Critical digital infrastructure specialist Telent has been awarded a traffic signal maintenance contract with Solihull Council (SMBC), covering maintenance responsibility for more than 160 Highways assets including junctions, pedestrian crossings, and car park guidance signs.
Telent will use its innovative intelligent asset management techniques to conduct routine, preventative maintenance and will also be responsible for attending to and repairing urgent faults. Telent will also provide a suite of fault management and asset management systems and deliver new and refurbished traffic signal installations.
For both Telent and SMBC, key to the contract was a mutual commitment to delivering social value in the local area. Telent’s STEM Ambassadors will commit 100 staffing hours per year to provide careers advice and workshops for local Solihull students. Further to this, to preserve Solihull Council’s social values during the partnership and to help foster a healthy and inclusive environment, Telent will also be rolling out their dedicated staff wellbeing courses and diversity training for all contractors and subcontractors.
“As a national organisation with years of regional and local operational experience, we’re well positioned to provide support to local communities and economies. As well as supporting the Council’s vital Highways technologies and keeping Solihull residents safe, we’re committed to bringing social value into the local areas in which we operate”, says Telent’s business development director for highways, Nigel Weldon. “We’re excited about engaging with the local community and are really pleased that Solihull Council shares Telent’s ideal that real social responsibility is so much more than just a box ticking exercise.”
Telent has committed to maintaining spend with local suppliers, with their procurement team offering expert business advice to Voluntary Community Social Enterprises (VCSEs) and SMEs. As part of the agreement, 100% of its procurement contracts will include commitments to ethical procurement, including anti-slavery verification and other relevant requirements.
