Swindon Council partners with Amey to achieve carbon reduction ambitions

Amey’s professional services contract with Swindon Borough Council has been extended for a further year. The deal will see the consultancy continue to support delivery of the borough’s carbon reduction strategy.

In the wake of the pandemic, local authorities across the UK face a swathe of new pressures – from funding shortfalls, to the need to bolster social services and support for residents. At the same time, they are having to ramp up their decarbonisation initiatives, with the UK’s central government having demanded they meet net zero targets by 2050.

Swindon Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Swindon in Wiltshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined – and like many other authorities across England, it is looking to green its local economy.

Support from professional services firms is proving crucial to that drive. Since 2020, Amey has been working with Swindon to help deliver highways engineering and transportation services, including project management, highways and drainage design, structures inspections and transport planning. In its initial three years, the engineering consultancy has delivered significant improvements to areas of public realm, including walking and cycling infrastructure at Station Road, Greenbridge and Coate Water roundabout.

Now, as the council looks to push on with its efforts, it has extended Amey’s engagement for a further year, and expanded its remit.

Using its consulting and design capabilities, Amey will help optimise Swindon’s EV charging point strategy and plans to utilise its new mobile network data capability to further enhance and optimise the traffic modelling for Swindon. At the same time, it will carry out whole life carbon assessments for each of its schemes in the town.

Speaking on the announcement, Alex Gilbert, managing director at Amey, said, “We are delighted to have been awarded an extension by Swindon Borough Council to provide the people of Swindon with a highways and transport infrastructure network they can be proud of.”

Gilbert added, “Crucial to our success will be supporting the Borough reduce its carbon footprint and support greener modes of transport, including active travel. To do this, we will use our data-led approach, to evidence and design the best possible engineering solutions.  Our work will once again be led by our local team based in Swindon.”

Elsewhere, Amey will also supply carbon accounting and carbon training as part of the package, with the aim of achieving PAS 2080 compliance. PAS 2080 is a standard for managing carbon in building and infrastructure. It looks at the whole value chain and aims to reduce carbon and cost through intelligent design, construction and use the recognised standard for managing carbon in infrastructure.

The global built environment sector is the source of almost 40% of global carbon emissions. In spite of this, less than an estimated 1% of building and infrastructure projects are currently evaluated in a way that quantifies the scale and source of carbon emissions generated during their lifespans. Taking this into account, other areas for development in Amey’s engagement include, a review of place making including a master plan for Kimmerfields and a focus on adding value through improvements in infrastructure operations.