Sustainability alternative fuel infrastructure and tethered drones

Talking about sustainability, alternative fuel infrastructure, tethered drones, safety and more. Ian Billington of Costain Group talks to Peter Haddock at Highways UK in our specially designed Leica Geosystems stand studio.

As the Associate Director at the digital consultancy arm of Costain Group, Ian has been working with his colleagues and National Highways at its Development Centre in Morton in Marsh. 

And the big news is that the centre has been developing its own alternative fuel grid, including producing green Hydrogen from solar panels.

Ian: "The Development Centre is a great place to test new innovations, ideas and solutions that can support our journey to Net Zero and beyond.

"And alternative fuels are a big part of this journey. So, we need to explore how we can make them work on our sites in the future.

"There is no point in adopting Hydrogen as a fuel source if we use fossil fuels to produce it. We are, therefore, looking at how we can create our own energy grids onsite and how this can be rolled out at scale in the future.

"In addition to this, we continue to develop the use of other technologies, including the use of drones. For example, we are now exploring the use of tethered drones to share information with the emergency services and our maintenance teams when we have an incident on the network.

"This will provide real-time information in a safe way that will ultimately lead to better decision making across the board whilst also collecting data on damage to the road surface."

Ian added: "The development centre team also shares ideas with colleagues across the industry. For example, we have been working closely with TFL recently to share knowledge so they can benefit from our research and practical testing."

Peter commented: “Having been to the Development Centre a number of times, I have witnessed how the team test new solutions and equipment to ensure they are fit for purpose. And I was recently onsite with the Costain team testing safe to pass technology with Lynch Plant Hire and Safety Shield.

“All of this work is essential to delivering a more efficient, productive and safer industry. And if we are to meet our Net Zero targets, we will need to understand how all the many pieces of the equipment, technology and people puzzle fit together.’