Press releases
Atkins gets the green light for Southend and East Dunbartonshire traffic control - 19 June 2012
Atkins has been awarded two contracts which will see it provide and manage Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to keep traffic moving for Southend Borough Council in south east England and East Dunbartonshire Council in Scotland.
Under these contracts, Atkins will provide the Urban Traffic Control (UTC/SCOOT) system, which automatically adjusts and optimises traffic signal timings and co-ordination to reduce congestion.
On average, SCOOT can provide a 20% reduction in vehicle delays, 5% reduction in vehicle journey times and around a 5% decrease in peak emissions of pollutants when compared to fixed time traffic signal plans.
Lee Woodcock, service director for Knowledge Management Centres in Atkins’ Highways & Transportation business, said: “The Standard Operating Model we have developed will enable us to keep traffic moving in Southend and East Dunbartonshire. Our ITS Managed Services uses SCOOT to control a number of junctions and stand alone crossings throughout each council’s road network; this will not only save our clients money but will mean road users can get to where they want to go in a shorter amount of time.
“We will provide each council with a fault monitoring and reporting centre, while under the Southend contract we will also oversee the council’s traffic control systems maintenance contract for all on-site equipment and provide design, installation management and commissioning services for its existing ITS infrastructure so Southend will have a ‘one stop shop’ for all of its ITS needs.”
Andrew Meddle, head of planning and transport at Southend Borough Council, said: “We are pleased to renew our previous 14-year working relationship with Atkins, as it continues to provide our UTC and ITS management support services. This new contract offers us tangible savings and a cost effective solution for our future ITS service provision.”
Councillor Alan Moir, convener of East Dunbartonshire Council’s Development & Infrastructure Committee, said: “We are pleased to be working with Atkins in our continuing commitment to keep traffic moving and reduce vehicle emissions. The new signals will be more energy efficient and need fewer repairs, making further savings.”
The Southend Borough Council contract will run until April 2015 with the option for further extensions, while the East Dunbartonshire Council contract will end in April 2013.
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Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading engineering and design consultancies*, employing some 17,700 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. It has the breadth and depth of expertise to plan, design and enable some of the world's most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects.
*It is the largest engineering consultancy in the UK (New Civil Engineer Consultants File 2012) and the 13th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2011).
Recent projects include:
- Major infrastructure works, such as the design and programme management of the civil works for the Dubai Metro red and green lines in the UAE;
- Key rail projects – providing architectural and engineering design services on Crossrail, Europe’s biggest civil engineering project in London, UK, and designing stations, tunnelling and track systems for Gautrain, South Africa’s first high speed line;
- Renewable energy schemes – transformer platform design for the Thanet offshore wind park in the North Sea;
- Multi-year architecture-engineering construction management services for the US National Park Service, including projects such as rehabilitation of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and Administrative Complex at California’s Death Valley to meet the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification standards;
- High profile transport planning and urban design – our innovative scheme to deliver a diagonal crossing at Oxford Circus in London, UK, has helped tackle the problem of pedestrian crowding;
- Water and environmental projects – critical programme management of storm protection works in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Southern Louisiana in North America, providing expertise in coastal restoration, engineering, environmental and GIS support to rebuild defenses and protect habitats;
- Multidisciplinary building design – Northwood Primary School in Darlington, UK, is an exemplar project which raises standards for environmental design and community engagement.
Atkins was named among The Sunday Times 25 Best Big Companies to Work For 2011, won Consultancy of the Year in the CIBSE Low Carbon Performance Awards 2010, received the first ever certification of the Carbon Trust Standard awarded to an engineering consultancy in the construction sector, and was included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2011 and The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2010. Atkins was also construction and civil engineering sector winner for the fifth consecutive year in the Target National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2010 and was awarded a RoSPA Gold Award 2011 for excellence in control of health and safety in the workplace.
Atkins is the official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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