W ELCOME to the Summer edition of the Streets Ahead newsletter. As we approach our 5th anniversary this summer it is an opportunity to reflect on our achievements and, challenges and highlight some of the fantastic things we are doing in the community across Sheffield . Since the contract began in August 2012 we • A feature on keeping the streets clean have completed a huge amount of work, during Tramlines which has had a significant and positive • Retaining the Heritage Gas Destructor impact on Sheffield residents through lamps in Sheffield improved roads, pavements, structures and street lighting. This investment has attracted • Over and Under - Our successes with an additional £50million/year for additional structures utility work to be undertaken across the city • Our new Charity of the Year Age UK prior to our highway improvements. Sheffield. To mark this significant milestone, in this • Community Projects issue we share with you: In this issue we have tried to cover as • Our achievements to date many of our different activities in the • Our Supported Internship Programme community and I hope you find it in collaboration with Sheffield College informative. • The 2017 Road Worker Safety Nick Hetherington Campaign in conjunction with South Yorkshire Police Network Account Manager Amey Sheffield Our achievements to date …. Resurfaced over 1,447 miles of pavement Resurfaced 693 miles of road Replaced over 3,100 drainage gullies Responded to 76,121 requests for street cleaning Repaired over 145,000 potholes Installed over 64,095 new LED streetlights Made improvements to 1,035 Bridges & Structures Responded to over 296,870 customers enquiries This year in collaboration with Sheffield College we have been privileged to have working with us six young people on the Supported Internship Programme ‘EmployAbility 2’. Six young people, aged between 16 and We will follow their progress over the next 24 and who have learning or physical few months and will continue to support disabilities, joined the Streets Ahead them to achieve their future career goals. teams in January to gain skills and Furthermore, we hope to welcome some experience in a variety of areas including of them back to Amey in September as commercial, office support for highway Apprentices. maintenance, IT, vehicle fleet and stores. In partnership with Sheffield College, we During the Interns placement they have will be running another Supported undertaken mock interviews as part of Internship Programme from September the employability training and received 2017. This will provide vital experience to careers advice, attended Jobs Fairs and a new intake of Sheffield College presentations promoting Traineeship and students who require additional support Apprenticeship Schemes. to help improve their skill set and After working hard to obtain vital work experience of Sheffield’s young workers. experience, we celebrated their graduation this July with their families, Sheffield College staff and work colleagues at the Olive Grove Depot in Sheffield. At the Graduation ceremony each intern received a Certificate of Achievement from Amey in recognition of the work placement, a Certificate from Sheffield College in recognition of the outstanding Picture: Supported Interns from 2017 accomplishments achieved, a mock up after graduation Street Sign with their names on, a cheque for £250, as well as mementos and gifts from their work areas. This summer Streets Ahead joined forces with South Yorkshire Police to urge drivers across Sheffield to slow down around roadworks and take notice of the on-street signs The plea follows a number of incidents Superintendent Paul McCurry, of South across the city which have seen road Yorkshire Police, said: “Roadworks inevitably workers put at risk by people speeding create delays in the short-term but people through work sites and in some cases need to be patient while this essential work is deliberately driving through road closures. carried out. It is entirely unacceptable for Recording and addressing these incidents is motorists to put the safety of other road part of Amey’s Target Zero campaign, which users, pedestrians and road workers at risk aims to keep its employees and members of and South Yorkshire Police will follow up on the public safe every day. reports of interference with traffic equipment. Over the last year, Streets Ahead Road “Road closures are put in place to protect the workers have reported: public and staff who are carrying out road works. Ignoring road closures, abusing or • 107 incidents of people ignoring road closures; threatening staff or damaging and stealing equipment is serious and could lead to • 82 incidents of staff being verbally arrest, prosecution and possibly a custodial abused or threatened sentence.” • 41 incidents of equipment being stolen or damaged. Nick Hetherington, network manager for Streets Ahead, said: “The highest risk of injury or death for our workforce in Sheffield is from vehicles passing our sites too fast or driving without due care. “All our staff wear bright yellow clothing when out on site, but it’s not always enough to keep them safe. You’d be surprised how many people drive recklessly around our worksites and sometimes even into the safety zones where our staff are working. “Over the last year we’ve seen a growing number of incidents where our employees and sub-contractors have been put at unacceptable risk and in some cases this has led to the police being called and road works being delayed – and that’s not good news for anyone.” Streets Ahead were proud to provide a 24 hr street cleaning service when the City hosted one of the country’s largest urban music festivals. In July, Sheffield hosted one of the litter and our teams provided a 24 hr country’s biggest and best metropolitan street cleaning service throughout the music festivals, Tramlines. The Streets event. Ahead street cleaning teams worked Sara Bradley, Street Cleaning Manager around the clock to deal with the increase said: “Tramlines is one of the biggest in litter that accumulated on the streets challenges faced by our street cleaning alone. teams in terms of ensuring the city The Tramlines Festival, which was held remains a litter free, clean and pleasant over three days, brings the city alive as place for thousands of visitors and music fans move between venues in residents. search of live performances by hundreds Our teams did an excellent job of clearing of different bands. up during and after the event receiving Extra bins were placed around the city compliments as they went about their centre to cope with the higher volume of work ensuring that the streets were kept clean.” Sheffield will see all of its remaining 25 original gas street lamps brought back to their former glory and in light again as part of the Streets Ahead programme. The JE Webb Sewer Gas Destructor Lamps land said: “It’s great news historic gas lamps are cast iron street lights, erected between will shine once again in Sheffield. These 1914 and 1935, and can be seen at various lamps are notable survivals of a type of locations across the city. Over the years, street furniture which were once common, many of these historic lamps have suc- but are increasingly rare. Combining them cumbed to vandalism, theft and natural age- with sewer vents was an ingenious way of ing and now require vital restoration work to safely disposing of sewer gases which could return them to their original state. otherwise lead to explosions.” Considered to be of special historic interest, twenty of the lamps set to be restored are grade two listed. Four of the lamps still run on gas and special measures have been tak- en to ensure they continue to do so after the works are completed. Designed to burn off the dangerous methane and other gasses which accumulated in Vic- torian sewers, the lamps were located where there was known to be a problem with pock- ets of gas. Streets Ahead, working closely with Historic England and Pudsey Diamond, has found a sensitive design solution to retain the lamps’ original features and restore them to their former glory. These historic street lamps will be repainted and powered by specially de- signed solar power LED lights that closely replicate the original lighting style. Refurbished Gas Destructor Lamp Nicola Wray, Listing Adviser at Historic Eng- Worrall Road, Sheffield S6 Since the beginning of the contract, maintenance work of varying degrees has been undertaken on Sheffield’s 419 highway bridges and 203 foot- bridges. This has enabled Sheffield residents and commuters to travel safely around the city and benefit from an ongoing advanced maintenance programme. Smithy Bridge in Low Bradfield has recent- work to maintain and strengthen highway ly been strengthened by our teams. This bridges is carried out below the bridge has enabled local farmers and businesses whilst people pass overhead. to continue with their working day and As the city’s population increases, it be- pass over the bridge in heavy farming ve- comes ever more important that our bridg- hicles that prior to the works being com- es are able to support an increased traffic pleted, had been prohibited. flow and footfall. The work on Smithy Bridge involved in- Many of the city’s bridges are hundreds of stalling steel reinforcing bars into narrow years old and haven’t received the atten- slots cut into the stone arch barrel. This tion they need for a long time and so their method of strengthening was undertaken preservation and maintenance is crucial to without the need to close the road result- ensure the city’s historic landscape re- ing in minimal disruption to traffic as well mains. as an increase in the bridges’ capacity for heavy loads. In recognition of the high standard of work ongoing in Sheffield as part of the Streets The Bradfield area, which is popular with Ahead programme, five of the bridge local ramblers, continues to welcome strengthening schemes have been nomi- walkers who use the bridge regularly to nated for Institution of Civil Engineers cross the waterway leading off from the Yorkshire and Humber Region Awards.