46 | Greater London Awards 2020 47 | Greater London Awards 2020 Best Transport Planning Consultancy 2020 Founded in 2012, Momentum is a leading integrated and people-centric transport consultancy. The company’s transport solutions are designed to integrate with every aspect of the built environment, keeping the future in mind. Winners of “Best Transport Planning Consultancy 2020” in the 2020 UK SME Greater London Enterprise Awards, the company is united in their vision, “to improve the environments we live, work and play in.” Focusing on three core specialisms of planning, analytics, and engineering, Momentum aims to develop strategies that benefit communities. In collaboration with industry partners such as architects, planners, and property developers, they work to create solutions that cater to the needs of the future as well as the present. Holding offices in London, Dublin, and Montreal, the company has provided their services on many globally renowned projects. The markets they work in are varied and include commercial, cultural, education, master planning, public realm, residential, retail and events projects. With people and communities as a focal point of their work, Momentum aspires to add value to society. Their 50-strong transport consultancy team is one of the largest development-focused teams of its kind. As an integrated transport consultancy, their staff use their individual disciplines collaboratively, rather than in sequence. This allows Momentum to develop a holistic approach to each project that integrates the needs of people, transport, and the environment. When Momentum takes on a project, they consider how developments connect with the urban environment and operate within it, and how this is likely to evolve in the future. Driven by the desire to positively impact the future movement of people in cities, they endeavour to develop mitigating solutions that lead to transport and environmental gains. Traffic and pedestrian movement analytics inform Momentum’s sustainable and community-centric solutions. Assisted by their modelling tools, they can predict and simulate pedestrian movements and behaviours across an array of complex environments. Technical people and vehicular movement assessments are conducted to evaluate each project’s potential effect. In these assessments, Momentum utilises their ability to forecast movement patterns and analyse its effect on local transport networks. Whether it is noise pollution, Sep20868 poor air quality or restriction of movement, the assessments help to provide a comprehensive solution which addresses these issues. Recently, however, these environmental issues stemming from transport systems have been temporarily curtailed. For example, due to Covid-19 lockdowns and an increase in people working from home, UK urban highway authorities have reallocated street space away from vehicular traffic to pedestrians and cyclists. This is something that many industry players, such as Momentum, have been calling for over the past few years and it is an unexpected but positive development. Public transport use has also scaled back immensely, contributing to a 40% decrease in carbon emissions as of October 2020. Momentum care deeply about the effect of transport on the environment and for two years they have been a proud co-sponsor of the World Car Free Day Summit. In as many projects as possible, they are working with clients to help reduce the world’s long-established reliance on motor vehicles. As well as a concern for the environment, Momentum’s company culture is centred on collaboration. They recognise that successful client projects are achieved through interaction and cooperation of a diverse range of people with different perspectives. The company strives to establish effective working relationships with their clients, local authorities and planning teams, as they believe that innovation comes from open communications between practitioners of different disciplines. Momentum also ensures that their internal team remains as diverse as possible and are proud that 43% of the team are women, compared to the transport industry average of 20%. They are champions of equality in the transport industry, with Director David Hart winning an award for his progressive leadership. As a young and progressive SME, Momentum’s aim for the future is to continue making an impact on the environmental problems that affect communities. They aspire to tackle the pertinent issues that affect development the most, including the affects from Covid-19 on the way we move and work. Momentum will continue collaborating with clients to create forward-looking solutions that address global challenges; always putting people at the centre of everything they do. Company: Momentum Transport Consultancy Contact: Sarah Pryor Email:
[email protected] Web Address: www.momentum-transport.com Oct20206 Best Independent Pre, Primary & Secondary School 2020 River House Montessori School opened its doors back in September 1994 with just two full-time employees and five pupils. 26 years on and the school now has 100 members of staff and around 260 pupils enrolled, providing a safe and friendly environment for both term time education and childcare during the school holidays. What makes this school special is its fundamental principle that each child is an individual. Every child is able to learn in a manner that suits them, and age appropriate independence in learning and self-care is nurtured for even the youngest child. River House Montessori School is driven by its passion, adaptability and resilience and the overall wellbeing and learning of each child is the driving force behind their success. Staff are equipped not only with the fundamental knowledge and skills in teaching, but also the ability to empathise with pupils, parents and their colleagues. Located near the business district of London in Canary Wharf, the school also boasts an international culture with pupils representing at least 50 different nationalities. The school is ideally situated to support the educational needs of the children of parents working in the nearby Canary Wharf Financial Centre and other local businesses. Despite the effects of Brexit and some businesses relocating away from London, the school has continued to secure its international presence. Due to the pandemic, River House Montessori School had to close its doors back in March but, despite the disruption, staff members worked tirelessly to ensure their pupils’ education could continue from home. Within four weeks the school designed and implemented an online learning platform for pupils and devised timetables to mirror those of lessons in school, within the constraint of limiting excessive screen time. Teachers responded superbly to the challenges they faced, developing digital teaching resources, teaching themselves the use of the new online platform, creating video presentations, and all classes opened the first virtual meetings with their pupils at the start of the summer term. Over the years, River House Montessori School has struggled to establish a permanent location, but the school is excited to have finally secured long term premises which they will be relocating to in the relatively near future. This substantial development will enable the school to expand and provide an exceptional education to approximately 500 pupils, with the introduction of younger children from age six months upwards and increasing the capacity of their secondary education department. Ultimately, the success of River House Montessori School comes from its desire for pupils to grow, reach their goals and succeed in life. Their social and caring approach is what sets this extraordinary school apart, and their ambition will ensure they continue to offer its pupils an exceptional education well into the future. Contact: Janet Pearson Company: River House Montessori School Web Address: www.river-house.co.uk River House Montessori School is an independent day school for pupils aged 3-16 years, providing a unique education based on the individual needs of each of its pupils. Celebrating their success in this year’s Greater London Enterprise Awards, we profile the school to find out more about them. “It is often said that teaching is a vocation and our staff exemplify that”