George Barker speaks to Neil Herron, Grid Smarter Cities' founder, about his recent win of the Highways Fellowship Award at the inaugural Highways Champions Awards.
In order for things to change, you first have to agree to stop doing things the way they have always been done. That in itself is no easy thing, especially in a complex and fast-paced world, as the temptation is always to revert back to the familiar. So more often than not, real change requires someone to take a risk and push things forward.
Neil Herron is one of those people. His career has seen him consistently challenge convention, question the established way of thinking and back smarter approaches to managing roads and kerbside spaces.
A true Highways Champion and now Fellow of the industry, Mr Herron, who normally pushes behind the scenes, has been given the chance to step into the spotlight and enjoy the recognition he deserves.
'It's an honour for me and the team,' he explains. ‘We're a small company that has been driven for the past 10 to 15 years to change the world, making things different in the kerbside, and to be recognised finally, it's great. It only took 10 years to become an overnight success.'
When thinking back on his achievements, Mr Herron says: ‘My proudest achievement is the fact that we're now commercially deployed. After years and years of theory, practice, pilots, and proof of concept, local authorities have now accepted that managing the curb space is an important thing. Reducing carbon emissions and making commercial operators behave better at the curbside saves a better environment at the kerb.
‘There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that doesn't get recognised. Lots of sleepless nights, raising money, keeping going, talking to local authorities at a different pace and working with the private sector. And just the fact that we finally got there and got deployed is an achievement in itself. To be recognised for that is fantastic.'
He concluded by stressing that this award was recognition of the team he works with as well: ‘I want to thank the whole team, local authorities and everybody who has had faith in what started off as a big idea that is now finally deployed on the kerbside.'
