and wellbeing impacts, of the existing suite of Assessments undertaken by the Airports Commission.

 Consultation Response

Public Health/HIA focused comments
on World Bank's Review and Update of the World Bank Safeguard Policies

World Bank, 2015

The World Bank has recently closed its consultation on its programme to review and update its safeguard policies. This included its environmental and social framework and performance standards.

PhD have commented on the Framework, Vision, Policy and Environmental and Social Standard 1 (ESS1): Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts and Environmental and Social Standard 4 (ESS4): Community Health and Safety.

Housing Development Health Impact Assessment

 

Millharbour Village, Tower Hamlets, London, Mixed Use Residential Development Full Application Health Impact Assessment

Client : Millharbour LLP, UK, 2014

The HIA assessed the potential health and wellbeing impacts of the Millharbour Village Masterplan Application. The Millharbour Village proposal involves a comprehensive redevelopment of the Site, removing the existing buildings to deliver a scheme consisting of residential units (1500 homes), cafes and restaurants and new educational facilities to facilitate the relocation of the existing Montessori School and Lanterns School, as appropriate, as well as a new state-maintained primary school. The proposal represents the next step in the development of the Millennium Quarter helping to meet the local and regional strategic objectives of the Site by delivering a residential led high-density mixed use development, rooted in the principles of sustainability.

Research Workshop

Health in Environmental Impact Assessment Workshop

Partner: LIAISE, Brussels, 2014

The workshop invited participants to discuss the current definition and understanding of ‘Health’ in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) being undertaken in the European Union to see if there was any room for improvement in order to enhance the impact on European citizens human health.

Key questions included:

  • How should health ideally be included in EA?

  • How does that happen to date?

  • Is health coherently included in EIA currently?

  • What would be needed to better include it?

  • Is there a need for a broader definition of health, more linked to human health resilience than critical thresholds?

  • Is there a need to focus on health opportunities instead of health risks?

 

Presentations

Introduction to and international trends in Health Impact Assessment through case study experiences

Salim Vohra, Public Health by Design, London, UK, Co-Chair, Health Section, International Association for Impact Assessment

Euopean Public Health Conference, 2014, Glasgow, Scotland

This presentation introduces Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and discusses international trends in HIA using case study experiences of projects around the world. These have been identified through the author’s work as part of the International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIA), the leading association for impact assessment professionals internationally.

The presentation discusses how HIA is being undertaken in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, SE Asia and Australia and New Zealand in particular. It uses some generalised case study experiences in healthy urban planning (housing developments) and oil and gas projects (e.g. fracking and refining) and discuss both policy and project applications of HIA. The focus of the presentation is on the reasons why HIA is undertaken, how stakeholders are involved, the general methods used and the existing value frameworks and cultures that make up current HIA practice.

Our experience within IAIA shows that current HIA practice generally falls into four broad overlapping groupings; (i) there is a qualitative social approach which focuses on the social and environmental determinants of health, this approach may also focus on or have some quantification of the positive benefits of for example cycling or physical activity; (ii) there is health risk assessment which is the established and long standing approach to quantifying the physical health impacts of exposure to chemicals (e.g. energy from waste facilities); (iii) there is a qualitative environmental approach particular used in low to middle income countries which focuses on the environmental determinants of communicable diseases such as malaria and schistosomiaisis with a smaller social determinants component (often because there is a separate social impact assessment being undertaken); and (iv) there is a quantitative environmentally focused approach, termed environmental HIA, that focuses on the quantification of, for example changes in air pollution, as a result of policy and large programme and project initiatives (e.g. Europe wide policy on reducing air emissions).

Guidance

Fast Tip No 8: Health Impact Assessment

Partner: International Association for Impact Assessment, USA, 2009

This Fast Tips Fact Sheet focused on Health Impact Assessment. The purpose of the Fastips is to provide practical tips in a fast way. Fastips aim to be a small but useful piece of practical and quick advice. Fastips are designed to serve impact assessment (IA) professionals, may they be consultants, reviewers or other professionals dealing with different forms of IA. The Fastips series offer practical clarification on frequent asked questions and are particularly useful for a quick look when there is no time for investigating or reviewing others experiences or formal guidances. Fastips should help to improve best practice but are not meant to replace the IAIA principles series.

The World Health Organization supports HIA as a resource for protecting and promoting human health. National governments support HIA as do multi-lateral lenders such as the World Bank. International industry associations also promote the use of HIA.