Conversations and circular thinking at LCRIG Innovation & Learning Festival 2026
The TMP team has returned from two fantastic days at the LCRIG Innovation & Learning Festival at NAEC Stoneleigh.
Now in its fifth year, the Festival brought together local authorities, manufacturers, innovators, apprentices and highways professionals for a packed programme of technical learning, live demonstrations and industry collaboration.
Delegates travelled from across the UK, including Scotland, the North West, the North East, Cornwall and Jersey, making it a valuable opportunity to hear how different authorities and organisations are responding to the challenges facing the sector.
Across the two days, CPD-certified sessions covered subjects including circular economy solutions, climate resilience, carbon-smart maintenance, artificial intelligence, asset lifecycle management, low-carbon materials and sustainable road repair.
There were also live demonstrations, Department for Transport updates, apprentice sessions and plenty of opportunities to explore the latest products, technologies and ideas shaping the future of highways maintenance and road infrastructure.
Great conversations on the TMP stand
For the TMP team, the Festival was a chance to catch up with familiar faces, meet new people and better understand the priorities influencing highways decisions across the country.
Two subjects came up repeatedly: the need to manage increasingly tight budgets and the pressure to reduce carbon, waste and environmental impact.
These priorities are closely connected. Authorities need practical solutions that can reduce whole-life costs while also supporting their sustainability and carbon-reduction targets.
That led to plenty of valuable conversations on the TMP stand about product design, installation, maintenance, recycling and long-term asset performance
Designing for circular infrastructure
Richard McKenna delivered TMP’s presentation, “Designing for Circular Infrastructure – What the Evolution of the Traffic Bollard Can Teach Us”, as part of the Festival’s CPD-certified technical programme.
The presentation used the development of the traffic bollard to explore some of the bigger questions facing the highways sector, including material choice, embodied carbon, installation, maintenance, visibility, passive safety, durability and end-of-life recovery.
It also reflected on how far reboundable bollard design has developed since Chris Nicklin created the original RSRB more than 20 years ago.
From those early ideas, TMP has grown into one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of reboundable traffic bollards, with products now used across the UK and internationally.
Most importantly, the presentation generated real discussion. Over the following day and a half, at least six delegates visited the TMP stand specifically to continue conversations that had started during Richard’s session.
Many of those discussions focused on circular infrastructure, the use of new materials and how the highways sector can take greater responsibility for products at the end of their working lives.
Retention sockets attract attention
Our retention sockets were one of the biggest talking points across the two days.
Visitors were keen to learn how the system can reduce excavation, simplify installation and allow damaged bollards to be removed and replaced quickly without digging out the entire foundation.
By making products easier to install, maintain, replace and recover, retention sockets can help reduce disruption, material use, labour requirements and the waste created when highway assets need attention.
The level of interest reflected the pressures facing highways teams to make maintenance budgets work harder while reducing the disruption and environmental impact associated with replacing damaged street furniture.
Strong interest in bollard recycling
Bollard recycling also attracted a particularly high level of interest throughout the Festival.
A large number of visitors wanted to know more about TMP’s recycling scheme and how damaged or unwanted traffic bollards can be collected, processed and kept out of the general waste stream.
The conversations showed that end-of-life recovery is becoming an increasingly important consideration for local authorities and contractors. Specifying a product is no longer just about how it performs when it is installed. There is also growing interest in what happens when it becomes damaged, needs replacing or reaches the end of its working life.
TMP’s bollard recycling scheme forms part of our wider circular approach, helping suitable materials to be recovered and recycled rather than simply becoming waste.
Practical circular economy solutions
One of the clearest messages from the Festival was that the sector is looking for practical ways to reduce both cost and carbon.
Circular economy thinking cannot sit separately from product performance, maintenance requirements or budget pressures. Solutions must work reliably in real highway environments while also helping authorities reduce waste, disruption and long-term costs.
TMP’s approach considers the full lifecycle of a product – from efficient manufacturing and installation through to maintenance, replacement, recovery and recycling.
The discussions at LCRIG showed there is a real appetite for solutions that make circular infrastructure achievable in practice, rather than treating sustainability as a standalone target.
The perfect place for a Festival photo
New for this year was the TMP giant deckchair, which quickly became one of the most popular features of the stand.
Plenty of visitors climbed aboard for a photograph, bringing a bit of fun to two very busy days of technical conversations, learning and networking.
It proved to be a great way to welcome people onto the stand and will certainly feature in plenty of Festival photographs.
Thank you for joining us
Thank you to everyone who stopped by the TMP stand, attended Richard’s presentation or joined us for a photograph in our new giant deckchair.
The LCRIG Innovation & Learning Festival once again provided a valuable opportunity for the highways community to share knowledge, discover new ideas and discuss practical solutions to some of the sector’s biggest challenges.
See you next year!
