Your land. Their fibre.
Common ground.
How councils and independent network builders can stop talking past each other, and start building together.
Supported by
Platinum sponsor
Venue & catering partner
PartnerFurther opportunities to support the event are open to organisations working with local authorities. Contact info@inca.coop to discuss.
The final 10% won’t be solved alone
Local and combined authorities sit at the heart of the UK’s digital infrastructure challenge, and its biggest opportunity.
The commercial rollout has covered the easy ground. What’s left is harder: the final 10% of premises, the mobile not-spots, the rural roads where no business case closes on its own. Meanwhile councils are sitting on ducts, poles, buildings and land that could carry networks, and mostly don’t know what they hold, let alone what it’s worth.
Common Ground is a working session, not a conference. One room, one day, councils and network builders together, working through what has actually been made to work elsewhere.
What you’ll leave with
- 1A clear view of how other authorities have turned dormant assets into revenue and coverage
- 2Practical routes into mobile infill and private 4G for not-spots in your area
- 3A working understanding of what Altnets need from a council to make a scheme viable, and what they can offer in return
- 4Direct contact with the operators building in your region
Who’s speaking
Turning data centre heat into warmth for community buildings. Blackpool Council on how waste heat from digital infrastructure is being put to work heating civic buildings, one of the most directly transferable ideas on the agenda.
Further speakers are being confirmed, including sessions from WECA, AtkinsRéalis, Digpro, ITS Technologies and Oxfordshire County Council. This page is updated as each is confirmed.
The agenda
A full working day, 10:30 to 16:15.
View the full timed agenda
- 10:30Registration, coffee and networking
- 11:00Welcome and introductions, INCA
- 11:05Keynote: private 4G and not-spot solutions
- 11:20Panel: cooperative solutions for mobile infill
- 11:50Turning data centre heat into warmth for community buildings, Blackpool Council
- 12:00Session to be announced
- 12:10Session to be announced
- 12:20Lunch and networking
- 13:20Welcome back
- 13:25INCA Infrastructure Sharing SIG update, Guy Miller
- 13:30Panel: digitising and commercialising public sector assets
- 14:00Connecting public sector assets with fibre
- 14:10Networking break
- 14:40The final 10%: panel and audience questions
- 15:10Social value
- 15:20The importance of data, Oxfordshire County Council
- 15:30Session to be announced
- 15:40Closing panel: what we’ve learned and what happens next
- 16:10Close and thanks
Who should attend
Local & combined authorities
Digital infrastructure leads, estates and asset managers, economic development, planning and highways.
Network operators & suppliers
Altnets, mobile infrastructure providers, GIS and asset-data specialists, and anyone building where the commercial case is marginal.
Getting there
AtkinsRéalis, The Hub
500 Park Avenue, Aztec West, Almondsbury, Bristol BS32 4RZ
By road
Aztec West sits just off junction 16 of the M5, close to the M4/M5 interchange. On-site parking is available.
By rail
Bristol Parkway is the nearest station, roughly 10 minutes by taxi. Bristol Temple Meads is around 25 minutes.
Please note
Aztec West is north of Bristol, not in the city centre. Allow travel time if you are coming from central Bristol.
Sponsor this workshop
Common Ground puts you in a room with the local authority decision-makers who control access to the assets your network needs. Two sponsorship packages remain.
- Speaking slot
- Exhibition space
- Logo on event branding
- 3 tickets
- Exhibition space
- Logo on event branding
- 2 tickets
Find the common ground
Bristol · Tuesday 20 October 2026 · 10:30–16:15. Online booking closes 19 October.