Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor of London fur Business, and Santiago Oliavres, CEO of Ferrovial Services, during the presentation of Londoners’ Lab.
- Londoners’ Lab will first seek to identify solutions to increase recycling rates
- The Greater London Authority, the University College London and Future Cities Catapult will take part in the programme
Ferrovial Services has partnered with the Greater London Authority, in addition to University College London (UCL) and Future Cities Catapult, to launch Londoners’ Lab – a citizen engagement programme aimed at transforming the way public services are delivered in the capital.
Supported by Ferrovial Services‘ UK subsidiary Amey, Londoners’ Lab will first seek to overcome the challenge of low recycling rates among Londoners. The methodology employed in the programme is hands-on experimentation. Firstly, residents will be engaged in face to face interaction. From this insight, specific interventions will be designed, prototyped and installed in the residents’ homes. An ‘impact analysis’ will be detailed to understand the benefit generated by the programme.
Santiago Olivares, Chief Executive Officer of Ferrovial Services, said: “London is definitely a global reference in urban innovation, a forward-thinking city which is making great progress on key issues such as data-driven management, citizen engagement and circular economy. We’re convinced that partnerships between local governments and service providers are a key driver to efficiently improve the performance of cities, and the experience they offer to residents and visitors alike.”
The Londoners’ Lab programme is closely associated with London and its Boroughs but addresses an issue common to all urban environments in the UK. The experimentation will start on the ground in one London Borough and then its replicability will be assessed, to scale up for other citizen-centric services in the capital and beyond.
Ferrovial Services’ Centre of Excellence for Cities will assume the programme management role. The role of UCL in the programme is to engage citizens directly and to understand their behaviour. From this, UCL will lead the design and creation of the solution to be installed in the homes. Future Cities Catapult will develop a business case for the process and develop material to share the process with local authorities so that they may learn the methodology and apply to future service procurements.
The partnership will look to build on London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s pledge to tackle falling recycling rates in the city and support the GLA’s target of a 65% recycling rate by 2030 and zero carbon city status for London by 2050.
