Declan is a Principal Consultant for Northstar, an independent and innovative specialist air quality, environmental and sustainability practice. He is currently based in Albury, New South Wales, in Australia. His role incorporates dispersion modelling and ambient air monitoring for impact assessments across several sectors. He is responsible for project managing air quality impact and risk assessment for a wide range of public and private sector clients, whilst focusing on business and project management, and mentoring junior colleagues.
After graduating from Queens University Belfast with a Geography BSc in 2006, Declan entered the environmental sector in a Technician role, where he worked predominately on the monitoring, reporting and verification of several Northern Irish sites committed to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, Asbestos surveying and GIS duties. His interest in air quality grew whilst undertaking atmospheric dispersion modelling assessments for small scale residential projects in Northern Ireland, and he expanded his experience to include Local Exhaust Ventilation surveying, dust deposition and directional monitoring studies for various construction sites.
Declan became an Air Quality Consultant in 2011 and has since attained a broad range of experience on dust, odour and local air quality aspects at several world-leading multidisciplinary engineering consultancy firms in the UK, working on a variety of projects that required planning and permitting support or EIA screening, scoping and impact assessment. These projects were predominately across the road transport and infrastructure, energy, waste, and property development sectors around the British Isles. During this time, Declan acted as the technical dispersion modeling lead and delivered Environmental Impact Appraisals on several large infrastructure projects in Northern Ireland, Scotland and for National Highways (formerly Highways England), County and District Councils, as part of the Strategic Road Network in England.
He then joined an independent Northern Irish Air Quality and Acoustics practice in 2021 where he was responsible for the direction of the Air Quality business line whilst completing numerous dust, odour and air quality impact assessments, acting as a point of contact for Northern Irish regulatory bodies with regards to dispersion modelling.
Declan joined the IAQM and IES at the start of his consultancy career, attaining full memberships in 2012 and 2014 respectively, and was awarded Chartered Environmentalist status in August 2020. He upholds his memberships because of their proactive provision of air quality guidance and supplementary information, which has seen some of their works adapted for use internationally, along with their promotion of best practice within the discipline.
“I feel that the knowledge provided by both the IES and the IAQM as leading organisations for environmental professionals and air quality practitioners is invaluable. In terms of my continuous professional development growth I have been able to expand on my skills base to not only understand the implications on local air quality, but also to apply my knowledge to wider environment interactions and concerns. Both organisations provide me with technical updates, journals and thought-provoking seminar and webinars, so that I can keep on top of current and future environmental and sustainability issues. These learning opportunities are vital for building up, demonstrating, maintaining and showcasing my skills and experiences to fellow peers and clients."
In the future, Declan plans to add to his professional experiences within the Air Quality discipline whilst working on Australian and Oceanic development projects, and will be looking to progress with the Chartered Scientist accreditation, with support from the IES.
