Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP), working for Southampton City Council, has opened the doors to its new Operational Control Hub at its Millbrook depot in the city.
The contractor said the hub uses innovative technologies and systems designed in-house to provide a single source of visibility to monitor all activities in real-time, track the progress of works and enable data-driven decision-making to drive efficiencies.
BBLP added that the hub, which includes eight 55-inch screens, allows operational teams to prioritise works based on the location of the vehicles and operatives, capture when work has been completed and intervene where required to keep outstanding work on track.
It will also play a key part in reacting to issues on the network by plotting works in a digital live environment, enabling the effective planning of reactive and emergency works and defect reporting, BBLP said.
The new hub on the south coast follows the firm’s first facility in Herefordshire, which has seen over 1,901 emergency responses resolved and 41,544 reactive jobs completed, resulting in a 16% increase in productivity, with 61% of reported defects and issues being actioned and completed ahead of schedule, in the first year.
Managing director Steve Helliwell said: ‘Our investment into new technologies, such as the Operational Control Hub, further demonstrates our commitment to going above and beyond for our customers to ensure that we can continue providing a best-in-class highways maintenance service for the council and local community alike.’
Eamonn Keogh, Southampton’ cabinet member for transport and district regeneration, said: ‘It’s inspiring to see our Highways partner, Balfour Beatty, raising the bar for new technologies.
‘The increase in productivity will help us to drive efficiencies in our transport improvement schemes, making it more accessible and safer for people to travel around the city.’
BBLP provides highways maintenance, street lighting and public realm services for local authorities across the UK.
