It’s been a while since we’ve shared a behind-the-scenes look at DG Cities because, well let’s face it, every day has been pretty much the same for a while now hasn’t it?  But as we pass the 4-month point of virtual working, we wanted to check in and share some recent highlights.

On the team front, we have welcomed our newest member to the DG family.  Ed Houghton joined us in July as our Head of Research and Service Design, becoming one of the ever-increasing people up and down the country to onboard virtually.  Ed has a huge amount of expertise in quantitative and qualitative research and a passion for user-centred service design which has seen him fit perfectly into the team.  You can read more about what Ed is going to be work on over the coming months here. 

Virtual shenanigans continued, including slightly surreal car park-based socially distanced laptop repairs but probably the greatest highlight was where members of the team were able to meet in person towards the end of July to discuss dRisk.  It’s fair to say that rarely have we all been quite so giddy about an internal meeting!

On the work front the summer months have delivered some notable achievements, particularly the handover of the SMLL Woolwich HQ to SMLL Ltd after completing all building work and installing the EV charging points.  As we’ve shared in previous posts the road to completion has been a long and complex one so we’re especially proud to have reached this milestone.  Our commitment to sustainability at all levels was reflected in the fact we were able to source sustainable furniture for the facility, a personal highlight for Juliet, one of our Project Managers.

Our work on dRISK is really picking up now, led by Helen, one of our Project Managers and a keen cyclist herself.  She’s been immersing herself in the world of edge case scenarios and will likely never cycle on the roads in the same way again!

Other recent highlights:

·       The DG Cities gardening club is progressing well and the team have been enjoying home-grown tomatoes, garlic and carrots with pumpkins also on the way!

·       Balazs, our Head of Project Delivery, delivered a presentation around the value of video footage analysis for Covid-19 recovery at UK Authority’s virtual Smart Places event 2020.

·       Kim has been busy learning about changes in drone legislation and how that might have impacts on our work

·       Juliet meanwhile has been brushing up on her app developments skills as she’s been working with Engineering students from Imperial College London in relation to the Birchmere work we are conducting for Greenwich council.

This is only a handful of the things we’re working on at the moment – stay tuned for blog posts coming up to find out more.