Tag: Smart Cities

City council appoints North to deliver Smart Waste Solution for Edinburgh

The UK’s leading IoT service and solutions provider, North, has been appointed by IT and business consulting firm, CGI, to support the City of Edinburgh Council’s vision to become one of the world’s leading Smart Cities.  

A five-year contract has been agreed to support the Council’s plans to ‘transform the capital into one of the world’s leading Smart Cities’. 

The deal is supported by a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant as part of the ‘Scotland’s 8th City – the Smart City’ programme. City of Edinburgh Council will deliver three projects budgeted at £6.4m, of which £2.5m is part of the ERDF grant. Funding secured by the Council from Zero Waste Scotland through its Recycling Improvement Fund will also be used towards the scheme.  

The development of a Smart City Operations Centre will transform and enhance city management and the citizen experience by utilising data captured through a range of emerging technologies to drive transformational change’. 

Driven by CGI’s industry-leading Smart City Platform, North was selected by CGI to provide the Smart Waste sensors and to provide connectivity for the solution through the IoT Scotland network, the most advanced Internet of Things (IoT) network in the UK. 

Intelligent sensor data will now be used to develop and drive improvements for better waste management, transmitted using North’s IoT Scotland network, allowing the City of Edinburgh Council to improve services across the city. 

The project will see North provision 11,000 smart waste sensors in waste containers throughout the city. The state-of-the-art technology will enable clever waste management by detecting waste levels and predicting usage trends, enabling the Council to optimise waste collection and manage routes more efficiently.

The smart technology will assist in creating a cleaner and greener city and will help reduce the Council’s environmental impact.  

The IoT Scotland network will also be used to transmit data for other critical services to enhance the council’s digital vision.  In parallel with the waste project the council will roll-out a digitally enabled proactive service for Social Housing across the city, using the IoT Scotland network.  

This solution will capture insightful data through real-time management and monitoring of the conditions in social housing properties.  The proactive approach for the maintenance of properties and asset management will deliver efficiencies for the council while enhancing the living conditions of their residents and improving wellbeing. 

Commenting on the partnership, City of Edinburgh Council Deputy Leader, Cammy Day, said: “Edinburgh has big ambitions for becoming a world-leading Smart City – a digitally inclusive, sustainable and connected Capital with services easily accessible by all of our residents no matter where they are.  

“The use of intelligent sensors will help us to deliver a more digitally-enabled proactive service and address many of the challenges a rapidly growing city like Edinburgh faces and will support our work towards providing clean and green communities, meeting our net zero targets and improving living conditions and wellbeing for all.” 

Scott McEwan, Chief Commercial Officer at North, said: “Edinburgh is one of seven Scottish cities working collaboratively on a Smart City programme. The introduction of the Smart City Platform will enable the Council to reach its ambitions efficiently and North is proud to accelerate this vision. 

“The use of technology to introduce intelligent waste management services will create a cost-efficient solution to everyday duties, whilst improving the streetscape and health of communities, and increasing sustainability.  Working with CGI, the roll-out of the smart waste scheme is an important step that will help Edinburgh reach its ambitions.” 

Tara McGeehan, UK & Australia President at CGI, said: “Edinburgh is a vibrant and diverse capital city that is home to more than 518,000 citizens and CGI has been the primary provider of transformational ICT services to the City of Edinburgh Council since 2015. 

“We very much look forward to taking Edinburgh’s vision of a Smart City and making it real through our innovative use of technology, analytics and data. Together, we will turn Edinburgh into one of the world’s leading Smart Cities.” 

BT partners with local authorities in Edinburgh to boost mobile coverage

500 small cells will be deployed in towns and cities across the UK to enhance EE 4G coverage

BT is partnering with local authorities in UK towns and cities, including Edinburgh, to boost mobile coverage by mounting small cell antennas on street furniture such as lampposts and CCTV columns.

The technology and telecoms firm is also using its own assets, including phone boxes and its Street Hub 2.0 digital units, so its mobile arm EE can house hundreds of small cells to boost capacity in high demand areas.

Small cells are mobile radio cells that help to provide better coverage for customers at street level, where it’s often impractical to install larger mobile masts or where an offloading capability is required.

The programme will allow EE customers to experience uninterrupted data speeds of up to 300Mbps in the two Scottish cities along with others such as Glasgow, Leeds, Greater Manchester, London, Birmingham and Nottingham.

The infrastructure will be delivered over the next 18 months and can also support 5G network coverage in the future. In addition to enabling small cell deployment by EE, BT is also working with other UK mobile network operators to deploy small cells around the UK to help extend and densify their high-speed mobile network coverage.

Brian More O’Ferrall, Director, Mobile Operators in BT’s Enterprise business, said: “Around 200 of the small cells are already live and are helping to boost 4G coverage for EE customers in towns and cities across the UK.

“We have worked closely with our local authority partners to utilise their street furniture, as well as our own assets, to improve connectivity in these areas.

“Ensuring good digital infrastructure is a priority for many councils, especially with the rise in mobile device ownership and growth in demand for data and connectivity, and they have seen the benefits that such partnerships can provide.

“Not only does it mean that average download speeds can often double in some areas, but it’s also more efficient and means there is a reduced need for new cell masts in the localities.

“We’re pleased to be working with EE and other mobile network operators to deliver this coverage boost.”

EE was the first UK network to combine unlicensed and licensed spectrum in a single 4G small cell. Using Licensed-assisted access (LAA) allows network operators to exploit the additional capacity of 5GHz spectrum for a downlink to the mobile phone. Not only does this provide additional capacity but also improves the quality of service of key mobile functions, such as video streaming.

The small cells will be deployed across the UK including the following areas:

  • Birmingham
  • Croydon
  • Edinburgh
  • Glasgow
  • Leeds
  • Greater London (including numerous London boroughs)
  • Greater Manchester
  • Newcastle
  • Nottingham
  • Leicester
  • Cardiff

Depute Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council and Smart Cities Lead, Cammy Day, said: “This is an innovative use of space – using the Council’s existing CCTV cameras to accelerate the roll out of high-density mobile coverage and close the digital divide in some of our most disadvantaged communities.

“We are already investing in our CCTV to keep Edinburgh safe and make our systems modern and sustainable. And we know that there are lower levels of fixed or high-speed internet in parts of the city where we have CCTV coverage. That’s why we’re driving forward this initiative with BT, which will encourage providers to invest in improving mobile coverage, capacity and speeds in key parts of the city.

“It makes perfect sense to make the most out of the sites we already have and avoid any unnecessary extra street clutter, and it is innovation like this which is making sure Edinburgh has the very best mobile infrastructure in place and developing our position as one of the world’s leading smart cities!”

BT is using its new Street Hub 2.0 units to site small cells and further boost connectivity, which comes after a recent survey by the company found that two thirds of small firms agree that mobile connectivity could be improved in their area.

The new units have already been rolled out in Glasgow, Nottingham and London. Subject to local planning processes, BT is aiming to roll out around 300 Street Hub 2.0 units across the UK this year, working closely with local councils and communities.

Yesterday’s announcement also comes after the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport recently launched its new Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA) scheme to enable telecoms firms to get easier access to public buildings and street lights, bus shelters and traffic lights to mount small cell equipment for 4G and 5G networks.

Through the pilots managed by DCIA, BT will be working closely with DCMS and local authority partners to further accelerate small cell deployment across the UK.