The NJUG London Street Works Forum, ‘Rise to the Challenge of the Mayor of London to Raise the Standard of Street Works and Reduce Congestion & Disruption’, kindly sponsored by Enzen Global Ltd, UK Power Networks and Mayrise Ltd, took place on Thursday 28th March 2013 at the Tower of London.
The event was well attended by a range of stakeholders and involved a series of presentations, before drinks and canapés and the opportunity to wander round the venue and see the Crown Jewels. Speeches were delivered by Les Guest (NJUG CEO), who set the scene and chaired the proceedings, Patrick Clarke (Director of Network Operations at UKPN), Shashi Seshadri (Head of Business Operations at Enzen Global Ltd) and Philip Everett (Director of the Built Environment, City of London).
Patrick Clarke gave a presentation on how UKPN are ‘Rising to the Challenge’ set by the Mayor of London to raise the standard of street works and reduce congestion and disruption. He highlighted key outputs and initiatives for making UKPN the best in class, including improving the quality of data to drive process improvements, fostering a culture of accountability, ownership and control environment and increased stakeholder engagement initiatives.
Shashi Seshadri presented on how Enzen Global is supporting UKPN in the journey to become the ‘best in class’ in street works. He explained how they were meeting the challenge with changed processes and systems, including improved quality of information going to local authorities and positive reputational growth with prioritised focus on the customer.
Philip Everett spoke about how things had changed from the City of London’s point of view and then set the scene for where and how works promoters and their contractors will continue to need to improve to further reduce disruption in the ‘square mile’ over the next few years. Outlining the City’s Five Point Plan:
he emphasised that better coordination and a standard set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should be priorities going forward.