Share Share Share (or Collaborate..!)
Carrington West recently exhibited at the Annual Technical Adviser's Group (TAG) Conference at the ICE Headquarters in Westminster last Tuesday. I attended along with my colleagues Blayne and Matt, with a viewpoint of gaining further information on both short term and long term plans within the Highways industry.
With guest speakers ranging from Garrett Emmerson (TFL) through to Graham Pendlebury (DfT), it's clear to see that a real shake up is occurring in London in terms of how Local Authorities are working and attaining additional funding.
It seems likely the Mayor and TFL's objectives remain similar in the short term with a continued focus on Cycle schemes in London. However, with a shift in priorities to housing and equality we will see a real change in terms of the road networks users and therefore the needs of Londoners from a Transport point of view. To ensure Local Authorities will get the most out of funding, further customer (or user) communication must be pushed, perhaps replicating the success of the Tube's communications to the Road Network in some capacity.
What is vital in all of this is ensuring Local Authorities continue to collaborate in some capacity, which is proving to be a success in many areas including the Bi-Borough/Tri-Borough merging of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster.
Nick Tyler, Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering & Head of Civil Engineering at UCL concluded the morning session with fantastic points surrounding delivering user needs on the roads within London. Collaboration and sharing best practice is key in all of this and we must ensure the needs of road users is kept at the top of the list when any decisions are made within the Highways sector in both public and private sector organisations.
The afternoon and rest of the Conference was an interesting update on Asset Management and optimising this to gain the incentivised funding from the DfT. Again collaboration and sharing services is vital in all of this, due to the risk assessment approach to assessing Assets and programming long term maintenance.
The successful Bi-Borough agreement, frameworks and partnerships that are becoming common practice in the industry, such as Midlands Connect and Transport for the North, are vital in ensuring Local Authorities and Boroughs are getting the most out of public spending. But it also means contractors and consultancies are being benchmarked in more areas and (hopefully) a better Road network across the UK can subsequently be achieved!
For more information on upcoming TAG Events, or to discuss how these changes may affect the recruitment market within the Highways and Transport sectors please feel free to send me a message or call on 02393 876 011