An East Riding project designed to reduce carbon emissions from street lighting has secured two prestigious national awards for its innovative approach to road safety and sustainability.
An East Riding project designed to cut carbon in street lighting on roads has scooped two national awards at a prestigious industry event.
Karl Rourke, who serves as the service manager for street lighting, traffic signals and CCTV at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, spearheads the scheme. He was honoured with the President’s Special Recognition Award at the 2026 Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport, or ADEPT, President’s Awards.
Mr Rourke heads the Live Labs 2 Decarbonising Street Lighting project, which leads a national pilot aimed at saving energy and cutting carbon emissions along UK roads.
The project was also presented with the award for Deploying Digital Innovation and Technologies 2026 at the event.
The Special Recognition Award celebrates individuals who have gone above and beyond to drive positive change, inspire others and champion equality, diversity and inclusion in their communities, while making a real difference in the industry.
According to the award judges, Mr Rourke exemplified national leadership in street lighting, driving data-led, low-carbon, and safety-focused reforms that transform industry standards.
Karl Rourke said:
"Winning this award is a great sense of personal achievement and validation for the project. This wouldn’t have been possible without the help from colleagues both internal and external and this award is for them as much as it is for me."
Councillor Paul West, the council’s cabinet member for environment and climate change, said:
"I’m extremely proud of Karl and the LiveLabs2 project for winning these latest awards, because they are leading the way for the UK in showing how our roads can become greener and safer places."
In the East Riding, the LiveLabs2 project is currently running trials along stretches of two of the area’s busiest main roads, the A164 and the A1079. On these routes, street lights have been switched off, and highly reflective white lines and solar-powered road studs have been installed simultaneously.
The council was awarded £3.3 million by the Department for Transport for the study, which seeks to find more environmentally friendly ways of lighting main roads in the future, particularly as more efficient car headlights make some lampposts redundant.
LiveLabs 2 is a collaboration with eleven other councils and authorities across the UK, which are currently running their own pilot projects testing alternatives to traditional street lighting in order to make the highway network much greener.
The overall scheme aims to demonstrate how rethinking the way roads are lit, using new and innovative technologies, can allow councils to remove street lighting from some roads.
While the initiative is not aimed at residential areas, the trial’s goal is to show that councils can cut carbon emissions and make savings for the taxpayer while maintaining road safety.
If successful, the LiveLabs2 team hopes its outcomes will be adopted by local authorities across the entire UK.
The project has been recognised with a variety of awards over the past twelve months for its use of alternative technology, teamwork, and its environmental impact. Other recent accolades include the Highways Awards Environmental Sustainability Award 2025, the Department for Transport Special Recognition Awards Net Zero Project of the Year 2025, and the Highway Electrical Association Project of the Year 2025.
The scheme also secured the Decarbonising Transport Awards for Best Project 2026 and Best Use of Digital Technologies 2026.
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