In the spotlight: South Essex councils build a shared IoT platform for smart city services

Background

Seven local authorities across South Essex recognised the growing potential of Internet of Things (IoT) technology to improve service delivery, reduce operational costs and provide greater visibility into public assets and infrastructure.

However, many IoT projects struggle to progress beyond pilot stages because the cost of building dedicated network infrastructure for individual use cases can be difficult to justify. Each new initiative often requires separate connectivity, deployment and maintenance arrangements, increasing complexity and limiting scalability.

The councils – Southend-on-Sea City Council, Basildon Council, Brentwood Borough Council, Castle Point Borough Council, Rochford District Council, Thurrock Council and Essex County Council – therefore sought a shared approach that would allow multiple organisations to benefit from a common digital infrastructure while supporting future innovation across the region.

Challenge

The councils needed to create a scalable IoT network capable of supporting a wide range of smart city and public service applications across a large geographical area.

Key objectives included:

• Providing comprehensive network coverage across the region
• Reducing the cost of deploying future iot services
• Avoiding duplicated infrastructure investment across councils
• Supporting multiple sensor types and suppliers
• Creating a platform that could scale as new use cases emerged
• Ensuring long-term flexibility without vendor lock-in

The project also needed to maximise value from existing public sector investments, including dark fibre infrastructure already owned by participating councils.

Solution

The councils partnered with Abzorb to design and deploy a shared LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) platform spanning the South Essex region.

Using advanced radio frequency planning and detailed network mapping, Abzorb designed a network that required significantly fewer gateways than originally anticipated. The final solution was delivered using 44 gateway sites rather than the 60 initially estimated.

The network was built using existing council-owned dark fibre infrastructure, creating a shared digital platform that can support multiple IoT services without requiring separate networks for each project.

Abzorb delivered the end-to-end programme, including:

• Network design and RF planning
• Site surveys and installation
• Testing and commissioning
• Health and safety compliance
• RAMS documentation
• Coordination across all participating council sites

The platform was also designed as an open ecosystem, allowing councils to deploy sensors and devices from different suppliers rather than being tied to a single vendor.

Carol Thomas, director of digital and ICT and SIRO at Southend-on-Sea City Council, said: “We now have a platform that every department across the region can build on, and the fact that it came in under budget only reinforces how much value Abzorb brought to this project.”

Results

The shared LoRaWAN platform now provides coverage across 98 percent of the South Essex region and has established a common infrastructure for future smart city initiatives.

Key outcomes include:

• Delivery of the project £40,000 under budget
• Reduction in required gateway infrastructure from 60 sites to 44 through advanced RF planning and network mapping
• 98 percent network coverage across the participating authorities
• A shared platform available to all seven councils
• Reduced barriers to deploying new IoT services without the need to build separate infrastructure for every new use case

The network is already enabling councils to deploy a range of smart services, including:

• Footfall monitoring in libraries and public spaces
• Building occupancy monitoring
• Damp detection in council properties
• Flood and environmental monitoring
• Temperature sensors
• Bin monitoring
• Carbon monoxide detection
• Legionella compliance monitoring
• Vehicle and people counting

The project has also created a second LoRaWAN network that can potentially be made available to businesses and public sector partners, creating opportunities for collaboration and future revenue generation.

Next steps

With the network now fully operational, the councils are continuing to expand the number of connected services deployed across the region.

Future applications are expected to include additional environmental monitoring, smart building management, public realm services and infrastructure monitoring projects.

Because the network has been designed as a shared platform, new IoT services can be introduced without the cost and complexity typically associated with deploying standalone infrastructure.