By Simon Mabey, Director
And the winner is…….
I wonder how many times has that been said at the Oscars or any awards ceremony or even at this month’s Winter Olympics
How often do we excited nominees or Olympic Medallists brace themselves for that moment and the sheer excitement of hearing your name mentioned?
I remember seeing London being unveiled for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the jubilant nationwide celebrations that followed and it was great to feel part of something special even though it was 7 years to the opening ceremony!
We are therefore thrilled that we have the chance to have those same butterflies in my stomach as Digital Urban has been nominated for the Digital City Awards and we are excited to be listed in the Digital Transformation category
These prestigious awards recognise those teams that are using technology to build a better future and we passionately believe that our company is revolutionising how we view our towns and cities by creating Digital Twins that will help to create better places for our communities.
One such example has been the development of a 3D model for the Wirral council's Birkenhead 2040 Regeneration Framework and like in the Olympics we like to root for an underdog and so we are proud to have helped a northern town fighting to compete with the big cities
Using the model, Wirral is transforming how it looks at and deals with its planning process and the transformation in approach allows better visualisation of the proposed changes in Birkenhead and enhancing stakeholder engagement.
In order to help us achieve and deliver Wirral's vision, our strategy was to capture the essence of the Birkenhead and depict that in a ground breaking digital format which allows Wirral Borough Council to envision the future while retaining its proud history. We also wanted to lay the foundations for the ongoing development of the digital twin to allow council to modernise their review and decision making approach.
We had a challenge throughout the project and literally took to the skies over Birkenhead to achieve the most accurate results and so Digital Urban chartered a flight to capture high resolution aerial photography of the required area. The photography is processed and converted into 3D maps using a process known as photogrammetry.
As a result of our efforts the Wirral is well on its way to creating a digital twin of the borough and the council felt that the project was instrumental in helping them achieve their target for regeneration funding of around £40m.
This award would help demonstrate the progress that has made and encourage other towns to join Wirral's lead.
Digital Urban is on a mission to revolutionise the planning process in the UK and It’s been an exciting journey for the team to this point and the digital city award for innovation would help to further validate the success the company has achieved to date.
Like all competitors ( unlike Eddie the Eagle who was a national hero without being a winner) we can’t wait for the envelope to be opened and to hear whether we have been successful in the Digital City Awards. However our team aren’t just on a mission to win prizes and gongs as winning the hearts and minds of the residents and stakeholders in the towns of the Wirral could be considered a greater accolade.
That’s said I have secretly started to imagine our team walking on to the stage at the awards as after all its great to dare to dream….