Transport for London has marked the first year of its Roadworks Charter by recognising organisations that have made a difference to the efficiency of the capital’s road network.
The Roadworks Charter is a collaboration between TfL and London’s biggest utility companies setting out a series of principles and targets which achieved together will ensure roadworks are carried out efficiently and safely, keeping disruption to a minimum and supporting sustainable travel.
Six categories were recognised in the online ceremony which was introduced by Director of Network Management Glynn Barton.
The winners were:
Most Improved Safety Record – Openreach
It was judged to have demonstrated a very significant improvement in the last year and has consistently had the best performance in safety at works since the Charter was launched, reaching a failure rate 14% lower than the ‘all promoter average’.
Supporting Sustainable Travel – TfL Ringway Jacobs for Kingsland Road
The project delivered pedestrian walkways maintained or re-provided, cycle provisions maintained or re-provided, temporary pedestrian traffic signals provided to maintain crossing points and avoid the use of lengthy diversions, accessibility provisions provided in the form of footway kerb ramps and continuous tapping rails for visually impaired, bus stops maintained despite extensive Traffic Management, cylinders and waterfilled barriers installed to separate directional traffic and mitigate unwanted movements into flow of opposing traffic, and compliant, tidy, clean and well maintained traffic management throughout the works.
Best use of Lane Rental funding – SGN Wide ranging technology
Judged to have been proactive in their innovation ideas this year by securing £1m of Lane Rental funding to deliver 3 projects:
- A new suite of tools to protect their workforce by engineering a safer working environment to deal with the inevitable risks inherent with putting a stop to high volume gas escapes
- Improving the ability to locate buried services through using a tetherless robot to capture data that can be translated to construct a 3D virtual network of their services
- Modernising the 7 year old Core & Vac technology by improving safety through removing manual handling in lieu of controlling machinery remotely, and reducing site occupancy from 4-5 days to a single day through the use of more efficient air pick/vacuum technology.
Best Collaborative Work Site – Thames Water for Bishopsgate, City of London
Multiple collaborative working weekends in the last year involving more than 10 different promoters and developers, saving over 400 days of disruption.
Best Permitting Promoter – UKPN
When deciding the winner of the best permitting promoter award the judges considered their on site compliance with permit conditions, permit refusal rate, permit notification compliance, attendance at TfL Coordination meetings and communication with our Coordination, Assessment, Permitting Team.
Individual Award – Gary Hawkins, Cadent
The judges say Gary has been making a real effort to improve things, both operationally for Cadent, but also across the industry. He has been instrumental in developing a plan to turnaround their safety at roadworks metric and has also been creative with ideas for Lane Rental funded projects, which include a digital advertising board, a trial of a headset that beams images back to other stakeholders from site and he triggered an application to set aside funding for COVID-19 related measures relating to roadworks.
