Rob developed a desire to pursue a career in engineering during his childhood, influenced by the activities taking place in the world around him. His experiences and insights gained during his A-levels steered him towards a more vocational approach to continuing his education, opting for an apprenticeship rather than university. Having applied to the likes of Jaguar Land Rover and National Grid, Rob was made aware of the 4way Consulting apprenticeship by his dad, who worked for their accounting company 4way employed at the time.

Joining the company in late 2013, Rob quickly gained a wider range of experience, from street lighting design to undertaking surveys and CAD. Around the time he was starting to get more involved with traffic signal design, he started on his Level 3 BTEC in electrical engineering. Having met and introduced Declan Hill to 4way on this course, they were both offered the opportunity to be funded through a four-year degree course, working through HNC and HND to a BEng. Rob, supported by the business in balancing his time, progressed well through the course and the efforts he applied resulted in first class degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He was absolutely delighted with that achievement and relieved to have successfully made it to the end of the course. Rob is planning to ‘officially’ celebrate with his partner and family, and has already started on his route to EngTech.

The whole team at 4way are delighted with his achievement and are looking forward to supporting Rob on his future development, which will see him support others who choose to follow the path he took.

Congratulations Rob!

Declan developed an enthusiasm for engineering while he was at school. Choosing not to follow a traditional academic route like his siblings, he opted to pursue an apprenticeship with a local rail signalling engineering company. In a convenient twist of fate, he met Rob Havers, a fellow 4way Consulting apprentice, on his course who was able to assist when the signalling company folded, recommending an apprenticeship with 4way. Only 19 years old Declan was quickly inducted into the world of traffic signals, a specialism that he has continued to foster.

When presented with the opportunity to pursue further education as part of a funded initiative provided by 4way, Declan, along with Rob, both signed up to undertake a four-year part-time course that would see them progress through HNC to HND and finally to BEng in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. Supported by the business in balancing work and study, Declan completed his course and graduated with honours in July. Relieved to have made it to the end of the course and proud of his 2:1 result, he celebrated with his family.

The whole team at 4way are delighted with his achievement and are looking forward to supporting Declan on his future development, which will see him support others who choose to follow the path he took.

Congratulations Declan!

The ITS UK Annual Review is the leading publication, magazine and directory for the industry, covering topics across the intelligent transport sector. The 2023 edition explores the future of transport, examining the views of industry commentators, policy makers and leaders on how transport technology will transform the way we travel.

4way has been fortunate to contribute two articles to the 2023 Review.

• Coauthored with the Women in ITS (WITS) Forum Chair and Co-Vice Chair, Rebecca Bollen (4way Urban ITS Discipline Lead and WITS UK Co-Vice Chair) reviews the year-to-date and the Annual WITS UK Webinar held on International Women’s Day (8 March 2023). They share highlights from WITS Forum members and reflect on the excellent speakers, connections, and relationships shared that raise the profile of women in the industry.
• Jason Loader (4way Future Mobility Discipline Lead) utilises his chemistry background to consider the role of hydrogen in decarbonising transport. It is argued that green hydrogen is necessary for true decarbonisation, but that its production consumes a huge amount of electricity. Jason then compares the typical milage efficiency (per kWh) of Battery EVs with Hydrogen Fuel Cell EVs and considers in which use-cases hydrogen may be most beneficial

We’re proud of both these contributions, which can be read in the ITS UK Review online, here.

4way attended the 2023 Elex Show in Bolton to keep up to date with all things electrical. Of particular interest was the opportunity to:

• See live demonstrations
• See the latest innovations
• Speak to manufacturers
• Network and meet other trades
• Gain industry knowledge
• Attend CPD accredited seminars

Highlights of the day were:

• Attending a seminar on SPDs by Surge Protection Devices Ltd and getting to see their variety of SPD offerings.
• Discussing O-PEN devices and street furniture earthing with the IET.
• Looking inside the Hydra Genesys EV charge point.
• Viewing Hager‘s distribution boards.
• Discussing issues with SparkyNinja and viewing the condudisks he had on display.

… and of course, the free bacon butty!

4way is delighted to announce that we have been appointed by Ringway to deliver LED designs for 53,000 road lighting assets owned and operated by Milton Keynes City Council.

Services to be delivered include:

• BS compliant street lighting and CMS design
• Development of a city wide dimming strategy
• GIS integrated design
• Lighting level calculations
• Visual surveys
• Procurement support
• Stakeholder liaison

This appointment marks a further phase of a long standing supply chain relationship with Ringway which follows on from projects in Hounslow, the Isle of White and Hertfordshire. It is 4way’s first project for Milton Keynes City Council and we’re excited to be able to support the delivery of optimised street lighting services for local residents which reduce carbon emissions and generate energy cost savings.

Following an annual external re-certification audit undertaken on February 14, 4way are pleased to confirm that the outcome of the audit was that ‘The organisation has demonstrated it is delivering projects to meet with the requirements of ISO:19650-2, and their clients requirements.’ And an excellent audit outcome that reported ‘No non-conformities to review from previous assessments and no new non-conformities were identified during the assessment.’

4way are certified as an Appointed Party – Specialist Designer and Principal Designer of highways intelligent transport systems and lighting within civil infrastructure projects, complying with BIM in accordance with BS EN ISO:19650-2:2018 incorporating the UK National Annex.

For further information or if you would like to enquire about 4way supporting in your projects please contact Craig Clift.

4way Consulting is delighted to announce the appointment of Ian Pengelly as our Technical Director for Digital.

Ian brings more than 20 years’ experience of ITS, technology and digital consultancy projects for both domestic and international roads and transport network operators. He is an active member of the transport technology community, including ITS UK for whom Ian is the Chair for the Connected Vehicles Forum. Ian is also the Chair for BSI’s EPL/278 Committee for ITS Standards.

By continuing to build on our excellent track record for shaping and delivery of complex ITS and technology projects, 4way is continuously expanding and enhancing its service offering. Ian’s appointment is further demonstration of 4way’s commitment to delivering high quality digital advisory services that enable our clients to deliver great services for their customers.

On his appointment Ian said “I am really excited to be joining a dynamic and enthusiastic business who genuinely want to make a difference to their clients and their clients’ customers. Being entrusted to shape and grow 4way’s digital capability is an incredible opportunity for me professionally and I will enjoy working with the team to make it a success.”

On Ian’s appointment, 4way’s Business Growth Director John Westwood said “We’re delighted that Ian has agreed to join 4way to lead the development and growth of our digital services offering. He brings exactly the right blend of technical understanding and personality to enhance 4way’s reputation as a trusted digital advisor in the highways and transportation sectors.”

If you’d like to speak to Ian or John about 4way and how we can help, please contact us by emailing info@4wayconsulting.com.

After the success of our reverse advent calendar challenge in December 2021 where we filled Dry Bags with food and clothing to donate to local homeless charities, we decided to follow up with another 4way charity event this Christmas. 

The highlight of the 2022 4way Christmas party was a raffle of some very tempting prizes to raise money for two local charities. The very generous attitude of all our colleagues resulted in £511 being raised, which was matched by the company to make a grand total of £1022. We were delighted to support the valuable work undertaken within our local communities by Bury Hospice and LWS Night Shelter.

Both charities expressed their gratitude with Bury Hospice commenting “As a Hospice we are fortunate to have amazing support from our local community and none of our services would be possible without this support.”

A few members of the 4way team went back to school recently for two days of ITIL4 Foundation training delivered by The Knowledge Academy at our Leamington Spa office. For some, it was a useful update to our previous ITIL training but for others this was new territory.

Dusting off our old studying skills was a bit of a challenge but fired up on caffeine and biscuits, we soldiered on. The long-forgotten tensions caused by exams resurfaced soon afterwards but all attendees passed with flying colours.

Investment in training is just one feature of the routine ongoing investments we make in our people. It enables us to develop technical leaders, drive consistency in the way we deliver projects and enhance the value that 4way services create for our clients. 

4way is pleased to present our near real-time traffic monitoring service, which utilises floating vehicle data through our exclusive business partnership with mooven to bring their smart mobility infrastructure management platform to the UK.

Mooven was founded in 2018 with operations across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Their floating vehicle data has been applied to many hundreds of individual projects to present rich insights into traffic conditions across a range of use cases including:

• Junction optimisation
• Network and route performance
• Construction programming
• Disruption management (incidents and events)

We’re excited to apply this innovative digital technology across our work streams; enabling informed decision making for our clients, towards better outcomes and experiences for their customers.

Our brochure below provides more information.