Edinburgh set to invest £2.6m in Smart CCTV

The City of Edinburgh Council is to revolutionise security and surveillance across the capital with a £2.6 million investment in the build and management of Edinburgh’s new CCTV Control Centre.

Forming part of the council’s vision to create a Smart City Operation Facility, the move provides a holistic view of the city by utilising the latest technology to drive operational efficiencies, improve security and analyse trends. The council has partnered with North, the UK’s leading IoT service and solution provider, to lead on this transformational project which is set for completion in September this year.

The new Control Centre will see the provision of high-definition CCTV cameras, expanded security coverage, and the introduction of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence that can provide situational awareness and predict and alert new and existing threats.

The project will improve efficiency, quickly identify and address issues, provide simple and rapid retrieval of footage, and integrate with remote security systems that are currently not connected to the existing Control Room. The new system will allow for better city planning and will be able to provide a richer view of how people interact with the urban environment – whether on foot, bicycle or vehicle.

Cammy Day, City of Edinburgh Council Depute Leader, said: “Edinburgh has big ambitions in becoming a world-leading Smart City – a digitally inclusive, data-rich and sustainable city with services that are easily accessible by all of our residents no matter where they are in the city, or what their circumstances are. We’re looking to deliver a more digitally-enabled proactive service to help make everyone’s lives in our Scottish Capital better and so we can continue our work towards ending poverty, meeting our net zero targets and improving wellbeing for all.

“With this Smart City partnership with North we’re looking to make transformative differences to the way we manage our city - gathering real-time intelligence to improve safety on our streets, manage services more effectively and better serve the wellbeing of our residents. Through North, alongside our other partners, we believe we’ve found a strong partnership that will deliver on our world-leading vision, changing the way we provide our services to all, while improving our communities.”

This latest project with North also forms part of Edinburgh’s 2050 City Vision strategy, to become ‘the’ world leading Smart City, using technology to make day to day life simpler, greener and more connected while reducing carbon emissions to coincide with the Capital’s net zero carbon by 2030 ambitions.