Imperial’s Partner Egis Awarded Contract to Deliver the UK’s Largest Clean Air Zone

PRESS RELEASE

United Kingdom

In support of Greater Manchester’s aim to drive the growth of a healthy and sustainable city-region, Egis have been awarded a significant new contract to help deliver the largest Clean Air Zone in the UK.

Egis have signed a ground-breaking contract to set up and operate an end-to-end service for Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ)* program for the next five years. The Egis led team will comprise our key supply chain partners Yunex Traffic (the new name for Siemens Mobility’s Intelligent Traffic Systems business) and Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions Limited.

The Clean Air Zone is anticipated to launch on 30 May 2022 and will operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It will be enforced by a network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, manufactured and supplied by Yunex Traffic from within the UK. Vehicles liable to pay the charge will pay using the government’s online portal with discounts and exemptions available for some vehicle types.

The aim of the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone is to secure compliance with nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) legal limits on local roads in the shortest possible time, and by 2024 at the latest, by:

• Reducing the use of non-compliant high emitting vehicles.
• Changing the behaviour of users of the transport network.
• Encouraging those that have to travel by road to upgrade to cleaner vehicles.

As part of this project, Egis will be responsible for the successful installation and delivery of the following key aspects of the service, including the installation and maintenance of close to 900 ANPR cameras, a public-facing CAZ office to handle payments, discounts, exemptions and financial reconciliation along with any Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) that are issued to non-payers of the charge.

Comments from the principles within the Egis led consortium:

“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this contract as it is at the heart of our strategy to become a leading name in smart and sustainable infrastructure that can contribute to tackling climate change and ultimately improving people’s living environments. In addition, this contract is aligned to our overall vision for the digitalisation and environmental transition of city services.”

Renaud Beziade, Chief Executive Officer, Egis Project Structuring, Operation and New Services

“We are delighted to be supplying our class leading ANPR cameras and enforcement technology, working in partnership with TfGM, Egis and Imperial to develop this clean air solution across the ten local authority areas. The zone will significantly help to improve air quality, which will have an immediate and lasting impact on the almost three million people that live, work and study in Greater Manchester, improving their long-term health and wellbeing.”

Wilke Reints, Managing Director, Intelligent Traffic Systems, Siemens Mobility Limited

“We are so proud to be part of this project, and are excited to have the opportunity to help to improve the air quality in Greater Manchester. This contract award, together with the work we have already undertaken in Birmingham, underlines our commitment to delivering clean air through the innovative utilisation of existing parking and enforcement technology solutions.”

Ashley Bijster, Managing Director, Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions Ltd

Greater Manchester lead for Clean Air, Councillor Andrew Western, said: “We, as a city region, are committed to tackling air pollution, which is the biggest environmental public health issue facing the city-region and contributes to around 1,200 deaths in Greater Manchester alone each year.

“That’s why we have developed a Clean Air Plan that not only helps us meet government requirements on nitrogen dioxide air pollution, but also delivers major health benefits for our residents; and the funding support for those businesses, individuals and organisations who need to upgrade their vehicle to become compliant.

“We are looking forward to working with Egis to help us deliver the plan, improve the quality of our air and ensure Greater Manchester continues to be a healthy, sustainable and happy place to grow up, get on and grow old.”

Councillor Andrew Western, Greater Manchester lead for Clean Air 

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is delivering the Clean Air Zone project on behalf of the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities.

Key dates:

• The project implementation phase will begin in earnest from July 2021 with an implementation period through to the end of January 2022.
• The extensive trial and testing period will run over four months between February and May 2022.
• The Clean Air Zone is anticipated to go live at the end of May 2022.
• The contract period will be for five and a half years with possible extensions for a further three years.

By securing this prestigious Clean Air Zone project in one of the UK’s premier city regions, Egis is strengthening its position in the automated payment and enforcement market. Building on this success and with work already underway in locations from Amsterdam to Paris the business aims to grow its service offering in this area across more than 50 cities in Europe and numerous other countries across the Globe.

*Greater Manchester has been instructed by government to introduce a Category C class Clean Air Zone, which includes non-compliant buses and coaches, Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs), Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) or vans, minibuses, taxis and private hire vehicles.

About the Egis group

A major international group in the construction engineering and mobility services sectors, Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings capable of responding to the climate emergency and addressing the major challenges of our time by helping to achieve more balanced, sustainable and resilient territorial development.

A 75%-owned subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts, with the remaining 25% held by partner executives and employees, Egis places its multiple fields of expertise at the disposal of the community and makes cutting-edge innovation accessible to all projects throughout their lifecycle: consulting, engineering, operation. Through its wide-ranging fields of activity, Egis is a central player in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of its inhabitants all over the world.

€1,07 Bn  turnover in 2020

16,000 employees

Press contacts

Isabelle Bourguet Mayrand

Chief Public Affairs and Corporate Communication Officer
Tel.: +33 (0)1 39 41 44 17 / +33 (0)6 17 10 29 70
isabelle.bourguet-mayrand@egis.fr

Sabine Mendy

Deputy Communications Director
Tel.: +33 (0)1 39 41 43 05 / +33 (0)6 25 33 02 64
sabine.mendy@egis.fr

James Williamson

Senior Communications Officer
mediarelations@tfgm.com

About Yunex Traffic

Yunex Traffic is a separately managed company of Siemens Mobility. It is a global leader in the field of intelligent traffic systems, offering the widest end-to-end portfolio of solutions for adaptive traffic control and management, highway and tunnel automation, as well as smart solutions for V2X and road user charging tolling. Yunex Traffic has 3100 employees from 58 nations and is active in over 40 countries worldwide. Its intelligent mobility solutions are currently being used in major cities across the world, including Dubai, London, Berlin, Bogota, and Miami.

Yunex Traffic has successfully concentrated its efforts on mastering technologies in the three segments of hardware, software, and service, and is subsequently the only supplier who is capable of meeting all major regional standards in Europe, UK, Asia and America. In the UK, the Intelligent Traffic System business of Siemens Mobility will legally become Yunex Limited on 1 October 2021.

Further information is available at: www.yunextraffic.com or for the UK business: www.siemens.co.uk/mobility

About Imperial

Imperial is the UK’s largest and most experienced provider of parking, environmental and traffic management systems with over thirty years’ experience of providing fully-integrated business processing and IT solutions to public authorities, universities, hospitals and private enforcement contractors across the country.

With award-winning services, utilisation of proven, yet leading-edge, technology, Imperial has the UK’s largest client portfolio in civil enforcement – and is now harnessing its solutions to provide regional authorities with a single technology solution covering all aspects of parking and clean air management.

Further information is available at: www.imperial.co.uk

About CleanAirGM

Clean Air Greater Manchester is a collaboration between the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities, co-ordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). All ten Greater Manchester local authority areas have worked together to develop a joint Clean Air Plan. This will bring nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels on local roads within legal limits as soon as possible. The plan includes a Clean Air Zone, and more than £120m clean vehicle funding from government to help local businesses prepare. More information is available at cleanairgm.com/clean-air-plans