In the lead up to the 2023 Innovation Festival, which will take place between 4-5 July at Newark Showground, LCRIG is providing regular updates from last year’s winning innovators who have been paired with local authorities to develop or facilitate a trial of their product or solution on each of the council’s networks. This week, we hear from the winner of the highway defects category – QROS – who have entered into conversation with Wigan Council about the possible implementation of its QED Hydrocarbon Analyser.
The QED Hydrocarbon Analyser from QROS gives instant results for coal tar in road binder at under £5 per sample or less, with results comparable to high quality GCMS costing up to £250 per sample. It is more reliable than PAK spray, and can be used at the roadside or at a depot. It is easy to use, training takes around two hours. The QED has been widely used on projects such as the London Olympics, Crossrail, HS2 and Thames Tideway, and is currently in use throughout the UK and around the world. It has been recommended in place of GCMS by the North Carolina Department of Transport for their Leaking Underground Storage Tank project, as it has been shown to achieve savings of at least 55%.
The QED is currently undergoing several evaluations in the UK and overseas, by construction/remediation companies, laboratories and local councils. Among the company’s UK customers are Lancashire County Council, Hanson Aggregate, COLAS, GRS Roadstone, the Ministry of Defence and the RAF. QROS have distributors for the QED in Taiwan, the USA, South Africa and Scandinavia.
Whilst there is currently no fixed project between QROS and Wigan Council both parties are working together to assess a business case to trial the use of QED testing.
Ian Wharton, Head of Sales at QROS, said: ”We are very much looking forward to engaging with Wigan Council, and to show them how they can utilise the innovation award winning QED HC-1. During a previous meeting, we discussed the multiple uses of the QED, and how it can benefit Wigan Council to help to cut costs across the highways division. QROS are very excited to grow this relationship, as we look to add additional uses for the QED, and to look at further projects with the council. The Innovation Festival managed to get all the right people in one place, at the same time, to look at the new innovation available. This can only grow year on year.”
John Williams, Highways Asset Manager at Wigan Council, said: “LCRIG’s Innovation Festival was a great success and directly connected councils’ with innovative contractors. Following our attendance we have engaged with QROS in order to understand how their innovative QED mobile testing equipment can further advance decisions made within highway asset management and we are happy to work with Ian and his team in order to develop a business case that supports working with QROS.”
The LCRIG Innovation Festival, which took place at Newark Showground in July 2022, was a first of its kind event – giving qualifying innovators the chance to receive funding or secure trials.
In advance of the Festival, a number of local authorities committed to making their networks available for trials and a portion of all exhibition space and sponsor sales at the event was put into the LCRIG / Steve Berry Innovation Fund.
The winners of each category and the council they have been paired with are as follows:
Local authority delegates were asked to judge entries from Qualifying Innovators over the two days of the event. All scores were then collated at the end of the festival and the LCRIG Infrastructure Innovation Board reviewed the results, before making a final decision on the winning innovations. Details of each of the winners can be found here.
As part of the conference programme at this year’s Festival, LCRIG are planning to put on an interactive session where each of the pairings will be given an opportunity to provide a brief update on where they are up to with the process and answer questions from those in attendance.
LCRIG Innovation Festival 2023
Last year’s inaugural event saw more than 450 delegates including 60 different highway authorities in attendance over 2-days.
The Innovation Festival is an event where products, solutions, new innovations and techniques can be displayed and demonstrated over a range of live demonstration sessions ands the overarching theme for this year’s event is ‘Showcasing emerging technology and maintenance solutions’.
The festival provides an opportunity for organisations to showcase innovative products and solutions that will support our local authority members with their immediate and future challenges.
Sponsorship and exhibitor packages available include:
- Award Sponsorship
- Indoor exhibitor spaces
- Outdoor static stand spaces
- Outdoor static space + outdoor live demonstration opportunity
- Individual delegate package
Public sector delegates – Fully funded places are available for public sector delegates attending this year’s event.
To find out more and book your place, please visit the Innovation Festival website or contact us at info@lcrig.org.uk.