Futuristic technology will see intelligent signals, lights and bins make Edinburgh a smart city

Council signs deal for high-tech innovations

Intelligent bins will tell the authorities when they are nearly full

FUTURISTIC technology is set to turn Edinburgh into a “smart city” with intelligent traffic lights, remotely adjustable street lights and bins that let the authorities know when they’re nearly full.

The city council has signed a deal which could see the first elements of the technological transformation appearing in the streets in between one and three years.

The Capital’s ageing system of CCTV cameras will be replaced with a more effective digital network.

And other initiatives will see sensors which can detect damp in council houses before it appears and schools given the most advanced kit to help bridge the divide between the most and least affluent areas.

The deal extends the council’s existing contract with Canadian-based technology provider CGI until 2029 and comes as Edinburgh is shortlisted for Smart City of the Year in the Digital 100 awards.

Depute council leader Cammy Day said: “Becoming a smart city will make Edinburgh a more sustainable and fairer city. We’re already well on our way to transforming the way we deliver many council services, making them much more efficient and easy to use for residents. We want to develop this further and under the contract we’re looking at making digital learning services a lot more accessible and inclusive for all our pupils and residents.

“The work we’ll do with CGI will also support our plans for lowering carbon emissions and lowering costs by using smart technology.”

At the heart of the new smart set-up will be a high-tech operations centre at the City Chambers.

It will control the street lights for example, able to turn up or down the brightness of individual lamps as required. And it will also control intelligent traffic signals to avoid major hold-ups and directs traffic flow to reduce carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, intelligent bins fitted with sensors will proactively tell the operations centre when it is getting near capacity, allowing binmen to be deployed on the most effective route to empty them, reducing the number of missed or overflowing bins across the city.

Sensors will also be fitted into the walls of new and existing council houses for early detection of problems with the building, such as damp.

The new technology is expected to be introduced with pilot studies before being rolled out generally.

Later phases could see cameras with microphones that allow the operators to speak to people on the street, smart lampposts containing small cameras which could stream live video from the scene of a street accident for a doctor to offer advice on patient care and on-street sensors to track pollution levels far more closely than at present.

A £2m grant from the European Regional Development Fund will help pay for the work.

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