Transport for London is exploring how its network of bus stations can be turned into top up charging points for emergency services vehicles and even private cars as part of a major revamp of its estate.

Peter Elliot, Head of Development at Transport for London told delegates at the Smart Cities Development Conference that the agency is looking at redeveloping its bus stations.

He said the anticipated switch over to electric buses means that existing problems of fumes and noise would be lessened, increasing opportunities to build residential accommodation on top.
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And the bus stations themselves, which are largely empty during the day, could become top up charging points for other organisation’s vehicles, like the ambulance and fire service and even potentially private motorists, Elliot said: “These hangars are empty during the day and chock full at night. The opportunity for them is absolutely vast. We can leverage against our land holdings and local authority or private sector landholdings: those sites are driving thousands of units.”

Elliot also told delegates that TfL is going through an exercise to put digital connectivity into its on-street and below ground infrastructure, but the pace of innovation in construction industry has been ‘glacial’ giving as an example the nine months delay to Crossrail.

The main reason is problems integrating five existing signals systems with that installed for Crossrail, he said: “You can run the trains, but they don’t talk to each other.”

Andre Gibbs, Partner at Argent, said that the fundamental problem with construction is structure of the industry, noting that industries like automotive and aerospace have achieved much greater vertical supply chain integration.

The construction process is plagued by too many middle men, but that change is afoot with the erosion in the number of top tier contractors, he said: “The design and build model is starting to fray at the edges. A lot of the second-tier contractors are now much better capitalised and much more capable of taking on large scale so can see lot more construction management coming into vogue and lot more direct relationships in the supply chain.”

Gibbs also told the conference that he is not concerned about putting digital infrastructure into the company’s new developments, like the redevelopment of Brent Cross, which is the next major scheme in Argent’s pipeline.

He said: “Putting in additional communications and connectivity which is the hard stuff to retrofit in city streets, is not a big cost to us. It’s not the massive quantum leap that will sink viability, we don’t see this adding massive overhead,” said Gibbs, who during his presentation had described the installation of lavish levels of cable ducting in its Kings Cross regeneration strategy as ‘an extraordinarily robust strategy’.”

Michelle Duggan, Partnership Manager at Newcastle University, said there are currently seven live construction projects at its ‘Triple Helix’ project, which she described as ‘one of the largest urban developments in the UK’.

The level of floorspace is due to increase from one 1,500 sq m building on the site in 2014, to nine buildings covering 17,000 sq m by next year.

The development of the former Scottish and Newcastle Brewery covers 24 acres close to Newcastle city centre, and the project, a joint venture between the university, Newcastle City Council and insurer Legal and General, will bring 230,000 sq ft of commercial floor space to the market in the next 18 months.

It also boasts a district energy centre, which is due to be delivered by partnership between Newcastle Council and Engie, with a combined heat and power plant currently under construction.

Julie Alexander, Director of Technology and Innovation at Places for People, said that the social landlord is looking to extend the use of BIM into asset management: “We are building properties we intend to own and manage for a very long time. For any homes that have a maintenance problem we can put a cost on that. If there is something we can do technically that can alleviate some of those costs we will look at it. It’s getting to the point we can make a business case for smarter ways to look at some of this stuff.”
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