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Future-proofing Scotland's Capital
As urban centres evolve, cities must adapt their infrastructure and operations to meet growing demands from public safety and transport management to environmental sustainability. The City of Edinburgh Council partnered with North on a £2.6m contract, part-funded by the Council and the European Regional Development Fund, to design and deliver a state-of-the-art Smart City solution that consolidates multiple city services into a centralised, future-ready Smart City Operations Centre.
The existing control centre was outdated and no longer fit for purpose. It lacked the integrated, responsive infrastructure needed to support modern urban management, including real-time monitoring, intelligent analytics, flexible response capability, and scalability for future smart-city services.
The Council aimed to future-proof the city, not just by upgrading legacy systems, but by building a cohesive foundation to support a broad ecosystem of smart services, from video surveillance and analytics to transport optimisation, waste and housing management, and more.
The partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council demonstrates how local authorities can leverage integrated smart-city infrastructure to meet modern urban challenges. Rather than deploying standalone, single-purpose systems, Edinburgh and North opted for an open, scalable, data-driven Smart City Operations Centre.
This approach delivers tangible benefits, from enhanced safety and increased efficiency to improved sustainability) – while also building long-term capacity for innovation and growth.
Watch our video case study on the project with the City of Edinburgh Council here.
“The City of Edinburgh’s overall vision is to make our city a better place to live, work and visit. We set out our smart city strategy to introduce innovative technologies that could help us face the challenges we face better, manage our resources, and deliver better public services.
Having a longstanding relationship with North, we knew their expertise would be invaluable.”
Gareth Barwell
Service Director, Operational Services/Place
City of Edinburgh Council
North delivered:
- A fully integrated Smart City Operations Centre combining multiple city systems into a centralised hub
- Deployment of HD video surveillance to expand security coverage and advanced AI-driven analytics
- Integration of smart city technologies and IoT-enabled services
- Deployment of 11,000 smart wast sensors
- Intelligent housing monitoring and waste collection optimisation
- All connected via North’s IoT Scotland network
The results:
- Enhanced situational awareness and public safety
- Real-time HD video surveillance insight into the city’s renowned New Year celebrations and Fringe festival
- Improved traffic, transport and city planning
- Better informed planning for transport infrastructure
- IoT-enabled services help reduce the city’s carbon footprint over time
- Future-proofed, scalable infrastructure puts the Council in the position to roll-out additional smart-city services as needed
