Bolton Council is committed to responding to the climate emergency as set out in our Climate Change Strategy. To succeed, we must address important issues and act collaboratively across our partnerships, businesses and communities in a way that delivers real change. The strategy makes commitments that align with what is happening on climate change globally, nationally, and regionally. These commitments support the Greater Manchester Five-Year Environment Plan, which aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2038\.   Our Climate Change Strategy has been brought together by the Bolton Vision Partnership and the people of Bolton, with a central purpose to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change and lessen the impact of our collective activities on the environment. However, we also know that action on climate change opens a host of additional opportunities and potential benefits. For example, utilisation of autonomous vehicles on popular routes not only helps to reduce carbon emissions, but also contributes to cleaner, healthier air.  The council is committed to working with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to reduce carbon emissions from transport and travel. The Greater Manchester 2040 Transport Strategy Delivery Plan promotes the "Right Mix" target of one million more sustainable journeys per day by 2040 with zero net growth in motor vehicle traffic. This relies on providing infrastructure that will allow increased active travel, greater use of public transport and a shift to electric vehicles.  The opportunity to benefit from a successful bid to access funding from Innovate UK's Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Grant would enable the Council to build on the preparatory work already undertaken by Aecom in 2018 and to put Bolton at the forefront of developing autonomous, sustainable, transport networks in the UK in partnership with TfGM, Costain and Dromos.  The CAM system developed by Dromos uses autonomous electrical vehicles for up to 2 adults (plus children, luggage, prams, bikes, or wheelchairs). The vehicles will operate on segregated infrastructure, providing safe travel and, given the extremely low vehicle weight (500kg as opposed to several hundred tons), the cost and space required are 50% lower compared to rail-based systems. In addition, construction time and travel time are also halved.  The CAM system at the heart of this feasibility study changes the way we think about public transport: the future is riding in comfort like using a taxi while paying the price for a bus ticket and using twenty-first century technology.

To create Building Information Modelling based automated health and safety rule and code compliance checking system for infrastructure engineering design in the construction industry.

UK Electric Vehicle (EVs) use is increasing, driven by the introduction of net zero targets and policies (\>36,000 new vehicle registrations per month \[NextGreenCar, 2021\]). The introduction of bidirectional charging (grid/battery to EV and EV to grid/battery) can facilitate vehicle-to-everything (V2X) use models that ensure all energy is effectively used. However, most charging hardware and EV's developed to date have only focused on charging EV's via a wired connection, quickly (one way - grid to vehicle (G2V) with chargers installed for individual home (private) or public use. However, this model can create a barrier to uptake for EV users concerned about access to public chargers (e.g. London has four times the number of charge points than Yorkshire/Humber \[Which, 2021\]) or where installation/use of a home charger is challenging. Approximately 40% of the UK population \[MFG, 2017\] live in a terraced house or flat where parking outside the house is not always possible and trailing wires and street clutter would be problematic. These issues have proven a barrier to uptake for both private EV users and within businesses seeking to electrify where staff are concerned that they would not be able to charge a fleet/business vehicle (direct information from businesses encountering this issue). We aim to develop a bidirectional EV charger, ENSTOREL-V2X that allows EV drivers to charge their vehicle and use the energy stored within its battery without being connected to a wire; anytime, anywhere charging or energy use. ENSTOREL-V2X will comprise a mobile energy store battery pack and connections such that it can be charged from a mains electricity supply or off-grid renewables and transported to the EV for charging, mitigating the need for connection to a wired, static charger and providing additional charge for EV users with those who may have range anxiety. Furthermore, ENSTOREL-V2X will also be able to be charged by the EV's battery with hardware included in the ENSTOREL-V2X and provide charge suitable for low power needs e.g. device charging, lighting, small appliances. The mobility of ENSTOREL-V2X creates immediate V2X opportunities.

Based at Kirkwall Airport in the Orkney Islands, the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) is the UK's first low-carbon aviation test centre embedded at a commercial airport. SATE brings together an international consortium of industry partners, public sector bodies and academia who will work with a range of regional businesses and stakeholders to apply state-of-the-art aviation technology to deliver targeted economic growth. SATE's overarching objectives include: * Demonstrating the next generation of air services * Ensuring airports operations are ready to support sustainable aviation requirements * Improving regional connectivity * Supporting Scottish Government's ambition for a Highlands and Islands Net Zero Aviation region by 2040 SATE has already established itself at the forefront of future aviation. Recent successes include Ampaire demonstrating the first hybrid-electric flights in Scotland and Windracers trialling autonomous flights for delivering Royal Mail cargo between Kirkwall and North Ronaldsay. These practical outcomes have raised the profile of SATE, putting the project on the global stage. SATE will now expand to create the UK Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Regional Aviation Systems, enabling pre-commercial demonstrations of novel aviation technologies with proven use cases to commercialise clean innovation in a real-world environment. Use cases will include: * Scheduled airline routes * Offshore energy services * National Health Service activities * Island / remote region deliveries * Environmental survey and inspection Implementation of these will require advances in technology, regulation, and policy. These are reflected in the cross-cutting activities which include: * Establishing a dedicated test environment airspace * Matchmaking technology to community and business needs * Accelerating technology innovation * Mapping out the future Highlands and Islands aviation system Kirkwall Airport is one of eleven airports operated by HIAL and an ideal test environment location due to the variety of operated routes (including short hops to inter-island airfields operated by Orkney Islands Council). The wider project team includes leading technology developers ZeroAvia, Windracers and FlareBright. EMEC brings expertise in green-hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, and HITRANS will lead on connectivity into the wider transport system. The socio-economic impact of a new regional-aviation system will be supported by UHI, Connected Places Catapult (CPC) and Aracadis. This project will also stimulate inward investment and supply chain growth which is a key responsibility for Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Project highlights will include working with the CAA to approve a regional sandbox airspace, establishment of a UAV hub-and-spoke delivery network, a first hydrogen-propelled regional-aircraft flight and an international demonstration flight to Norway.

Based at Kirkwall Airport in the Orkney Islands, the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) is the UK's first low-carbon aviation test centre embedded at a commercial airport. SATE brings together an international consortium of industry partners, public sector bodies and academia who will work with a range of regional businesses and stakeholders to apply state-of-the-art aviation technology to deliver targeted economic growth. SATE's overarching objectives include: * Demonstrating the next generation of air services * Ensuring airports operations are ready to support sustainable aviation requirements * Improving regional connectivity * Supporting Scottish Government's ambition for a Highlands and Islands Net Zero Aviation region by 2040 SATE has already established itself at the forefront of future aviation. Recent successes include Ampaire demonstrating the first hybrid-electric flights in Scotland and Windracers trialling autonomous flights for delivering Royal Mail cargo between Kirkwall and North Ronaldsay. These practical outcomes have raised the profile of SATE, putting the project on the global stage. SATE will now expand to create the UK Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Regional Aviation Systems, enabling pre-commercial demonstrations of novel aviation technologies with proven use cases to commercialise clean innovation in a real-world environment. Use cases will include: * Scheduled airline routes * Offshore energy services * National Health Service activities * Island / remote region deliveries * Environmental survey and inspection Implementation of these will require advances in technology, regulation, and policy. These are reflected in the cross-cutting activities which include: * Establishing a dedicated test environment airspace * Matchmaking technology to community and business needs * Accelerating technology innovation * Mapping out the future Highlands and Islands aviation system Kirkwall Airport is one of eleven airports operated by HIAL and an ideal test environment location due to the variety of operated routes (including short hops to inter-island airfields operated by Orkney Islands Council). The wider project team includes leading technology developers ZeroAvia, Windracers and FlareBright. EMEC brings expertise in green-hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, and HITRANS will lead on connectivity into the wider transport system. The socio-economic impact of a new regional-aviation system will be supported by UHI, Connected Places Catapult (CPC) and Aracadis. This project will also stimulate inward investment and supply chain growth which is a key responsibility for Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Project highlights will include working with the CAA to approve a regional sandbox airspace, establishment of a UAV hub-and-spoke delivery network, a first hydrogen-propelled regional-aircraft flight and an international demonstration flight to Norway.

This project aims to develop advice regarding disinfection, considering the differing scenarios (e.g. ambulances, public transport) considering: \*Effective disinfectants (virucides) \*Scenario specific constraints (i.e. need for rapid reuse of facilities) \*Applicability of advanced disinfectant delivery methods \*Activities where disinfection offers the greatest benefit The project assist with the need for rapid disinfection of NHS resources and facilities. Has objectives to identify if, why and how disinfection of public and private sector activities could be implemented and can form the basis on which disinfection guidance is developed for both the public and private sectors as the UK returns to work and the lockdown is eased. This project has multiple tangible benefits to current and ongoing management of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The team assembled bring expertise from academia into industry to combine industrial risk assessment and disinfection skills with viology to manage the risks posed by fomite transmission the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

To integrate Lean and Digital Management in the Civil Engineering sector to deliver productivity improvements and enhance company and stakeholder performance.

"OmniCAV will lay the foundations for the development of a comprehensive, robust and secure simulator, aimed at providing a certification tool for Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) that can be used by regulatory and accreditation bodies, insurers and manufacturers to accelerate the safe development of CAVs. It brings together a team of eleven internationally renowned organisations, with decades of accumulated knowledge in the area, in order to produce a single-point-of-call simulator to establish when a CAV can safely progress from a testbed to road trial. To achieve this, OmniCAV will use highly detailed road maps, together with a powerful combination of traffic management, accident and CCTV data, to create a high-fidelity dual (traffic and driving) simulation environment, including AI-trained road users to interact with the AV under test. Scenarios for testing will be developed and randomised in a holistic way to avoid CAVs training to specific conditions, whilst maximising coverage, and the integrity of the testing environment will be taken into consideration through creation of a root-of-trust design to secure the test inputs, simulator configuration and resulting test outputs. Critically, the simulator will offer market-leading coverage of a representative element of the UK road network, through encompassing rural roads, peri-urban and urban roads, to help enable autonomy for all. Representatives of the key end-users, including a local authority, an OEM and an insurance provider, will be engaged throughout to understand their needs. The validity of the synthetic test environment compared to the real-world is of particular importance, and OmniCAV will be tested and refined through an iterative approach involving real-world comparisons and working in conjunction with a CAV test-bed. This is an ambitious project aiming to step-change the safe trialing of CAVs in a safe, holistic and challenging manner in order to accelerate their training, deployment and adoption."

Irradiated graphite is one of the key challenges in decommissioning and radioactive waste management of UK and international legacy nuclear facilities. Graphite is a very bulky form of radioactive waste which is difficult to remove from the reactor core at the end of life. If it is removed from the core it represents a large, and hence expensive, waste stream for storage and subsequent burial. This disadvantage has led to the current strategy of leaving graphite "in-situ" in shut down reactors until waste facilities become available. This proposal relates to the underpinning and continued developemnt a new and innovative method of graphite management which would convert the graphite to carbon dioxide gas which could then be incorporated in a carbon capture and storage scheme. The small residue containing the majority of the radioactivity would be treated conventionally.

Awaiting Public Summary