15 June 2023 | Innovation | Our Work
Visitors to this year’s LCRIG Innovation Festival will hear about how councils are adopting new technologies which include a multi-sensor weather station device, a road surfacing carbon emissions calculator and a Hydrocarbon Analyser.
On day one, there will be a session entitled ‘Meet the innovators’ which will feature updates from some of the winners of last year’s Innovation Festival and the councils they have been paired with.
The session is designed to inform and inspire those in attendance with delegates hearing directly from personnel who are involved in the implementation of new innovations on local council road networks.
Rennicks are currently working with Bolton Council to implement a weather station device after being paired together at last year’s Festival.
Barry Marron, Managing Director of Rennicks and Dwayne Lowe, Assistant Director – Highways and Engineering, Bolton Council will talk about how the device can be used to measure both ground and air temperature as well as air humidity. Authorities can use this data to see at a local level whether winter road treatments are needed.
Last year’s winner of the highway defects category – QROS – are currently speaking with Wigan Council about the possible implementation of its QED Hydrocarbon Analyser.
Ian Wharton, Head of Sales at QROS will speak alongside John Williams, Highways Asset Manager at Wigan Council, with the pair set to discuss how the innovative QED mobile testing equipment can further advance decisions made within highway asset management. 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.
The winner of the Green Estate category in 2022 was Asphalt-IQ with the company commencing a pilot project with Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council that will see the local authority use its Road Surfacing Carbon Emissions Calculator and Smart Tag System.
Asphalt IQ has developed an innovative system for calculating the carbon emissions of any road surfacing project. The system utilises the company’s novel Smart A-Tag in conjunction with a Smartphone App called Carbon-IQ.
Gary Cook – Managing Director of Asphalt-IQ Ltd and Darren Sephton, Highway Asset Manager at Knowsley Metropolitan BC will provide an update on the progress that is being made.
The inaugural 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.
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. The event provides local authorities with a chance to find out about new innovations from the supply chain that will help to meet their current and future challenges.
This year’s event, which takes place from 4-5 July at Newark Showground, will see local authorities once again invited to score innovations across several different categories. This year’s categories are as follows: Fleet and equipment; Bridges and other structures; Climate resilience; Transport Technology; Surfacing; Biodiversity; Traffic Signs and Lines, Street Lighting and Collaborative Innovation.
Find out more here.
View the draft event agenda here.