Driving to become the UK’s first and foremost ‘smart city’

The Square Mile has been a physical trading hub for centuries, but increasingly in the 21st century it is digital connectivity that is shaping the competitiveness of global business centres. The City of London Corporation is taking a number of ambitious steps, as demonstrated by our recently launched draft Transport Strategy and Local Plan, to ensure that the City not only remains a top global destination for business but is also known as a centre of cultural and heritage excellence. This is also clear in our drive to become the UK’s first and foremost “smart city” by embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution as encapsulated within our Gigabit City initiative, which aims to improve wired and wireless connectivity across the Square Mile. Digital skills champion This commitment can be demonstrated at all levels within the City Corporation, including through the programme of the new Lord Mayor, Peter Estlin, who will be focusing on promoting innovation and technology, championing digital skills and addressing digital inclusion as part of his broader campaign of Shaping Tomorrow’s City Today. The genesis of the Gigabit City initiative was as a response to the fact that, while the Square Mile has world-class telecommunications infrastructure for those businesses that can afford it, the City has lagged behind other global and UK cities in the provision of affordable gigabit broadband. Our response to this has been twofold: to seek to promote quick deployment of new affordable gigabit fibre broadband infrastructure; and working with wireless networks within the Square Mile using City Corporation-owned street furniture and buildings to ensure that mobile “black spots” are eliminated. To deliver mobile connectivity, we have partnered with Cornerstone Technology Infrastructure to wholesale the use of our assets and have already delivered a world-leading gigabit Wi-Fi network and are on track to boost mobile network coverage and capacity through the installation of 200 “small cells” at street level by early 2019. Preparing for 5G This multi-million-pound project was recently awarded the Wireless Connectivity Award at the Connected Britain Awards 2018, and the Best Connected City Deployment at the Wireless Global Congress 2018, for the gigabit Wi-Fi and small cells roll-out in the Square Mile. As part of this, we have also created attractive market conditions for mobile operators that will ensure the City is ready to benefit from 5G when it becomes available in 2021. Likewise, on fibre broadband Openreach is deploying “Fibre to the Premises” at no cost to building owners or tenants to all areas of the Square Mile. This will allow providers who sit on their network to offer speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, which is 100 times faster than standard copper broadband and around 12 times faster than superfast broadband, all at relatively affordable prices. Openreach has now enabled coverage of FTTP across roughly 60% of the Square Mile using existing ducts below the city’s streets, thereby avoiding the need for disruptive surface works. Engagement drive Significant work remains to be done, however, to achieve full coverage – not least the need to engage with building owners and occupiers. Due to the complex nature of building ownership in the City, Openreach cannot always identify those from whom it needs to gain consent to install FTTP. To overcome this significant hurdle, the City Corporation will appoint a consultant to help identify the owners and managing agents of these buildings so that they can be approached, agreements can be reached and the required consents can be secured. This information will also be made available to other fibre providers looking to invest in delivering networks in the Square Mile. Similarly, the agreement of wayleaves remains a significant barrier to the timely roll-out of new broadband services. To speed up installation of broadband services, the City Corporation has worked alongside the City Law Society and the British Standards Institution to develop a standardised wayleave toolkit, now in use across the property and telecoms industries. As well as being endorsed by the Mayor of London and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, the toolkit has received the Barriers Removal Award at the Connected Britain Awards 2018 and the Best Public Sector Impact Award at the INCA Awards 2018. We are making award-winning progress in this area of work, yet we still need the help and support of major property owners and occupiers within the Square Mile to achieve our objective of becoming the internationally leading and renowned “smart city”. So, if you are a City of London owner, occupier or adviser, please contact the City Corporation’s City Property Advisory Team at the earliest opportunity to boost this crucial initiative further by signing up to Fibre to the Premises free of charge. It’s in all our interests to keep the City of London the smartest business district of all. Catherine McGuinness is chair of the policy and resources committee of the City of London Corporation Photo: WestEnd61/REX/Shutterstock