Reflections from Strictly Highways 2026
Strictly Highways is now a regular date in our calendar. This year we were back at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool from 6-8 October, for our third year attending (2024, 2025).
LCRIG (Local Council Roads Innovation Group) brings together the sharpest minds in highways for this event, which is why the membership matters to us. It offers a space to dive into the latest industry developments and talk on line marking and surface treatments alongside local councils and peers. Greg Clark and Virginia Scheuerle attended as delegates for QMS.
This year felt different because familiar faces started filling the room. Sitting round a table during speaker sessions gives you a chance to reflect on the talks together, finding shared challenges and connecting with people you might never normally cross paths with. LCRIG keeps growing the event too. More than 570 delegates attended across the three days, including public sector delegates from 92 local authorities.
Over the two-day programme, the sessions covered policy and funding, maintenance and asset management, materials and treatments, resilience and climate adaptation, drainage, technology and data, collaboration, and people and skills.
The Zero Tolerance panel on keeping our people safe brought together a solicitor, highway maintenance and contractor leads, the LCRIG Managing Director and the police. It was good to see abuse of road workers given its own session, with people putting forward what can actually be done about it.
The Career Pathways panel stood out most. It included people from councils, contractors, National Highways’ early careers team and Salford City College, and a lot of the conversation was about getting into schools and speaking to young people at a young age, so that highways is recognised as a career path. We are proud to continue our involvement by attending local schools such as Torquay Academy and Paignton Academy, and we look forward to expanding into more nearby schools.
DFT Special Recognition Awards 2026
We were dinner table hosts at the DfT Special Recognition Awards again this year, and we were honoured to be asked to raise a toast with everyone to Rachael Atkin, Head of Social Value at Colas, who sadly passed away earlier this year. David Ogden spoke about Rachael in such a captivating and beautiful way. Thank you for letting us be part of this special moment.
The awards are now in their seventh year, and 2026 added a new category, Outstanding Contribution. Congratulations to all the finalists and winners.
Thank you
Thank you to LCRIG for putting on another great event, and to the sponsors, exhibitors and everyone who came along.
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