Arcadis has been awarded a contract to support the Sheffield City Region with South Yorkshire’s digital infrastructure strategy.
Arcadis will review the existing South Yorkshire Digital Strategy, which sets out a vision of where connectivity creates new jobs and uses the technology to improve the lives of people in the region. The review will include an assessment of public assets with the potential to support and contribute to the full fibre and 5G roll-out, both now and in the future.
Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority, which covers Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley, is responsible for driving the economic growth of a region with a population of almost 1.5 million people and more than 47,000 businesses.
With the government planning to spend £5bn on rural fibre and £1bn on rural mobile coverage, Sheffield City Region wants to make sure that rural areas are well positioned for the investment.
Mark Harrop, head of telecoms sector at Arcadis, said: "We were really pleased to be awarded this work and look forward to bringing our relevant local experience and new thinking [into play]. This is something that really excites me about Arcadis. We were able to reference the work with Yorkshire Water on an innovation project using fibre broadband through water mains. We must have been unique in being able to suggest closer working with Yorkshire Water to support rural broadband. We are really powerful when we join up the dots across our sectors and help our clients connect with one another.
James Muir, chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, said: "South Yorkshire has huge potential in the digital sector and by working with Arcadis we will be able to build on our region’s capabilities by identifying what infrastructure is needed to bring full 5G and fibre roll-out to the region."
The project will run until January 2021 when the new strategy will be handed over to the Sheffield City Region team as a living project.
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