Member Article

Sunderland’s Activ8 to revolutionise busy city streets following six-figure investment

Patented technology developed in the North East, together with future mergers and acquisitions, could be set to revolutionise the management of busy city streets around the world, as the company, Sunderland’s Activ8, behind the project secured a substantial six-figure investment towards its delivery.

Activ8 Virtual Parking Solutions’ platform allows for the intelligent management of restricted kerb space in urban environments and creates ‘opportunity windows’ in the restrictions for certain classes of vehicle.

New sales and system development jobs are being created in the North East as the company expands, with a number of developers also being taken on to create new applications, and Activ8’s management team are already looking at how the system might be tailored for use right around the globe.

Strategic Non-Executive Directors appointments are set to be made to provide the company with further expertise in a range of areas, including road safety, autonomous and connected vehicles, energy policy, social enterprise and digital communications.

The company are building on the concept of the connected city, the VPS system allows local authorities to manage deliveries between set times from the likes of supermarkets, freight firms and breweries, with details of each delivery sent directly to Civil Enforcement Officers’ handheld devices or CCTV operatives to ensure no penalty notices are issued.

Activ8 has also secured a strategic partnership with a South African fleet and supply chain optimisation company to create Sizwe Solutions, which will help companies, businesses and fleet operators reduce costs through efficiency savings in the supply and delivery chain.

The VPS system’s benefits include minimising local traffic disruption in already congested areas, reducing the environmental impact of stationary traffic, enabling parking enforcement teams to do their jobs more efficiently and ensuring city centre retailers get the goods they need on time with minimum fuss.

RMT Accountants and Business Advisors worked with Activ8’s Founder and CEO Neil Herron on delivering the investment, which has been secured from a number of private individuals, with legal support provided by Square One Law.

After successfully proving the VPS concept with a major London Borough, Activ8 is now lining up a number of operational pilot schemes in different local authority areas, with others to follow in the coming months, including solutions to assist the disabled motorist with major global fuel retailers.

Work is ongoing with a number of possible delivery partners for the projects, as well as with policy leads within several local authority areas who are looking at the practical implementation of the platform in their areas.

Neil Herron said: “The Virtual Parking Bay is a simple solution to an age old problem that occurs in every city around the world - it’s based on recognising the potential that the concept of the connected city has towards changing the way our cities are run, and we know that by combining simple, complementary solutions and offerings, the user-led connected smart city can swiftly become a reality.

“The issuing of a penalty notice is simply a failure of the traffic management regime, and with local authorities now treating traffic management as a priority, rather than simply the enforcement of traffic regulations, there’s a huge amount of potential to tap into, especially as our platform can be delivered at zero cost to local authorities.

“We’ve already proved the VPS concept with a major London Borough, and with the substantial capital that we now have behind us from private investors, who recognise how the connected city will be a real catalyst for change, we’re ready to start moving forward with our operational pilots and deployments.

Director at RMT Accountants and Business Advisors, Stephen Slater, said: “Having worked with Neil for two years on the connected city vision and the last six months to bring all the elements of the investment process together, it’s very satisfying to see it reach its completion, especially in light of the excellent use made by the investors of the allowances offered by the Enterprise Investment Scheme.

“This is a very dynamic business operating in a fast-moving sector, and Activ8’s management team now have the resources they need to fully realise the commercial potential that it offers.”

Senior associate at Square One Law, John Hammill, said: “The concept of smart city technology has great potential, and it was a pleasure to work alongside Neil and RMT on this deal.

“We look forward to seeing the growth and development of the Activ8 group and wish them every success in the future.”