Future Places

Sponsored by


Barnet LBC

A brilliant new gateway: Brent Cross West station

Councils don’t usually build train stations. Barnet Council is different. At the end of 2023 we welcomed the first passengers to Brent Cross West – the first mainline station to open in London in over a decade. Brent Cross West is one of the most unique railway projects delivered in recent years and plays a vital role in unlocking wider regeneration in the area. Enabling a new £8bn park town, it will bring much needed housing, offices and infrastructure to this area of North London and provide new sustainable transport options to increase connectivity across the borough and beyond.

Edinburgh City Council

Trams to Newhaven project 2023

The Trams to Newhaven Project, the three-mile completion of the original tram line, opened on 7 June 2023 on time and within the £207.3m budget agreed by the City of Edinburgh Council. The Project was led by an in-house team with support from consultants and two major contractors. Social, economic and environmental reasons for completing the line were laid out in the Final Business Case presented to Council in March 2019 and helps deliver Edinburgh’s future aspirations. Edinburgh Trams, who operate the trams in the city, enjoyed a record-breaking month in August 2023, carrying over 1.2 million passengers.

Essex CC

The Essex climate focus area

The Essex Climate Focus Area (CFA) has been created to pilot accelerated climate action and showcase best practice in sustainable land stewardship, in collaboration with local councils, charities, residents, landowners and businesses. The goal of the Climate Focus Area is to develop ideas, methods and tactics to fight climate change. The Climate Focus Area objectives are: By 2030: 30% of land cover to be managed as Natural Green Infrastructure, 30% of urban areas under Natural Green Infrastructure, native tree cover to double (c.5% to 10% cover) and every parish to have a biodiversity action plan and a climate emergency strategy.

Hammersmith & Fulham LBC

Future places – clean air neighbourhood scheme

Hammersmith and Fulham (H&F) have set out a pioneering Clean Air Neighbourhood programme, with the ambition of reducing many of the impacts of poor air quality and improving the health of residents. Working collaboratively with residents, businesses and third parties, we have consistently looked to improve our programme using new technical solutions and basing our findings on several data sets, including air quality monitors, and traffic monitoring. The programme has already seen some incredible results with opportunity to replicate in other parts of the borough and beyond.

Oxford City Council

Electric vehicle dynamic purchasing system

Oxford City Council have created the Electric Vehicle Dynamic Purchasing System (EVDPS) to provide a reliable, efficient and quick procurement solution to address the key complexities of procuring in this market for all UK Public Sector Organisations to use for free. The EVDPS gives Local Authorities and other UK Public Sector Organisations a nimble route to procure the EV Infrastructure needed to accommodate the sharp rise of EV take up in their regions and in doing so positioning them as enablers in the transition to EVs ultimately reducing CO2 emissions and ensuring the UK climate aims are achieved.

West London Alliance

Shaping a digital West London

West London is a £70bn economic powerhouse – but too many people and businesses are not fully connected to the economic opportunities of new technology. Digital West London works across the seven West London Alliance boroughs (Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow) to deliver collaborative infrastructure, innovation and inclusion projects which get residents and businesses better connected, faster. Navigating squeezed budgets and competitive funding streams, the small (2.8 FTE) core team convenes a wide network of public and private sector partners to deliver on big ambitions – driving growth, providing access to opportunity and transforming lives. https://digitalwestlondon.co.uk/

Back to shortlist