The award ceremony which was attended a number of colleagues representing Water & Highways, along with partners from Virtus, Fewzed, and National Road Planing. It was an exciting evening for the team who won five out of a possible nine awards!
Sarah Reid, Managing Director - Water & Highways, rejoiced: "Winning four awards out of nine and receiving the chair’s award showcases the innovation we are bringing to the sector to overcome challenges and how we are leading the way by pushing the boundaries across safety, delivery and for our customers. These accolades are a testament to our hard work and dedication in setting new industry standards. I am incredibly proud of our achievements."
Check out the winning awards and the details here:
🏆 Customer Focused Team of the Year Award
The outstanding customer service from the A12 team saw them create an internal ‘Customer Culture’ communications strategy inspired by National Highways’ customer strategy pyramid and their six customer themes.
The A12 team mandated employee training and collaborated with all customers and contractors on weekend road closures by creating an ‘A12 corridor’ communications channel.
From left to right: Phil Scott from Virtus, Michael Snedden, James Butt, Rozie Reilly, Emma Searle
🏆 Exceptional Contribution to Road User Safety Award
Mitigating incursions on the A12 with collaborative and proactive measures to protect people on the roads won us the Exceptional Contribution to Road User Safety Award.
The A12 team made remarkable road user safety improvements as part of its work on the Concrete Roads Framework (CRF). By collaborating with local stakeholders and integrating cutting-edge technology and mitigation measures into Traffic Management, the East has proudly become the best-performing region in the UK, according to the Strategic Road User Survey (SRUS).
From left to right: Emma Searle, Phil Scott from Virtus, James Butt, Rozie Reilly
🏆 Delivering with Innovation Award
Working collaboratively across tier 1, 2, and 3 organisations, the team developed an innovative approach to concrete road removal, which was successfully deployed across the A11 and A12 projects and shared with the industry.
A specially modified planer was created to undertake the first-ever removal of a reinforced concrete carriageway in a single operation. This remarkable innovation brought numerous benefits, including a 35% reduction in carbon footprint compared to conventional techniques, quieter operation, and reduced dust and debris.
The success of this process is proudly shared with National Highways and the aviation industry.
From left to right: Emma Searle, Michael Snedden, James Butt, Phil Scott from Virtus, Rozie Reilly, David Bowers, Jamie Town from National Road Planing
🏆 Exceptional Contribution to Safety, Research, and Innovation Award and Chair's Award
The ‘Safety Contributions with Sign Asset Monitoring System (SAMS)’
To improve safety, Water & Highways collaborated with partners to trial and implement an innovative new technology, the Sign Asset Monitoring System (SAMS) on the A12 concrete roads replacement scheme in Essex.
This system uses sensors that are attached to traffic management signs to monitor signs and alert the team if the signs are displaced, enabling immediate and accurate deployment of traffic management personnel if sign movement is detected. This technology has been shared to encourage other highways projects to achieve savings and safety improvements.
The collaboration with HW Martins, Virtus, and Fewzed led to the largest-ever trial of SAMS, resulting in an improved attachment method that significantly reduced single-use plastic. SAMS eliminated 1,092 individual site visits on the A12, achieving carbon and cost savings of 5.61tCO2e and £64k by cutting 24,810km of driving, 728 driving hours, and 2,233 litres of fuel.
This incredible SAMS technology also earned the team the coveted chairs award.
This chair's award is selected from all winners and celebrates the submission that delivers on all aspects of National Highways’ values: Safety, Ownership, Passion, Integrity and Teamwork.
From left to right: Phil Scott from Virtus, Rozie Reilly, Ryan Woods from Fewzed, James Butt, Emma Searle