Smart city toolkit for London’s new town

Smart solutions for a £1 billion regeneration programme

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What are the opportunities to deploy smart solutions in building refurbishment, the construction of new homes and public space redevelopment?

Urban Foresight was awarded two contracts to apply smart principles to Thamesmead, London’s New Town. Thamesmead is at the start of a 30-year regeneration programme that could deliver up to 20,000 new homes and 9,000 new jobs. In spring 2016, Peabody announced its proposals for a £1bn regeneration programme for South Thamesmead over the next ten years.

The contracts were awarded by the Peabody Group, which provides homes and services to more than 111,000 residents across London and is the major landowner in Thamesmead. Peabody’s ambitions for the project placed an emphasis on maximising the benefits that could be realised by local residents and businesses. It also placed an emphasis on providing practical guidance and funding to ensure that projects could be implemented and sustained.

The first of Urban Foresight’s contracts was to create a Smart Toolkit that will provide a set of practical guidelines for how to apply Smart City principles across Peabody’s current pipeline of projects. This required working across Peabody’s directorates to develop a toolkit that could be used to undertake a health check across the Thamesmead regeneration programme and to identify where Peabody can embed, test or pilot a smarter approach.

The second contract was to create a concept plan for a Smarter District in Thamesmead, that would act as a “living lab” or demonstrator to test and pilot a series of interventions. This covered a range of interventions such as smart homes, smart high streets, community services and engagement. The concept plan also sets out a vision, measures of success, a range of potential interventions, initial costs and a funding plan.

 

Photo by Brandon Wong

What We Delivered

Professional engagement with relevant stakeholders and experts to uncover key insights and identify shared priorities

We are expert at running workshops and focus groups, using a variety of tools and techniques to combine and share information from large and small groups

Practical insights and evidence to support decision-making, policy development and the case for investments

We write award winning reports that are concise, logical and engaging

We have specialist toolkits to shape future outlooks, develop actionable strategies and open up new possibilities for innovation

We provide practical guidance and define the resources, roles and outcomes required to implement innovation projects

Sector Expertise

We are globally recognised experts in the opportunities for cities to embrace technology and new ways of working to create positive social, economic and environmental outcomes

Advising on ways to help people live happily, independently and safely in their homes as part of a cohesive community

Advising on the commercial and disruptive potential of new technologies

Bottom-up understanding of the needs and motivations of citizens, as well as engaging with communities to inspire positive actions and behaviours

Maximising the opportunities for employment and wealth creation and helping to establish the necessary governance, policy and capital funding to make this possible

We help our clients to navigate changes and undertake digital transformations that set them up for long-term success

Advising on ways to share, manage and exploit data assets

Understanding and avoiding the negative impacts of businesses, cities and communities on the environment

We understand the connections between systems and how technology can facilitate more efficient and effective urban infrastructure and services

Advice on how new technology and services can create healthier and happier communities

How new technologies and business models are transforming the way people and goods are transported to create better connected, healthier and more sustainable cities