Lunch and Learn with Leeds City Council explores practical highways innovation
When highways professionals take time away from live projects, the session needs to give them practical knowledge they can use.
That was the focus when TMP’s Rush Sagoo recently delivered a CPD Lunch and Learn at Leeds City Council. Through live product demonstrations, case studies and real-world applications, attendees explored ways to reduce traffic management, improve safety, lower whole-life costs and support more sustainable highways.
The session brought together asset managers, designers, contract managers, planners and design apprentices, providing useful insight for everyone involved in specifying, delivering and maintaining highways infrastructure.
Practical learning that can influence future schemes
A TMP Lunch and Learn helps attendees look beyond an individual product and consider the full life of an installation.
The initial purchase price is only part of the overall cost. When roadside infrastructure is damaged, the traffic management, labour, machinery and excavation needed to replace it can quickly outweigh the cost of the product itself.
By examining these challenges during the design stage, attendees can identify opportunities to make future maintenance faster, safer and less disruptive.
The session helped the Leeds City Council team understand:
- How product selection can affect future maintenance costs
- Practical ways to reduce the need for traffic management
- How retention socket systems can simplify product replacement
- Where designs could reduce excavation, waste and material use
- How whole-life thinking can support carbon reduction objectives
- The role different teams play in delivering safer, more sustainable schemes
These are practical considerations that designers, asset managers and contractors can apply when reviewing specifications and planning future projects.
See how the products work
The hands-on format is one of the most valuable aspects of a TMP Lunch and Learn.
Rush brought a broad selection of products for the Leeds team to examine, supported by demonstrations, case studies and examples of existing installations. Attendees could see how the components fit together, ask questions and discuss where the products might be suitable within their own schemes.
This was particularly useful for the design apprentices, who were able to connect design principles with physical products and real maintenance challenges.
It also created a shared understanding across the different roles in the room. Designers could consider installation and maintenance requirements, while asset and contract managers could explore the potential long-term operational benefits.
Understanding the potential of the RS Socket
Much of the discussion centred on TMP’s RS Socket and the growing range of products designed to work with it.
Originally developed as a retention socket for bollards, the system has been extended so that TMP’s bollards and many other highways and street furniture products can use the same installation principle.
If a product is damaged, it can be released from the socket and replaced without excavating the surrounding surface or installing a new foundation. Depending on the location and application, this can help reduce:
- Traffic management requirements
- Time spent working at the roadside
- Disruption to road users
- Labour and machinery costs
- Excavated material and waste
- The whole-life carbon impact of the installation
For attendees, the value lies in understanding where this approach could be incorporated into future designs. A relatively small decision at the specification stage could make future reactive maintenance significantly simpler and more cost-effective.
Learning tailored to your team
Every TMP Lunch and Learn can be adapted to suit the organisation, the attendees and the challenges they face.
Sessions can cover practical highways innovation, whole-life cost, traffic management reduction, reactive maintenance, sustainable materials and carbon reduction. Relevant products, demonstrations and case studies can then be selected around the team’s priorities.
The complete session can be delivered at your office, depot or civic centre in under an hour. It can also be divided into two shorter sessions where this works better for the team. Lunch is provided, making it easy to fit valuable CPD into the working day.
Feedback from the Leeds City Council attendees was positive, with the session helping to build awareness of practical innovations they could begin considering within future schemes.
Bring practical highways innovation to your team
A TMP Lunch and Learn gives your team the opportunity to examine products first-hand, learn from real applications and discuss practical ways to improve future installations.
Whether you work in highways design, asset management, contracts, maintenance or early-career development, the session can be shaped around the knowledge that will be most useful to you.
To arrange a Lunch and Learn at your workplace, just fill in the form below.
