From innovation to a lasting impact - why Year 4 of the Live Labs 2 programme matters so much
Giles Perkins, Programme Director for the Live Labs 2 programme, is taking on a new role working with ADEPT from April, strengthening the programme’s leadership at a critical moment. As Live Labs 2 moves into its fourth year, his focus is on ensuring that the programme’s learning delivers real change across the UK, making this next phase one to celebrate. Here he reflects on the vital importance of the year four information sharing strategy.
As ADEPT’s Live Labs 2 programme approaches the end of its initial three-year delivery phase, I believe we are at a genuinely pivotal moment for the programme. We have built a strong foundation of evidence and insight, but the real challenge now is what we do with the information and resources we have built. Over the past three years, Live Labs 2 has tested new approaches to reducing carbon and improving efficiency and sustainability across local highways.
Funded by the Department for Transport, the £30 million programme has brought together local authorities, industry partners and academia to explore practical solutions that have the potential to scale across the entire network. Now, with an additional £300,000 of funding secured, our focus shifts to ensuring that those ideas and solutions are understood, adopted and embedded across the UK.
Year four intentions
This next phase is not about simply sharing outputs or just producing reports that gather dust on a shelf. For me, it is about creating a collaborative and engaging process that helps the sector make practical use of what we have learned.
We will be taking the learning from Live Labs 2, contextualising it for different audiences and then working directly with those audiences to understand how the results and toolkits can be applied in their own areas. The aim is to support local authorities in moving towards a new business as usual, where lower carbon, more efficient approaches are fully integrated into how highway services are delivered. There is no denying that it’s a big shift and huge ask; but the right information is powerful and if we can share our learning to give others the confidence to succeed then that’s a win whichever metrics you use to measure results.
Throughout the programme we have seen a real strengthening of our communications and engagement activity. Over recent months, the focus has been on actively sharing project outputs and increasing the visibility of the programme across the sector. That has included a steady programme of blogs and newsletters, targeted media activity and support for major industry events, alongside direct engagement with stakeholders through visits, presentations and parliamentary engagement. We have also seen encouraging growth in our digital channels, particularly on LinkedIn, where engagement has increased and interest in our published outputs continues to build. What that tells me is that there is a real appetite across the sector for the evidence and insight that Live Labs 2 is generating.
The first three years have been about testing and validating ideas and year four is about adoption and scale. Innovation only matters if it leads to change, and that change depends on people having the belief, the evidence and the support to do things differently. As we move into year four, communications activity becomes even more important. The priority now is to sharpen our narrative and ensure that what we are sharing is clear and accessible. We will be building on the momentum we have created through the Decarbonisation Pledge campaign and sector events, while introducing new tools to make it easier for people to access and use our outputs.
Support, help and guidance
To support this, we are developing a programme of activity that will operate across all four nations. This will include targeted events for local highway authorities, government bodies and sector groups, alongside collaboration with research and academic programmes. We will also be present at conferences and major events, but these will act as gateways into more detailed and interactive engagement.
A key part of this approach is creating space for real dialogue. We want to move beyond one way communication and create opportunities for people to explore the findings, ask questions and think about how they apply in their own context. One of the most practical elements we are introducing is a monthly triage service. This will be a regular online drop-in session where local authorities can bring their own challenges and discuss them with the relevant Live Labs 2 team.
The intention is simple, if an authority is facing a particular issue, whether it concerns efficiency, carbon reduction or wider environmental outcomes, we can work with them to identify how Live Labs interventions might help. It’s about making the programme directly useful to those who need it. Live Labs 2 is not a fixed or closed programme, if organisations want to get involved, we want and need to hear from them. This is not something that belongs solely to us, it is something that should be shaped and strengthened by the whole sector.
What does success look like?
Success for me in this fourth year is clear, we all want to see demonstrable change. It is about highway authorities across the UK being able to capitalise on the DfT’s investment and use the evidence from Live Labs 2 to make informed decisions that transform how their services are delivered.
Let’s not underestimate or undervalue the importance of this investment, and the additional funding we have secured is not about extending the programme for its own sake. It is about ensuring that the benefits are realised as widely as possible and that the learning leads to tangible improvements.
We have been very clear that this is not about creating something that runs its course and then gets mothballed. It is about making sure the knowledge, the evidence and the tools are used in practice for years to come. Live Labs 2 has always been about smarter spending for the sector, showing that it is possible to reduce carbon emissions while also improving efficiency, resilience and the way we manage local highways. Year four is where that ambition is tested in real world application.
Looking ahead, I am optimistic. We have strong foundations, a clear direction and a real opportunity to support change at scale.
If we can work together with the sector to apply what we have learned, then we can help drive a shift towards a more efficient, lower carbon approach to managing our roads. That is what success looks like to me, and that is what this next phase of Live Labs 2 is all about.
