Engineering Matters: Recent Episodes
Reby Media
Three times winner of the Publisher Podcast Awards, including Best Technology Podcast, Engineering Matters celebrates the work of engineers who use ingenuity, practicality, science, theory and determination to build a better world. In the UK alone 5.7million people work in engineering related enterprises from manufacturing and agriculture to construction and transportation. Their work ensures that the country has sustainable power supplies, better connectivity between cities, increasing efficiency in production processes; advanced manufacturing methods; and is embracing the digital transformations that include virtual modelling of our environment, and development of intelligent machines. Our episodes will examine the vital work of engineers using a mix of interviews, analysis and site visits.
In this Engineering Matters Awards episode, we celebrate the winner of the Sustainability Champion category, which recognises organisations driving groundbreaking innovation to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It promotes the conservation of natural resources, reduces waste and pollution, and supports social and economic stability.
Our award-winning entrant is the Nuclear Manufacturing Group at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), whose team partnered with Cambridge Vacuum Engineering and Kairos Power to pioneer electron beam welding for Small Modular Reactor (SMR) vessels. Their breakthrough reduces vessel welding times from 500 hours down to just five hours, eliminates hundreds of kilograms of filler wire, and dramatically cuts manufacturing energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Guest
Charles Carpenter, Head of Research for the Nuclear Manufacturing Group, University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre
Resources
To read more about the project discussed in this episode, read the Kairos Power Report
The post #372 Sustainability Champion – Engineering Matters Awards first appeared on Engineering Matters.
How should local and regional leaders encourage investment in their communities? Around the world, cities struggle with a legacy of industrial decline. In England, devolution of planning policy to mayoral combined authorities has allowed for regions like Greater Manchester to outpace national growth. But within regions, local areas can themselves fall behind, and require a joined up approach to planning and investment.
When this episode was first recorded in September 2024, the focus was on how places can unlock investment by understanding their own histories, strengths and opportunities. Today, as the debate around Britain’s infrastructure ambitions intensifies, and the former Mayor of Greater Manchester looks increasingly likely to become the next Prime Minister, the intentions of the government in this area are worthy of speculation.
The infrastructure industry is not waiting, an open letter from leading infrastructure and construction organisations, including the Association for Consultancy has called on the next government to prioritise long-term infrastructure delivery and provide greater certainty for investment.
Could the principles of Manchester transfer to the nation at large? Will infrastructure be a priority for the incoming government? Can the required investment be funded? The engineering sector waits to see.
Guests
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester
Susan Hinchliffe, Council Leader, Bradford City Council
Tim Newns, MD, Levelling Up, Office for Investment, UK Department for International Trade
Richard Robinson, CEO, UK and Europe, AtkinsRéalis
John Rayson, MD for Northern Transformation, AtkinsRéalis
Resources
For the open letter from the ACE to Andy Burnham, click here
The post #371 Revisited: Place is the Space for Growth first appeared on Engineering Matters.
At the end of the Second World War, millions of tonnes of unwanted explosives and weapons were disposed of at sea. For decades, these dumped munitions lay hidden beneath the waves as time and tide passed over them.
Now 80 years past that mass-dumping, corrosion has begun to expose the explosive chemicals inside these weapons casings. Lead, mercury and TNT breakdown products have begun to be detected in fish stocks throughout the affected waters. At the same time, the growth of offshore infrastructure such as wind farms is increasing the need to understand and manage hazards on the seabed.
But dumped munitions are not the same problem as unexploded ordnance (UXO). Instead of finding isolated dangerous objects, engineers face vast areas containing thousands of items, requiring new approaches to detection, removal, containment and disposal. This is a question of new technologies, new approaches, and still yet, convincing people of the scale of the problem.
Guests
Torsten Frey, post-doctoral researcher, Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Peter Nieuwveld, Solution Owner UXO Risk Mitigation, Fugro
Jennifer Yun, New Business Manager, Fugro
Resources
Sign up for the CAMMera & MMinE-SwEEPER Newsletter: http://bit.ly/3PDUcPj
Visit JPI Oceans Knowledge Portal for Munitions in the Sea: http://munitionsinthesea.eu/
Check out Munitions in the Sea Projects booklet: Munitions_booklet_October_2025.pdf
Check out UNOC 2025 Munitions in the Sea Factsheets: https://tinyurl.com/2x35pwwu
For the Engineering Matters episode on UXO mitigation, click here
Photo credit: Lukas Schröder
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #370 The Forgotten Arsenal of the Ocean: Clearing Dumped Munitions first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In this Engineering Matters Awards episode, we celebrate the winners of the Health & Safety Champion category, which recognises engineers who are changing how we protect people in some of the world’s most challenging environments.
Engineering is often measured by what we build: the bridges, tunnels, infrastructure, and systems that shape our world. But true engineering excellence is also defined by how we build, and how we protect the people who make it possible. This episode explores how innovation, preparation, and predictive technology are helping to reduce risk and improve safety across the board.
Our two award-winning entrants are:
Scott Shipley, Director of Swiftwater and Whitewater Parks at Caliber Engineering, who is transforming emergency response training by creating realistic, controlled environments where first responders can prepare for extreme flooding scenarios.
Monica Calle, co-founder and CTO of Geprode, is using predictive analytics to address one of underground construction’s biggest challenges: geological uncertainty.
The post #369 Health & Safety Champion – Engineering Matters Awards first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This episode is part of the Engineering Matters Awards series, recognising individuals and organisations making an outstanding contribution to the engineering profession and wider society. Engineering is often judged by technical achievements: better products, more efficient processes, and breakthrough innovations. But some of the industry’s most meaningful contributions happen beyond the core aims of the work itself.
The role of engineers in society is to solve problems and create a more liveable world. Through the development of a project or a product an engineer may have the opportunity to bring about a wider community benefit, beyond solving the primary problem. It is those choices that this award recognises.
In this Engineering Matters Awards episode, we celebrate two Bronze-level winners in the Community Champion category: Dremere Woods of Honda Development and Manufacturing of America, and Gaurav Mittal of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Join us as we explore why engineering excellence is not only about solving problems, but also about improving lives.
Guests:
Gaurav Mittal, Data Science Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Dremere Woods, Supplier Quality Engineer, Honda Development and Manufacturing
The post #368 Community Champion – Engineering Matters Awards first appeared on Engineering Matters.
For decades, infrastructure design has relied on ‘grey’ engineering: concrete flood walls, steel structures and rigid systems designed to control the environment. But with climate pressures intensifying, engineers are increasingly looking to work with nature rather than against it.
This episode looks at the growing role of nature-based solutions in building climate-resilient infrastructure that can help manage flood risk, restore ecosystems, improve biodiversity and create more resilient communities.
Nature itself should be considered critical infrastructure and an entire generation educated to undertake work differently to that which has been done before.
Guests
Hannah Joyce, Senior Fluvial Geomorphologist, AtkinsRéalis
Laura Liddaman, Associate Director of Nature Based Solutions, AtkinsRéalis
Resources
To access the paper discussed in this episode, a forward-looking vision for the role of nature-based solutions in future-resilient infrastructure, click here
Partner
AtkinsRéalis is a world-leading professional services and project management company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. Employing over 37,000 people across Canada, the US and Latin America, the UK and Ireland, and Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, AtkinsRéalis creates sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems
The post #367 Nature Based Solutions: The End of Grey Engineering first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In this special Engineering Matters Awards episode, we celebrate excellence across the industry, highlighting our Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in the Diversity & Inclusion Champion category.
Engineering suffers from a ‘leaky pipe’ problem, where a great many potential professionals count themselves out of a career long before university. It is a problem that has been clearly identified, but that the industry has long struggled to correct.
Our featured guest and Gold Winner is Stuart Naismith, primary teacher, STEM communicator, and Gold Award winner, and the creator behind STEM with Mr N, a platform bringing accessible science and real-world STEM stories to young audiences worldwide. Click the link below to find out more about Stuart’s great work.
Special thanks to our judges from Engineers Without Borders UK, and from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Guest
Stuart Naismith, STEM with Mr N
The post #366 Diversity & Inclusion Champion – Engineering Matters Awards first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Greg Wilkes has seen the highs and lows of running a small business in the UK construction sector. From being talked into staying with his apprenticeship by his father as a young carpenter, to success, failed partnerships, and success again, he began to make it a point to note down everything he did that worked, and everything that did not.
Now with a seven-step program, that in keeping with the best traditions of the sector he has decided to streamline to five, Greg is training builders and other trades to scale their businesses, swim in the same waters as contract sharks without getting eaten, and make a success in a sector that can demand so much from entrepreneurs. This episode tells his story, and his method.
Guest
Greg Wilkes, Develop Coaching
Resources
To download Greg’s book, ‘Building your Future’, click here
The post #365 Making a Success in British Construction first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In this episode, we tell the story of MERMAID from the Wildlife Conservation Society, this year’s Engineering Matters Awards Environment Gold Champion. Emily Darling, director for coral reef conservation at WCS, describes why scientists need better ways of sharing coral data, and how MERMAID helps them do so.
Rita Bento, a researcher at NYU Abu Dhabi joins the episode, in an interview recorded in January 2026, to describe the work the university has been doing with regional partners to map coral reefs in the Persian-Arabian Gulf. And Angie Braithwaite, co-founder of Blue Alliance, describes how the nonprofit organization is using MERMAID to understand the effectiveness of marine protected areas.
MERMAID allows the scientists to more easily map and understand the world’s coral reefs, helping identify those that are more resilient to climate change. Its latest update adds more, using AI to speed up the slow work of identifying species in reefs.
Guests
Emily Darling, director for coral reef conservation, WCS
Rita Bento, researcher, NYU Abu Dhabi
Angie Braithwaite, co-founder, Blue Alliance
Category sponsor
Support for this episode and the Environment Champion Category comes from FuturePlus. FuturePlus helps businesses measure, manage and improve their environmental and social impact – with a live ESG platform and a named expert to guide you through it. Three hundred businesses are already Impact Certified, from hospitality to engineering. Find out more at future-plus.co.uk
The post #364b Environment Champion – Engineering Matters Awards gold winner first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Around the world, engineers are working to protect the environment. In this episode, we introduce eight companies who are taking steps to safeguard the natural world. All have been shortlisted for the Engineering Matters Awards.
The first three shortlisted entries look at ways of understanding the natural world. Petra Ringeltaube explains how RWE’s SeaMi is taking a less invasive, ecosystems-based approach to monitoring biodiversity on wind farms. Emily Darling of the Wildlife Conservation Society explains how its tool MERMAID is allowing coral scientists to share data, and now, with new AI tools, identify species on reefs. Next, Peter Salome explains a new tool from Fugro that will speed the delivery of vital new subsea powerlines.
We then look at the challenges of building new homes and the infrastructure needed to support them, while limiting harmful environmental impacts. Edward Selvey, a senior ecologist with Avove describes how the company helped mitigate the biodiversity impact of a new water pipeline. Helen Gibbon, a director at Renaissance, explains how the engineers implemented sustainable drainage for a new estate in Salford. And Siobhan Warfield-Beattie talks us through how Ayesa helped lower the carbon impact of a wastewater treatment plant in Arklow. At Derne Reach, in Yorkshire, Olivia Rowe tells us, Mott MacDonald Bentley has taken a different approach to wastewater, helping build an integrated constructed wetland.
Finally, we learn about two projects seeking to restore nature. Matthew Hay of Nattergal describes the company’s work at High Fen Wildland, where it is helping re-wet peatlands, in a way that shows how boosting nature can be a commercially viable investment. And Nick Cooper of Haskoning describes how the company has helped remove colliery waste from a Northumberland coastline.
Stay tuned to the end of the episode to learn which entries won a position in this year’s awards.
Guests
Petra Ringeltaube, environmental manager, RWE
Emily Darling, director, coral reef conservation, WCS
Peter Salome, innovation manager, Fugro
Edward Selvey, senior ecologist, Avove
Helen Gribbon, director, Renaissance
Siobhan Warfield-Beattie, marketing director, Ayesa
Olivia Rowe, project leader, Mott MacDonald Bentley
Matthew Hay, natural capital manager, Nattergal
Nick Cooper, technical director, Haskoning
Category sponsor
Support for this episode and the Environment Champion Category comes from FuturePlus. FuturePlus helps businesses measure, manage and improve their environmental and social impact – with a live ESG platform and a named expert to guide you through it. Three hundred businesses are already Impact Certified, from hospitality to engineering. Find out more at future-plus.co.uk
The post #364a Environment Champion – Engineering Matters Awards shortlist first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In its seventh Allocation Round the UK executed the largest offshore wind auction in European history, putting pen to paper on 8.4GW of new capacity, enough to power 10 million homes. Allocation Round 8 is expected to be even more ambitious, as the UK looks to upgrade its radar systems to enable a 10GW installation, according to Windtech International.
Offshore wind projects require complete understanding of conditions on, and below, the seabed. As projects proliferate and demand for surveys and more accurate data becomes truly vast, the deployment of cutting edge technology becomes essential.
Uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) patrolling the surface and remotely operated vehicles diving beneath the waves have been key to sustainable offshore operations. Not just in environmental terms and added human safety, but to achieve reasonable operational costs in increasingly asset-rich coastal seas.
From the early, smaller vessels designed for a specific purpose, designers and builders have increased size and diversified the capabilities of individual platforms. Today, Fugro’s Blue Prism®, it’s first fully dedicated site screening geophysics USV – can do much more. In this episode, we look at these state-of-the-art vessels, the challenges of multi-sensor data collection and how they can help meet the unprecedented demand for timely surveys.
Guests
Roger Birchall, Technical Authority – Geophysics, SSE Renewables
Marco Gilissen, Global Director – Marine Geophysics, Fugro
Simon McIlroy, Survey Systems Architect, Fugro
Resources
To learn more about the Geo Risk Management Framework mentioned in the episode, listen to the first part of a three part episode we released last year: click here
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #363 Uncrewed Vessels and Unprecedented Data first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The London skyline is undergoing perhaps its most significant transformation in decades as a new ‘vertical renaissance’ is sending tremors of excitement from Guildhall to Mansion House. The City of London Corporation says that over half a million square metres of office space was granted planning permission in the City in 2025, equivalent to more than ten ‘Gherkins’ with around half of this amount already under construction.
This includes the leviathan 309.6m ‘1 Undershaft’ which will be as tall as the Shard when completed.
But it is not all about the capacity, unlike the Financial Fortresses of the 20th century, as the earlier skyscrapers in the City were sometimes called, the new structures will be more open to the street, with pedestrian access, parks and commercial arcades, to make the city feel more vibrant and less sterile, than it has to previous generations.
The City’s largest office building, 22 Bishopsgate has led the way in a period of challenging economic headwinds, fully occupied and seeing record high rents, it is perhaps the first of these post-financial crash, vertical villages in the Square Mile that can be considered part of this renaissance.
Guests
Paul Hargreaves, Construction Director, Lipton Rogers
David Healy, Mechanical and Electrical Lead, WSP in the UK
Amy Holtz, Director – Head of Sustainability, PLP Architecture
Diego Padilla-Philips, Technical Director, WSP in the UK
Partner
As one of the world’s leading engineering professional services consultancies, WSP brings clarity and vision to complex challenges. Their team of technical specialists and strategic advisers across the UK is part of a talented global family of expertise. Together, they ensure innovative solutions solve complex problems for our clients and the communities we serve, meeting both the needs of today and addressing the challenges of the future.
The post #362 Revisited: Skyscrapers, Predicting The Future first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Humanity’s furthest ever journey into space has been delayed. Again. An interruption to the flow of helium forced NASA to scrap the revised 6 March launch date of the Artemis II mission, and begin the slow process to roll the increasingly unfortunate rocket back to the vehicle assembly bay.
While the delays are frustrating for the engineers involved, and space enthusiasts alike, every precaution has to be taken when a human crew is involved.
While we wait for this historic mission, we thought we would revisit an episode where we examined progress in robotic systems in space. The deployment of which removes the risk to human life and will be a critical part of the future of space operations. A future that Artemis 2 crew will spearhead.
Space offers certain conditions that make it more favourable to manufacturing than Earth. Near zero gravity, extreme cold temperatures and a complete vacuum means certain industries such as quantum computing, semiconductors and human organ growth have already demonstrated the benefits of being manufactured in space. We explore how close we are to seeing manufacturing industries existing in space and what barriers there currently are.
In this episode, two experts from the Satellite Applications Catapult explain how they are working with a variety of companies in the in-orbit service and manufacturing sector to try and make the UK a world leader in this new frontier of space.
Guests
Mike Curtis-Rouse, Head of Access to Space, Satellite Applications Catapult
Jeremy Haddall, Robotics Development Lead, Satellite Applications Catapult
Partner
The Satellite Applications Catapult is one of nine Catapults, uniquely established to transform the UK’s capability for innovation in specific areas and to help drive future economic growth. They work with companies of all sizes in the UK space sector to help with their business, access to infrastructure for testing and bringing their product to market.
The post #361 Revisited: Space – The Robotic Age first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Systems thinking allows engineers to understand complex systems and the second-, third-, and nth-order effects of their interventions. It avoids the accidental creation of new problems when solving a first, and allows for the identification of effective leverage points for more impactful, sustainable change.
The world, the built environment and our infrastructure all have patterns that can be understood with a few changes in thought process. In this episode we’re looking at the work Engineers Without Borders UK has done to promote systems thinking in engineering, through a programme of Systems Change Labs.
Guests
Mark Enzer, Strategic Advisor, Mott MacDonald
Eva Fernandez, Strategic Sustainability Consultant, Ramboll
Jonathan Truslove, Education and Skills Lead, EWB UK
Supporter
From prototyping to full-scale production, Xometry UK is the leading on-demand manufacturing marketplace. With a network of over 2,000 manufacturing partners across Europe and 10,000 worldwide, Xometry provides the capacity and expertise to handle projects of any size, making advanced manufacturing accessible to all.
Resources
To read the Connect to Change report from the Built Environment Connective, click here
The post #360 Systems Change: Thinking in Patterns first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Around the world, urban planners are seeking to deliver urban growth and increase access to city centres through the development of transit-oriented communities. These combine new publicly-backed transport infrastructure, with privately-financed residential and commercial development. It’s a route to more sustainable cities, but it involves careful navigation of budgetary constraints and the needs of existing communities.
Michael Matthys explains some of the challenges of delivering transit-oriented communities in Toronto. He explains some of the challenges, both in terms of engineering, and in terms of meeting community needs. For stations in crowded downtown areas, he describes the importance of maintaining local character, and explains how retrofit might be a suitable solution. Looking further out into the suburbs, he describes policies that can help maintain affordable options for residents, and the engagement needed to ensure community support.
Guest
Michael Matthys, Planning Lead, SvN Architects + Planners
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359k Transit-Oriented Communities in Toronto first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In the 1970s, Saudi Arabia, buoyed by a surge in oil prices, embarked on an ambitious building programme. The country moved rapidly to develop its cities and infrastructure. However, Prince Salman, then the governor of Riyadh, now the country’s King, saw that this was resulting in cities that were unmoored from their local context.
This episode traces the evolution of modern architecture in Saudi Arabia, from the economic boom of the 1970s and the development of a distinctive Salmani-style. We look at the national program of incorporating the vernacular in individual buildings, before moving on to the current Vision 2030, describing its approach to wider urban development, passive temperature control, and sustainability.
Lastly, we examine lessons for other nations engaged in a phase of rapid growth and urbanisation, and what they can learn from this history.
Guest
Lana Al-Dwehji, Lead Architect, Omrania
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359j – Modern Vernacular in Saudi Arabia first appeared on Engineering Matters.
For facade specialists, stone is highly prized for its performance and character. The right choice of stone can anchor a building in its local context, or make a striking statement. While stone has fallen out of use, modern approaches mean that it could now be used in the same standardised ways as steel, concrete and glass.
In this episode we learn that it is ripe for a return as a structural material, decades after it was supplanted by concrete and steel.
A series of projects demonstrate how stone can be used as a structural component. Finally, we look at the steps needed to make stone building a routine part of construction: the adoption of standards, allowing stone components to be used ‘off-the-shelf’, rather than needing to prove them each time and an understanding of its versatility.
Guest
David West, Technical Director, Inhabit
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359i Stone as Structure first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Sustainability experts often use a hierarchy to help their thinking about interventions. The best way to limit your impact is to do nothing at all. If that’s not possible, then use as few materials as you can. And finally, if extensive work must be conducted, then replace more carbon-intensive materials with those with less impacts.
In this episode, Lucas Grisoni describes three projects in Paris that demonstrate different approaches to sustainable construction. For the University of Chicago’s new campus, the focus has been on reducing the use of materials, both in order to keep the structure light—it is built over a railway—and to minimise carbon impacts. On WoodUp, one of Europe’s tallest timber structures, the focus is on selecting a lower carbon material. And on the Eiffel Tower, the historical nature of the project has demanded limited interventions—which has the benefit of reducing carbon impacts, as well as preserving the structure.
Guest
Lucas Grisoni, Head of Structural Engineering, Low-carbon/Complex Structures & Envelopes, Elioth, by Egis
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359h Sustainability in Paris first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Lifecycle carbon assessment – the process of monitoring the total carbon footprint of a structure from the first spade in the ground to demolition – sits at the confluence of engineering and sustainability. As we adapt our processes and understanding of the built environment, LCA is a critical measure to guide our decision making.
The nature of the work is truly holistic, in winter an icy road might have salt spread on it. This in turn could corrode rebar, which needs to be replaced. That work might close part of the road, which increases vehicle idling times and stop-start driving. All of this impacts LCA.
Ali Amiri was an early adopter of the technique, and has devised a means of calculating a building’s carbon impact before it’s even reached the ground-breaking stage. His team now include lifecycle carbon assessment (LCA) as a routine part of their process.
This episode also looks at the intergenerational aspect of the work, where, younger members of the team are bringing the data science related skills that allow them to deliver the LCA as standard.
Guest
Ali Amiri, Regional Director for Building Engineering and Sustainability, Egis
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359g An Intergenerational Approach to Sustainability first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Retrofitting is an instrumental step in reducing the carbon footprint of a city’s building stock. It also extends the life of a building and has a lower environmental impact than demolishing inefficient properties and building anew.
Even a new development, such as the East Village in Stratford London, although just 12 years old, is still largely heated by fossil fuel. Adaptable designs are critical to bring future improvements to existing structures.
Marion Baeli is a pioneer of sustainable architecture, her practice identified easy-to-deliver improvements to energy use on one of the buildings in the development, at the same time as adding capacity that could finance the project.
Guest
Marion Baeli, Principal, Sustainability Transformation at 10 Design
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359f Sustainability and Adaptation in East London first appeared on Engineering Matters.
When you are designing a stadium for the World Cup, or any major sport, it’s vital to have a fan’s-eye view. For more than a century, the architects tasked with designing stadiums have used the C-value, developed by Victorian theatre designer John Russel. But this value just measures the view in one direction, towards the stage. Sporting events are viewed in the round, with fans all around the stadium bowl.
In this episode, we hear from Mark Fenwick, whose practice has designed stadiums for the Qatar World Cup, and for leading European football teams. He explains how Fenwick Iribarren has built on the Victorian concept of C-values and sightlines in theatre design, with the FI-Factor, a new system for mapping the spectators’ view from each seat in a stadium.
Mark describes the sub-factors considered, explains how this was first used during bidding for a new world cup stadium at Education City in Qatar, its subsequent use in Valencia, and its scope for use on other stadiums.
Guest
Mark Fenwick, Partner, Fenwick Iribarren Architects
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359e A Better View of Stadium Design first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Nuclear power promises to provide energy when other sources can’t. But nuclear plants currently take a long time to build—often more than a decade. Anthony Burch, digital manager, Egis, and his colleagues, are working on the key components of Hinkley Point C in England. These form the so-called ‘nuclear island’—the reactor building and four associated safety buildings.
In this episode, Anthony describes the challenges of delivering ‘right first time’ construction on a highly complex, one off, and long term project: Hinkley Point C. He explains the challenges of clash detection on a project that has continued to evolve, and how the use of BIM and digital tools has smoothed this process. He describes how work on this project will feed into future projects, such as Sizewell C, and open the way to a new generation of nuclear power plant construction.
Guest
Anthony Burch, Digital Manager, BIM
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359d A Digital Path to Nuclear’s New Generation first appeared on Engineering Matters.
At ITER, in France, scientists and engineers from around the world are working together to develop nuclear fusion at power plant scale. The project could one day lead to a world of truly abundant green energy.
In this episode, Caroline Dixon explains some of the logistical challenges of working on a project that is perhaps humanity’s largest ever experiment. In this decades-long project, the engineers building the reactor are in a constant race to keep up with scientists working on the cutting edge of physics.
The reactor building is being constructed using thousands of steel plates, embedded in concrete. As the scientists develop their ideas, near constant changes are needed to the structure’s components. Caroline describes how a hotline was developed early in the project to allow experts to collaborate on resolving clashes.
This was followed by a holistic integration team, or HIT, which brought a fusion of minds between all the project’s delivery teams, to manage this constantly evolving design and construction process—an approach that could speed construction across all major projects.
Guest
Caroline Dixon, Project Director, Nuclear Power, Egis
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, engineering, operations and mobility services firm with 22,000 employees across more than 100 countries. The company designs and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to climate emergencies and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
The post #359c A Fusion of Minds at ITER first appeared on Engineering Matters.
There is a changing view of the environment among public sector clients in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has ambitious goals like generating 50% of electricity from renewables by 2030, the UAE has targets such as diverting 80 percent of its waste from landfill by by 2031, and Qatar is moving towards 100% treated wastewater reuse.
With environmental considerations now at the core of new projects, rather than being a problem to be dealt with, each project must consider its impact on the environment. This means a shift from reacting to problems, to planning with goals being measured.
Countries like UAE, Saudi and Qatar, are putting in place long-term plans for strategies that include waste diversion, emissions reductions and renewable energy. In benchmarking these strategies against international standards and best practices, the deployment of digital tools is critical.
Guest
Yassman AlKhatib, Regional Director for Water, Environment, and Energy Transition, Egis
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359b Water, Energy and the Environment in the Middle East first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Lismore sits at the confluence of two rivers in New South Wales. Covering more than 1,300 square kilometres, it is home to more than 44,000 people. In 2022, it was hit by a huge flood, the highest on record, followed by a smaller, though still devastating, second flood. Five lives were lost in the disasters, along with 500 properties, making 2,000 people homeless at a cost of AUD 350M in damages.
The event raised critical questions about flood prevention and planning. It underscored the urgent need for more resilient approaches to town and city planning, that anticipate extreme events and protect communities and economic activities more effectively.
Engeny were initially brought in to improve flood protection, before the flooding demonstrated the existential need for this work. This episode looks at the protection work so far, how it has evolved after the flood, and future plans to meet the increasing risks.
Guest
Mark Page, Government Sector Lead, Engeny
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359a Australia’s Most Flooded Town first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Society needs to consider the impact of climate change on our cities because it is no longer a future challenge; it is a present reality. Cities with their concentrated populations, infrastructure and supply challenges are uniquely vulnerable to climate-related shocks, exposed to risks such as floods, heatwaves, water scarcity and any disruption to their systems.
Engineers and decision-makers must embed sustainability and resilience into every stage of the planning and design process to ensure adaptability to these changes.
In this introduction to a series on sustainable approaches to the global built environment, we begin a journey that will take us around the world, to meet engineers on the front lines of this civilisational challenge.
Guest
Thomas Salvant, Chief Executive Officer – Energy and Sustainable Cities, Egis
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.
The post #359 Intro – A Sustainable and Resilient World first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Residents of tall buildings can face significant risks in the event of fire or structural failure. At Grenfell Tower in the UK, a fire in a resident’s kitchen spread rapidly around the building, due to failures in the testing and installation of cladding materials, and leading to widespread loss of life.
The inquiry into the fire revealed how overlooked risks can line up, causing disaster. The 2022 Building Safety Act established that dutyholders—owners and developers—of buildings like this should employ competent professionals. The challenge these dutyholders now face is to identify those professionals.
The Engineering Council in the UK has established a means to do this, through the Higher Risk Buildings Register. In this episode, Chris O’Regan, chair of the joint ICE/IStructE committee that developed the register, explains the skills and expertise needed from engineers working on these structures. This goes beyond technical expertise: Chris highlights the need for empathy with residents, and a demonstrated ability to collaborate with professionals from other disciplines.
Guest
Chris O’Regan, chair, ICE/IStructE Higher Risk Buildings Register Committee; associate director, Mason Navarro Pledge
The post #358 Experts in Risk first appeared on Engineering Matters.
A wise asset owner builds on solid ground. Unless ground risks are clearly identified, projects can easily be delayed or delivered over budget. Some risks may not even be fully understood until an asset begins operations. In this final episode of three on ground risks and the asset life cycle, Karim Khalaf explains how one major European vehicle manufacturer only learned how the soil beneath their new manufacturing plant would act, once steel presses started working—effectively inducing a series of small earthquakes and setting foundations floating off the apparently solid sand they stood on.
Assumptions about ground conditions can lead to costly and time-consuming emergencies during construction. An unexpected cavity, for example, may mean that work has to stop until the site is properly modelled. In the past, that could involve substantial costs and lengthy delays, as heavy geotechnical equipment is deployed. But, with the careful use of geophysical screening, answers can be delivered quickly, and work resumed, with costs kept under control.
Rod Eddies describes how these two sets of techniques, namely broad geophysical screening and strategic geotechnical investigations, can be used together to create a detailed 3D model of the subsurface. This can be shared and used by those making strategic decisions, as well as by technical specialists and other stakeholders. Matt Waddicor of Fermi Development, who we heard from in the first episode, rounds up the advantages of using this approach throughout the asset life cycle, and shares how early investigations may support on time and on budget delivery, across the infrastructure sector.
Guests
Matt Waddicor, Development Programme Director, Fermi Development
Rod Eddies, Solutions Director, Land, Fugro
Karim Khalaf, Regional Business Line Manager, Middle East, Fugro
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #357c Well-Grounded Decisions: Construction and Operations first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Without a clear understanding of ground conditions, unquantified risk can be transferred from project owner to lead contractors when a contract is signed. In the first episode of this three part series, we explored how geophysical screening, using non-intrusive methods, can be used to reduce uncertainty in site selection and provide clarity on construction costs and delivery schedules.
In this episode, we move past the final investment decision, to the development of project designs. Karim Khalaf, Regional Business Line Manager, Middle East, at Fugro, explains how one client commissioned a new method of site screening, ambient noise tomography, to check subsurface conditions before starting work on building a stormwater pumping station in Doha, Qatar.
Not every project owner performs this sort of early geophysical investigation. However, as Rod Eddies explains, the Geo-Risk Management Framework can still be applied by lead contractors as they complete designs and schedule construction work. We learn how early screening can provide a basis for more detailed geotechnical techniques, using boreholes and cone penetration testing. This approach gives clients the answers they need, when they need them, while minimising the need to deploy heavy equipment.
Guests
Rod Eddies, Solutions Director, Land, Fugro
Karim Khalaf, Regional Business Line Manager, Middle East, Fugro
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #357b Well-Grounded Decisions: Design Development first appeared on Engineering Matters.
On any project, uncertainty creates risk. Decisions that are made without a good understanding of site conditions can result in overengineering or threats to safety. Delivery may be delayed, and unexpected costs incurred. To avoid these risks, project owners and other stakeholders should question their assumptions and get real, actionable insights throughout the project lifecycle.
In this three-part series, we explore a key source of risk to any project, subsurface conditions, and a new approach that builds certainty from the ground up. In this first episode, Rod Eddies, Solutions Director, Land, at Fugro, explains the development of the Geo-Risk Management Framework, a way of thinking about subsurface risks that builds on research on cognitive bias. We learn about GroundIQ®, a new approach to ground risk management that provides earlier, faster, and better site characterization.
Early screening allows project developers to identify suitable sites and more accurately predict delivery times and costs before a final investment decision is made. Fermi Developments is a privately-funded nuclear developer, working to deliver ‘Ready to Build’ small modular reactor sites across the UK. The company recently formed a strategic partnership with Fugro, under which the geo-data specialists will support their work from site selection all the way through to delivery. In this episode, Fermi’s Matt Waddicor explains how this new approach to risk will help the developer identify suitable sites and prepare well-grounded proposals for investors.
Guests
Matt Waddicor, Development Programme Director, Fermi Development
Rod Eddies, Solutions Director, Land, Fugro
Karim Khalaf, Regional Business Line Manager, Middle East, Fugro
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #357a Well-Grounded Decisions: Site Selection first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Wastewater treatment is an overlooked lifesaver. While the medical advances of the last 100 years—penicillin, chemotherapy, and, more recently, mRNA vaccines—have transformed healthcare, keeping our water supplies free from pathogens like cholera and dysentery, has saved many more lives. The systems developed to treat wastewater are so successful that we can afford to flush and forget.
But this is infrastructure we must not overlook. Growing populations, increased use by industry, and regulations that get tighter as we learn of new threats to human life and the environment, are putting wastewater treatment facilities under strain. Existing plants are often tucked away on constrained sites, and work as part of a sprawling network of sewage systems that make it extremely difficult for them to be relocated.
This is very much the case at Ringsend in Dublin. Here, on a site bounded by other facilities and the sea, the waste produced by millions of Dubliners—and the city’s industry and commerce—must be processed before being discharged into the Liffey Estuary. To update the plant, its owners had considered building a 9km pipe to discharge waste outside of the sensitive areas of the estuary.
But a new solution was identified. By implementing a novel form of biological treatment, developed by Haskoning, Egis was able to ensure that the effluent discharged was so clean, it would be safe for wildlife. But installing this would take careful planning and scheduling, in order to complete the work in tight constraints, without any pause in plant operations.
Guests
Marisa Buyers-Basso, associate director, Haskoning
Marcus Fagan, chartered engineer, Egis
Partner
Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, engineering, operations and mobility services firm with 22,000 employees across more than 100 countries. The company designs and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to climate emergencies and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.
Egis has operated in Ireland since 1994 and is the largest multi-disciplinary consultancy, engineering and operations firm in the country. Its current activities in Ireland include operating the Dublin Tunnel and the Jack Lynch Tunnel in Cork, overseeing 1,200km of Ireland’s motorways. It is also active in the design and delivery of major transportation programmes, renewable energy and water and waste water projects. With over 600 staff in Ireland across 16 offices and sites nationwide, it is committed to enabling sustainable economic development and responding to the requirements of population growth while addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions.
The post #356 Making Space for Wastewater Treatment first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Green-grey engineering combines nature-based solutions with traditional civil engineering. It can be used in flood protection, with mangroves acting as a first line of defense rather than relying wholly on seawalls or earthen berms. As parts of the world face dual threats of flood and drought, the same systems can incorporate drainage and water collection.
Unlike traditional civil engineering, nature-based solutions offer a wide range of additional benefits. Mangroves act as fish nurseries feeding local communities and boosting economies. They sequester carbon, helping limit climate change. They provide opportunities for tourism. And they provide significant flood protection, boosting resilience.
But there is a need to scale and accelerate funding to address the loss and protection of coastal ecosystems and the true value they represent.
A new analytical framework, Net Ecosystem Value, offers a tool to inform this need. Rich geodata insights, analysis and scenario modelling combined with local knowledge and academic research. This environmental and economic accounting demonstrates the true value of investing in these solutions, as well as the cost of doing nothing.
By providing more granularity, rather than relying on global assumptions, this supports the development of relevant financial mechanisms such as blue bonds. By taking a whole-of-ecosystem approach, Net Ecosystem Value is able to show the true value of investing in coastal zones as critical infrastructure that accounts for blue carbon, fisheries, resilience, biodiversity, livelihoods, and social and cultural values
In this episode, Alpa Bhattacharjee and Rod Braun explain the broad range of benefits these ecosystems offer, and the progress that is being made to incorporate them alongside traditional civil engineering solutions.
Guests
Alpa Bhattacharjee, Climate and Nature – Blue Finance Advisory, Fugro
Rod Braun, Senior Director, Conservation International
Image credit
Alex Mustard / Ocean Image Bank
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #355 The Real Value of Nature first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The infrastructure sector is adopting AI with enthusiasm. A new whitepaper from Bentley Systems, Pinsent Masons, Turner & Townsend, and Mott Macdonald, The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Built Environment, surveyed the sector, and found the 48% of the infrastructure companies they spoke to were trialling AI, or had already implemented it. But only one fifth had a comprehensive AI policy, more than a third had no organisational policy, and 37% had only limited project controls, or none at all.
As part of Bentley Systems Year In Infrastructure series of events, Mark Coates hosted a panel discussion on the white paper. Bringing together key members of the infrastructure sector—engineers, contractors, and lawyers—the panel discussed how infrastructure businesses can implement a project management approach to AI implementation.
In this episode, Mark Coates joins us to examine some of the risks associated with AI adoption, and particularly of ‘stealth adoption’, happening outside of organisational guardrails. The panel discussion members bring their own perspectives, explaining how AI can be used successfully now, and the organisational, data management, and contractual steps needed to ensure its safe, ethical, and efficient use across complex supply chains.
Guests
Mark Coates, vice president of infrastructure policy alignment, Bentley Systems
Yeunjin (YJ) Kim, AI technical lead, group AI, Mott MacDonald
Anne-Marie Friel, partner, infrastructure, Pinsent Masons
Guy Beaumont, director, digital lead, Turner & Townsend
Resources
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Built Environment,
Partner
Infrastructure is too big to fail, so you need AI you can trust. Bentley Systems is delivering infrastructure-ready AI across design, construction, and operations. As the partner of choice for engineering firms and owner-operators worldwide, Bentley’s software and digital twin solutions span engineering disciplines, industry sectors, and all phases of the infrastructure lifecycle, unlocking the value of data to transform project delivery and asset performance.
The post #354 AI in Infrastructure: Adoption and Guardrails first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This week, the UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, or EAC, released a report on environmental sustainability and housing growth. The UK government is striving to meet a target of building one and a half million new homes, and has raised concerns about the risk that environmental objections could delay their construction.
But, the EAC says, the UK must balance these needs. One tool to do this is the Whole Life Carbon Assessment guidelines, produced by the RICS, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In the absence of a national programme for measuring the carbon impact of construction, the EAC recommends that this tool should be adopted into the planning process.
In this episode, first aired in 2023, we talked to Simon Sturgis, lead author of the guidance, as he and his colleagues worked to produce its second edition.
Guests
Simon Sturgis, founder, Targeting Zero LLP
Matthew Collins, senior specialist, construction and infrastructure management, RICS
Resources
Simon Sturgis’s paper Redefining Zero, which helped spur debate on the carbon costs of buildings.
An earlier UK House of Commons environmental audit select committee report Building to net zero: costing carbon in construction.
The Bath University Inventory of Carbon and Energy (Bath ICE) database.
The post #353 Carbon Assessment in a Time of Housebuilding first appeared on Engineering Matters.
From blood pressure monitors and smart watches, to MRIs and step counters, many of us make tracking health metrics part of our daily routine. Armed with data, we can take steps to extend our lives. And this approach can also be used to extend the life of key components of our energy infrastructure.
The offshore wind industry is entering a period of transformation. The first stages of development are over—now wind farm owners must focus on efficiently extending the lives of their assets. In other offshore industries, this could be achieved by inspecting assets on a fixed schedule. But with thousands of turbines being built, and tens of thousands of kilometres of cables laid, the energy transition will require a transformation in maintenance and practice.
The industry must move from a reactive approach to a more efficient and proactive approach to inspection and monitoring. Fugro is steering a new course through emerging wind farms, with a fleet of low-emissions uncrewed surface vessels and remote operations vehicles. With a wealth of sensors, these can collect data on the health of every component of a wind farm. This data can be tracked over time, enabling tailored schedules of checks and interventions to be developed for each asset, reducing costs and extending their life.
Guests
Joel Ferreira, Global Solution Director for Inspection and Monitoring, Fugro
Joe McCabe, Global Solution Manager – Offshore Wind Inspection & Monitoring, Fugro
Nick Simmons, Regional Director, Uncrewed Surface Vessels and Remote Working, Fugro
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #352 Health Monitoring for Offshore Wind first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Around the world, climate change and shifting alliances are opening up new theatres of geopolitical competition. In the Arctic, Canada must be ready to patrol a new coastline; in the Pacific, Australia faces increased tension with China.
Naval defence will be a key component of these nations’ security planning. But the so-called ‘exquisite’ capabilities of modern navies—such as submarines and frigates—are often beyond the technological and supply chain capacities of any single nation. They require new global partnerships between friendly nations. And these require careful synchronisation of major engineering projects, spanning the globe.In this episode, we consider the engineering challenges of these partnerships.
In Australia, engineers are contributing to the development of a new nuclear regulator, ahead of the construction of new shipyard facilities able to safely handle nuclear powered submarines, delivered under the AUKUS deal. In Britain, we see the challenges of building new infrastructure, and recruiting new skilled workers, for the construction of these submarines and the reactors that power them. And in Canada, we learn about the challenges of building new naval bases to support patrols of newly accessible Arctic seaways.
Guests
David Eyles, defence market lead, Australia, AtkinsRéalis
David Clark, global head of defence, AtkinsRéalis
Antonella Tomaro, VP, defence, Canada, AtkinsRéalis
Samira Braund, defence lead, ADS Group
Partner
AtkinsRéalis is a world-leading professional services and project management company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. Employing over 37,000 people across Canada, the US and Latin America, the UK and Ireland, and Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, AtkinsRéalis creates sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems.
The post #351 Rough Seas and Reliable Defence Partnerships first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Dr Meganne Christian is a scientist and adventurer. In her research, she has studied the performance of novel materials including the use of nanoscale metals for hydrogen storage, and the use of graphene across a diverse range of applications. But her career has taken her far from the traditional university lab.
In 2018-2019, Meganne was a member of the over-winter research team at Concordia Base in Antarctica. Here, she managed experiments in one of Earth’s most extreme environments. The view of the stars she experienced during the weeks of polar night, inspired a new goal: to work in space.
After an 18 month selection process, in which she was one of 22,500 applicants, Meganne was chosen to take part in European Space Agency’s training programme, as reserve astronaut representing the UK Space Agency.
In this episode, Meganne shares her story, explains the many reasons why we should continue to build our presence in space, and the diverse roles that will need to be filled for this new era of space exploration. At the end of the episode, Meganne answers questions posed by a group of schoolchildren, a generation who will one day see many more of us living in space.
Guest
Dr Meganne Christian, reserve astronaut in training, UKSA/ESA
The post #350 Living in Space: The Next Generation of Astronauts first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in west London demanded new ways of thinking about professionalism and ethics in the engineering sector. However, since that awful night in 2017, which saw the loss of 72 lives, fatal incidents and near misses have continued to happen: in Genoa, in Toddbrook, in Miami, and on many more buildings and structures around the world, we have seen regular reminders of the way risks can accumulate dangerously on engineered projects.
The ICE first reviewed safety in the sector in 2018, with the release of the report In Plain Sight. This emphasised the importance of understanding the ‘Swiss Cheese Model’ of risk, and established a need for a change in the culture of engineering. In 2019, Sir Martin Moore-Bick released Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s report, looking at the events of the night of the fire. This was followed in 2024 by Phase 2 of the report, considering how the tower had reached a condition where such a loss of life could occur.
The UK government released its response to the inquiry’s recommendations. At the same time, the Institution of Civil Engineers began work on its second report on the steps the sector should take to build a culture of safety, Building Safeguards. The authors, led by Paul Sheffield, described three key changes the sector should make: a new way of considering competence; an emphasis on sharing and learning from near misses; and a new approach to ethics and professionalism. The report’s recommendations are now being put into effect by a group of engineering professionals, led by Ohis Ilalokhoin.
In this episode, Paul and Ohis join Engineering Matters to explain the recommendations in Building Safeguards, and to explain how the sector will take them forward. Next month, Engineering Matters will turn its attention to further efforts the sector is taking to ensure that those working on higher risk buildings are suitably qualified and experienced.
Guests
Ohis Ilalokhoin, trustee, ICE; engineering director, Cardinal Engineering
Paul Sheffield, lead author, Building Safeguards; past-president, ICE
The post #349 Never Again: Embedding Safety in Engineering first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In Europe, and around the world, renewable electricity generation is being built at pace. However, these sources of energy create a new challenge: they are intermittent, and will not generate power on dark, windless days.
One solution to the challenge is to install grid scale storage. If you’re building an offshore wind farm, with a view to serving distant industrial centres, megawatt- and gigawatt-scale storage may be the answer.
But much of our energy use happens in the home, or in smaller businesses. Often, with the growth of domestic solar, the power we use in our kitchens is balanced by that generated on our rooftops. As energy supply and demand is increasingly distributed, wouldn’t it make sense to also make use distributed storage?
That’s the question that Mattia Secchi of the Technical University of Denmark is trying to answer. Many of us already have plenty of battery storage available in our electric cars. But these will require the adoption of standardised bidirectional charging, and new metering and grid technology. His work, and that of his colleagues, models community-based V2G, establishing how distributed storage can bring benefits across the economy.
Guest
Mattia Secchi, Department of Wind and Energy Systems, DTU
References
Secchi, M., Macii, D., Barchi, G., & Marinelli, M. (2025). Centralised vehicle-to-grid smart charging supported by PV generation for power variance minimisation at the transformer: A user’s perspective analysis. eTransportation, 24, 100394. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ETRAN.2025.100394
Secchi, M., Zepter, J. M., & Marinelli, M. (2025). Centralised Smart EV Charging in PV-Powered Parking Lots: A Techno-Economic Analysis. Smart Cities 2025, Vol. 8, Page 112, 8(4), 112. https://doi.org/10.3390/SMARTCITIES8040112
The post #348 Modelling Distributed Energy Storage first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Last week, at the end of September 2025, a study by Regen, commissioned by the MCS Foundation, found that biomethane had a limited capacity to replace natural gas in the UK’s domestic heating. The study emphasised the importance of focusing on electricity and heat pumps to keep our homes warm.
This means that much of the UK’s gas pipeline networks may not be viable in the coming decades. However, the backbone of the network and some local distribution infrastructure does have a future.
In this episode, first aired in April 2024, we look at the development of hydrogen generation and captured carbon storage, with a focus on Teesside, in England’s industrial north east. Here, existing pipeline infrastructure is being used for a new generation of gas transport projects.
These will carry carbon dioxide and hydrogen, along with ammonia and biogas. They will enable carbon capture, local hydrogen for fuel intensive industry and transport, and for export.
Governments around the world have struggled to develop these networks. The UK’s strategy is to create clusters of carbon emitters to make use of offshore carbon storage. These can take advantage of legacy pipeline infrastructure in historic industrial regions, and bring new opportunities to struggling economies.
In this episode, we speak to pipeline and energy experts about the technical and project management challenges of building these new networks.
Guests
Laure Hughes, energy sector director, Costain
Sean Gleeson, project manager, PX
Niku Nobakhti, project manager, Costain
Ewan Brodie, consultancy and advisory manager, Costain
The post #347 The pipeline to Net Zero, revisited first appeared on Engineering Matters.
It’s a simple fact of chemistry that cement cannot be produced, without also producing carbon dioxide. But this does not mean that the sector—and its clients in the construction industry—cannot decarbonise. The equally simple solution is just to capture and store the carbon dioxide, before it can enter the atmosphere.
The challenge is how to deliver those carbon capture systems. To fully decarbonise the sector, new chemical processing facilities will need to be installed at every cement plant in the world. In Brevik, Norway, Heidelberg Materials’ first cement plant with carbon capture attached is now operational, and carbon dioxide is being loaded onto ships for storage.
The next plant to be built will be Padeswood, in Wales. Here, Heidelberg Materials UK will be capturing carbon dioxide, and piping it directly into the HyNet storage hub. This hub is one of a series of carbon storage clusters around the UK, each bringing together a number of tough-to-decarbonise industries.
This work will take considerable investment, in equipment, in construction and logistics, and in people. To fund this work, Heidelberg Materials needed to find a way to sell carbon-free cement around the world. It is doing this with a new product, evoZero, that matches locally-produced cement with reliably tracked carbon credits.
It’s an approach that is winning the support of major public sector clients, including the UK’s National Highways. The agency aims to reduce the carbon emissions from one of its largest new projects, the Lower Thames Crossing, by as much as 70%. The lessons learned from this project, and from Heidelberg Materials construction of these first carbon capture plants, will be spread throughout the supply chain, establishing a scalable part to carbon free cement.
Guests
Iain Walpole, Head of Process and Sustainability – Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage, Heidelberg Materials
Nina Cardinal, Technical Strategy Director, Heidelberg Materials
Andrew Kidd, Director of Environmental Sustainability, Lower Thames Crossing, National Highways
Partner
Heidelberg Materials is a leading supplier of heavy building materials to the construction industry, producing aggregates (crushed rock, sand and gravel), ready-mixed concrete, asphalt, cement and cement related products, and recycled materials.
Through ground-breaking innovation, Heidelberg Materials pioneering carbon capture and storage, and transforming the construction industry. By introducing the world’s first carbon captured net zero cement, evoZero, construction partners have the opportunity to build a better tomorrow.
The post #346 Scaling Carbon-Free Cement first appeared on Engineering Matters.
When launching a satellite into orbit, getting the positioning right is of paramount importance. As humanity sends more satellites into space, the vast space above our heads has become hazardously busy.
State-of-the-art positioning technology has helped to counter this problem, with existing systems able to track the location of satellites to an accuracy of metres. Now, a new approach, Fugro’s SpaceStar technology, works with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) to enhance that accuracy to a matter of centimetres.
The technology optimises safety and minimises risk in space by improving collision avoidance. But it also goes way beyond that, enhancing earth observation applications and enabling faster and more accurate positioning of satellites. It helps detect GPS spoofing, a problem that has been seen with increasing frequency over recent months.
And SpaceStar has the potential to open up whole new business opportunities for companies willing to invest and innovate. One such possibility is to establish a permanent and stable platform in orbit, where satellites can—thanks to the ability of SpaceStar to pinpoint locations—be docked to receive automated maintenance.
Guests
Simon Baksh, VP Product Development, Javad GNSS
David Barnhart, CEO and Founder, Arkisys
James Bartle, Business Development Manager, SpaceStar®, Fugro
Cyril Botteron, CEO and Founder, SpacePNT
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #345 Pinpoint Precision in Space Positioning first appeared on Engineering Matters.
When flooding happens, damage and disruption ripples out across assets and infrastructure. Private businesses and homeowners can insure themselves against direct damages to buildings. But the impacts on the local economy go much further: debris can block transport networks, causing businesses to fail and reducing tax revenues, at a time when increased local government spending is needed to finance recovery.
New approaches to public sector insurance can provide cash for debris removal and infrastructure repairs. Parametric insurance pays out within days when specific conditions—flooding depth, rainfall—are met, without the need for damage assessment.
To purchase adequate cover, and to build resilience ahead of incidents, local governments need to have a clear understanding of the risks they face. In New Jersey this spring, Fathom provided catastrophe modelling tools to Grid Advisors, who employed them within a systems engineering analysis, to understand the risk to assets owned by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
In this episode, Grid Advisors’ Rallis Kourkoulis joins Fathom’s Peter Slater and Olivia Sloan, to explain how this analysis is developed and used. Jackie Higgins, head of public sector solutions for Fathom’s parent company, Swiss:Re, in the US, describes the challenges facing local authorities, and how the insurance industry can support their resilience planning and risk assessment.
Guests
Peter Slater, account manager, engineering and the public sector, Fathom
Jackie Higgins, head of public sector solutions, North America, Swiss:Re
Rallis Kourkoulis, managing partner, Grid Advisors
Olivia Sloan, catastrophe model product manager, Fathom
Partner
Fathom gives risk management professionals the most scientifically robust intelligence to understand the climate’s effects on water risk. By publishing cutting-edge peer-reviewed academic research and applying it to real-world challenges, Fathom enables stronger decision-making for (re)insurance, civil engineering, corporate risk, financial services, disaster response and government.
The post #344 Networks Under Water: Transport, Flooding and Resilience first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented the punch card as a means of inputting control data to one of the earliest automated technologies, the weavers’ loom. A generation later, Charles Babbage used this innovation as part of his design for an ‘analytical engine’, and Ada Lovelace demonstrated how sets of instructions could be written for the engine to enable any computing task.
Almost two centuries on from Babbage and Lovelace’s invention of computing hardware and software, IT (information technology) and OT (operational technology) have evolved into parallel threads. On the production line, automation engineers use visual languages, based on electrical relays, on rugged computers, or PLCs, that lack connections to the wider internet. In the office, software developers write code using text-based languages, with sophisticated systems for deploying updates, and the ability to connect over the internet to AI powered services.
Now, the warp of IT and the weft of OT are being woven together. Software-defined automation links machinery on the production floor to IT systems, and the wider Internet. Control code can be written in text-based languages using object-oriented programming, and deployed to factories around the world at a click. Automations, human-machine interfaces, and all other aspects of control systems can be developed and tested on simulated equipment, rather than waiting for prototypes to be built.
Easy data exchange fuels efficiency and value. In this episode, we learn how automation engineers like Loupe are using a software-defined approach to speed the development of cutting edge industrial systems. We discover how a new organisation, SASE, or the Society of Automation Software Engineers, is helping define this new interwoven specialism. And we explore how one industrial automation specialist, MTS, is openly sharing open source frameworks they use to engineer their machines, allowing for industry to be transformed by the same community development approach that has driven the success of the tech sector.
Guests
David Nichols, CEO, Loupe; founder, SASE, the Society of Automation Software Engineers
Jan Bajorat, head of business line, efficient engineering, Siemens
Peter Kurhajec, CTO, MTS
Partner
Siemens Digital Industries (DI) empowers companies of all sizes in the process and discrete manufacturing industries to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformation across the entire value chain. Siemens’ cutting-edge automation and software portfolio revolutionizes the design, realisation and optimisation of products and production. And with Siemens Xcelerator – the open digital business platform – this process is made even easier, faster, and more scalable. Along with our partners and ecosystem, Siemens Digital Industries enables customers to become a sustainable digital enterprise. Siemens Digital Industries has a workforce of about 70,000 people worldwide.
The post #343 Weaving Software into Automation first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The metaverse is often thought of as an alternative virtual space, a world separate from reality where we can hang out with avatars of our friends and families, or shop at virtual stores. But the industrial metaverse ties the physical and the virtual much more closely together, with a focus that is less on photorealism, and more on using connected data to solve real world problems.
Velia Janetzky is project lead for the industrial metaverse at Siemens Electronics Factory Erlangen. Here, her team has been developing processes that marry the real and the virtual, to achieve ambitious efficiency and sustainability goals. Rather than relying on resource intensive physical methods to train robots, for example, they can now use virtual environments for the same training, cutting implementation times for automation projects.
In this episode, Velia is joined by Jon Heidorn, head of analyst relations at Siemens, and Ryan Martin, research director at ABI Research, to explain the innovations being made at the cutting edge of the industrial metaverse. We learn how factory owners can develop their own industrial metaverse strategy, by focusing on productivity gains in the real world. We discover how entire supply chains will soon be viewable through a ‘single pane of glass’, allowing improvements to be made within factories, and informed by data collected from suppliers and customers.
Guests
Velia Janetzky, project lead Industrial Metaverse, Siemens Electronics Factory Erlangen
Ryan Martin, senior research director, digital transformation and AI, ABI Research
Jon Heidorn, VP, analyst relations, Siemens Digital Industries
Partner
Siemens Digital Industries (DI) empowers companies of all sizes in the process and discrete manufacturing industries to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformation across the entire value chain. Siemens’ cutting-edge automation and software portfolio revolutionizes the design, realisation and optimisation of products and production. And with Siemens Xcelerator – the open digital business platform – this process is made even easier, faster, and more scalable. Along with our partners and ecosystem, Siemens Digital Industries enables customers to become a sustainable digital enterprise. Siemens Digital Industries has a workforce of about 70,000 people worldwide.
The post #342 Real Solutions and the Industrial Metaverse first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Alan Lusty founded adi Group, a multidisciplinary engineering business supporting major manufacturers. He is part of a group that offers engineering services in 23 sectors, with over 750 employees. But he left school at 16 without qualifications, instead pursuing an apprenticeship.
At adi Group, more than 10% of employees are apprentices: double the rate set as a target by The 5% Club apprenticeship advocacy scheme. As a Platinum member of the scheme, adi Group has a clear track record of supporting apprentices. In 2018, prime minister Theresa May and chancellor Philip Hammond visited adi Group and met some of the apprentices. In the Commons, May noted that this demonstrated the opportunities offered by apprenticeships.
But despite these successes, recruiting apprentices was a challenge. Alan’s solution was to establish a pre-apprenticeship scheme, targeting 13- and 14-year olds. As part of the scheme, children would be brought into adi each week, and introduced to engineering.
After COVID, the scheme was taken up by the King’s Norton Boys’ School. At the school, deputy headmaster Jonathan Butcher took the lead in organising entry to the scheme. He explains that it has opened up new choices and career path ways for pupils. It has also opened the eyes of parents and teachers to the real world of engineering, showing that this is a sector with real opportunities, that inspires young people’s problem solving skills.
Guests
Alan Lusty, founder and chairman, adi Group
Jon Butcher, deputy head, King’s Norton School for Boys
The post #341 Opening the Door to Engineering – Engineering Matters Awards winners first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Electrification of construction equipment is an ongoing and necessary part of the global effort to reduce carbon emissions and restrict global warming. Sixty years ago, Fugro developed the first commercial cone penetration testing equipment to run on electrical power, and today it is continuing on that journey by electrifying the machine that carries it. What is more, it is employing this battery technology onto a new state of the art machine that goes deeper than ever before to get more data about the ground beneath our feet.
This journey of innovation is not one that it has undertaken alone. Working in partnership with Dutch heavy lifting specialist Mammoet, the project benefitted from Dutch government investment to support their investigation into electrification of the CPT equipment. In this episode, we explore this new product and look ahead to how remote operations and innovations in battery technology could be incorporated in future machines.
Guests
Niek Bezuijen, global sustainability advisor, Mammoet
Femke De Jager, innovation director, Europe, Fugro
Peter Salome, engineering manager, Fugro
David Tindall, product manager for geotechnical equipment land, Fugro
References
NEN 9140 Veilig werken aan e-voertuige (Safe working on e-vehicles)
Innovation realised with Schoon en Emissieloos Bouwmaterieel (SSEB) subsidy provided by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
Engineering Matters 276: A deep understanding of the ground beneath our feet
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #340 Diving Deep into Electric Machinery first appeared on Engineering Matters.
On two major road projects in the UK work was completed on time and under budget. But not every project can claim such success. Defects, delays and cost overruns plague projects around the world.
Projects such as those at Junction 10 on the M25 London orbital motorway, and on a stretch of the A19 near Teesside in England’s north east, are inherently complex. Every change will cause ripples throughout the supply chain, and potentially impact schedules and costs. But this, AtkinsRéalis’s Kelly Burdall argues, isn’t the root cause of the problem. Instead, she explains, we should look at the contract structures used on major projects.
Traditionally, each party to a contract—designers, lead contractors, other members of the supply chain—are paid on a time and materials basis. That means that every time a clash creates more work, or a change requires more materials, the parties are paid more. This disincentivises collaboration, and can be seen as rewarding failure and discouraging investment in more efficient ways of working.
A new type of contract encourages collaboration and innovation. Integrated contracts, like those developed under National Highways delivery integrated partnership model, set goals based on outcomes: all parties to the contract are rewarded for delivering on time, without defects, and within budget. This aligns incentives, encourages investment in innovation, and can even be adopted before a project is tendered.
Guests
Joe Chastney, head of digital transformation, Balfour Beatty
Scott Shaw, client director, AtkinsRéalis
James Butler, managing director of project & programme services (PPS), AtkinsRéalis
Kelly Burdall, Programme Lead, Consulting, Strategy and Advisory, AtkinsRéalis
References
ISO 44001 Collaborative business relationship management systems
Project13 An enterprise model for infrastructure delivery
NUAR UK National Underground Asset Register
UK National Infrastructure Pipeline
Partner
AtkinsRéalis is a world-leading professional services and project management company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. Employing over 37,000 people across Canada, the US and Latin America, the UK and Ireland, and Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, AtkinsRéalis creates sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems.
The post #339 Integrated Contracts and Innovative Delivery first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Nature has long served as a blueprint for engineering breakthroughs from the kingfisher-inspired design of Japan’s Bullet Train to termite mounds that inform energy-efficient buildings. Siemens Digital Industries is taking this concept further by combining biomimicry with digital technology to tackle sustainability challenges across entire industries. Eryn Devola, Head of Sustainability at Siemens, explains how looking beyond individual components to view entire systems can reveal powerful opportunities to reduce waste, optimise processes, and rethink how we measure success.
One powerful example is Ekonoke, a company growing hops in fully controlled indoor environments. With Siemens’ support, Ekonoke scaled their production by using digital tools to simulate and refine every element of their process before building physical systems. By designing their operations to be co-located with breweries, they’re able to recycle CO₂ and wastewater, turning industrial by-products into valuable resources. Their approach demonstrates how digitalisation, circular design, and proximity-based supply chains can dramatically lower environmental footprints while improving reliability and yield.
Finland-based Spinnova shows similar potential in the textile sector, producing sustainable fibre from wood pulp and agricultural waste without harmful chemicals. Inspired by spider silk and supported by Siemens, Spinnova used digital twins to perfect both product design and factory layout. Their commitment to full traceability and renewable energy sets a high bar for transparency in manufacturing. Both Ekonoke and Spinnova prove that when companies think holistically across the full lifecycle and supply chain sustainability becomes not just an add-on, but a foundation for smarter, more resilient business.
GuestsEryn Devola, Head of Sustainability, Siemens Digital Industries
Ines Sagrario, CEO and Co-founder, Ekonoke
Juha Salmela, CTO and Co-founder, Spinnova
PartnerSiemens Digital Industries (DI) empowers companies of all sizes in the process and discrete manufacturing industries to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformation across the entire value chain. Siemens’ cutting-edge automation and software portfolio revolutionizes the design, realization and optimization of products and production. And with Siemens Xcelerator – the open digital business platform – this process is made even easier, faster, and more scalable. Along with our partners and ecosystem, Siemens Digital Industries enables customers to become a sustainable digital enterprise. Siemens Digital Industries has a workforce of about 70,000 people worldwide.
The post #338 Bio-Inspired Innovation & Systemic Sustainability first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In this episode, we spotlight the remarkable work of the Lightyear Foundation, the winner of the Engineering Matters Awards 2025 Gold Champion for Diversity and Inclusion. The foundation is the only UK charity dedicated to engaging disabled and neurodivergent young people with STEM. Chief Executive Jeff Banks and Senior Programme Manager Emma Zeale explain how...
The post #337 Breaking Barriers to STEM with Lightyear Foundation – Engineering Matters Awards winners first appeared on Engineering Matters.
At a quarry in Turkey, heavy haul trucks are carrying hundreds of tonnes of materials, with no external power. It’s not quite perpetual motion, but it is removing the need for diesel or cables on a hard working site. NUH Cement commissioned ABB to repower a 30-year-old Euclid haul truck. The truck collects loads from...
The post #336 Gravity-Powered Heavy Haul – Engineering Matters Awards winners first appeared on Engineering Matters.
LongPath Technologies has taken Nobel-winning discoveries, and applied them to a key cause of climate change: methane leaks from oil and gas facilities. The sector now turns to LongPath to establish monitoring across facilities. But as LongPath sought to scale from innovation to commercialization, it turned to Red Pitaya for a vital component. In this...
The post #335 Monitoring Methane: The Tech Behind the Tech – Engineering Matters Awards winners first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In 2016 management consultants McKinsey released a report that reverberated around the construction and engineering sectors. This sector, the report said, was consistently delivering projects late—often 20% longer to finish than expected—and over budget: by as much as 80%. The report’s authors pointed out that the tools that could resolve these delays and cost overruns,...
The post #334 Digital Construction’s Past, Present and Future first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Generative AI has swept across our society. In every app, up it pops, eager to offer a helping hand. The opportunity to talk to computer systems as if they are human, or to create memes at unprecedented speed, has great appeal for many. But is it ready to do the hard work at the heart...
The post #333 Agents of Change – AI in Industry first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Airports are at the forefront of a global transformation, rethinking their role not just as transport hubs but as sustainable, connected cities of the future. In this episode we explore how airports around the world are responding to environmental pressures, technological advancements, and increasing passenger demands. From Hong Kong’s ambitious runway reclamation to Heathrow’s efforts...
The post #332 The Future of Airports Around the World first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In the second half of the 20th Century, the world was transformed through infrastructure construction. New roads and railways, levees and power lines, delivered unprecedented comfort and convenience, and laid the foundation for an economy driven by easy transport and trade. But today, as many governments struggle with budgetary constraints and the need to balance...
The post #331 Life Extension for Infrastructure first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Helping the next generation achieve their full potential doesn’t just take commitment from their parents or carers, or from professionals like teachers. It takes, as the saying goes, a village. In Derby, nuclear engineer Katie Jarman has assembled the equivalent of a village full of volunteer maths tutors, all recruited from her employer Rolls-Royce, to...
The post #330 A Village Full of Maths Tutors – Engineering Matters Awards’ winners first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Ben Gibbons and his colleagues at Circular11 are developing ways to add value to hard-to-recycle light plastics. They take packaging, and turn it into a lumber-equivalent, suitable for long term use as post and rail fencing. But to maintain tight loops of circularity, they needed to understand the supply chain they were targeting. National Highways...
The post #329 Scaling Low Carbon Innovation – Engineering Matters Awards’ winners first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Worldwide, water is in short supply and high demand, with very real consequences for human health and security. Many countries struggle to maintain aging networks, meaning that more than 20% of clean water is lost before it reaches the customer. New industries, like data centres, are adding to demand, as they use water for cooling....
The post #328 Listening for Leaks – Engineering Matters Awards Innovation Champion, FIDO first appeared on Engineering Matters.
On the coast of rural Cumbria, in England’s northeast, a once-secretive nuclear site is transforming its legacy by investing in the engineers of tomorrow. Sellafield, known historically for producing weapons-grade plutonium and nuclear energy, has now begun the 100 year process of decommissioning. At the Sellafield Engineering & Maintenance Centre of Excellence, engineers research and...
The post #327 Nuclear Engineering for School Children – Engineering Matters Awards 2025 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The past months have seen a shift in international trade, of a scale not seen for decades. New US tariffs have created uncertainty for investors, and promise to spark a global trade war. While these new challenges to cross-border trade are unique, recent years have seen another shift in industrial policy, particularly in the UK,...
The post #326 Revisited: The Green, Green, Shores of Home first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The rise of AI and machine learning promises a revolution in how we live and work. Expert reasoning and mundane tasks will be completed for us in the cloud. But the cloud is not ethereal or abstract. It is a globe spanning mass of physical infrastructure. Enabling this transformation will demand a huge expansion in...
The post #325 Real world sustainability and the digital revolution first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This February, with the flick of a switch, there was a vast shift of power on Europe’s borders. The Baltic states’ electrical grids, built in the 1960s while these countries were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, had been under the control of Moscow. In one weekend, the transmission system operators in Latvia, Lithuania, and...
The post #324 A Shift of Power on Europe’s Borders first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Engineers from around the world gathered at the Postal Museum in London for the Engineering Matters Awards 2025, presented in partnership with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IMechE, and Engineers Without Borders UK, EWB UK. In this episode, we introduce the award gold champions. In episodes to come, we will look in more detail at...
The post #323 Engineers Deliver Impact: The Engineering Matters Awards 2025 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Seagrass meadows are the engineers of the marine ecosystem. They provide habitats, support biodiversity, prevent coastal erosion and sequester carbon dioxide. For this reason Italy has embarked upon a world leading project to map these coastal ecosystems at a national scale, enabling it to plan protection and restoration measures that will improve ocean health and...
The post #322 Engineering Ecosystems: Italy’s Seagrass Meadows first appeared on Engineering Matters.
We can reuse and retrofit buildings to extend their lifespans, and reduce their embodied carbon impact. But some structures may not be suitable for full reuse: some will have reached the end of their safe life; others will have no viable reuse; and some retrofit projects may require partial dismantling to reduce loadings on the...
The post #321 Circular Construction – Designing for Disassembly first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Quantum mechanics has transformed our understanding of reality, but how did we get here? In this episode, we celebrate the International Year of Quantum, marking 100 years since the birth of this groundbreaking field. From the fierce debates between Einstein and Bohr to the mind-bending implications of superposition and entanglement, we explore how quantum mechanics...
The post #320 International Year of Quantum: 100 Years of Quantum Mechanics first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Britain’s biodiversity has been declining sharply over the last 50 years. The country is now one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world. Despite legislation and efforts to stem the tide of wildlife population decline, little has helped. In February 2025, the UK government announced a new approach to reintroductions of beavers in England....
The post #319 Revisited: Green Engineering, with Bison first appeared on Engineering Matters.
At a unique hackathon in Manchester, a diverse group of hackers, coders, and gamers gathered to design digital solutions for the nuclear industry, blending innovation, teamwork, and pressure-driven problem-solving. The event, called HackAFuture, served as a groundbreaking careers initiative, offering the winning team not just bragging rights, but jobs with AtkinsRéalis developing their solution. This...
The post #318 Gaming Out a Career in Nuclear first appeared on Engineering Matters.
When we search for causes of accidents, we often assume a binary: either mechanical failure, or human error, were to blame, and we must pick between them. But labelling an accident as caused by human error doesn’t teach us anything. It makes no effort to understand what caused people to make the decisions they did....
The post #317 Human Factors, Human Error, and Safety by Design first appeared on Engineering Matters.
AI is evolving so fast it eludes definition. The potential impact of the field is barely understood, even by those working in it. ‘Move-fast-and-break-things’ practitioners are deploying AI systems in autonomous vehicles, in courts, in medical diagnosis, and now even at the heart of the US federal government. Few of the constraints that govern individual...
The post #316 What Can AI Engineers Learn From Medical Professionals? first appeared on Engineering Matters.
How should engineers think about their duty to design safe structures? For IStructE’s head of climate action Will Arnold, this duty extends beyond the structure, to the safety of everyone on the planet. With renewable energy cutting operational carbon emissions, the majority of the engineering sector’s impact on climate change now comes from embodied carbon....
The post #315 Renewing the World, Without Costing the Planet first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Ten years ago, Fugro set out on an ambitious mission: to bring expert staff off of vessels, and into a purpose built remote operations centre, or ROC. The first of these ROCs, in Houston, now allows specialist staff to work on multiple projects at once, giving customers the real time data and analysis they need...
The post #314 Remote Operations, To the Moon and Back first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has a 100 year history of mapping the world’s oceans. John Nyberg, technical director, explains how the organisation’s role in understanding our oceans is evolving. Now, rather than just recording ocean depths for mariners, the organisation is setting standards for how we record environmental data. In Italy, this approach is...
The post #313 Introducing: Mapping Italy’s Seagrass for Biodiversity Gain, from Planet Beyond first appeared on Engineering Matters.
What do engineers build? Often, the answer will be bridges and dams, apartment blocks and factories. But in everything they do, engineers are also helping to build communities. They are contributing to building people’s careers, and it is those jobs that are central to building a better world. In this episode, the last of four...
The post #312 Lifting Each Other Up — Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, People first appeared on Engineering Matters.
At the core of engineering and manufacturing, is the transformation of materials. A tree becomes a book. A stone is transformed into a concrete bridge, rocks into steel and glass skyscrapers. Each of these transformations are inefficient. Raw materials are lost to waste. Mechanical energy is converted into lost heat. In this inefficiency, we gradually...
The post #311 Transforming the World, and the Economy — Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, Planet, Part 3 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Across every sector, from manufacturing to transportation, energy to construction, the race toward a net zero future is reshaping how we work, produce, and consume. These industries have powered global growth for decades, but now, they must also lead the way in securing a sustainable future. The scale of the challenge is immense. Achieving a...
The post #310 Manufacturing a Brighter Future – Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, Planet, Part 2 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
What links draught excluders and nuclear reactors? Or carbon capture and methane monitoring? As we enter a generation of change, these and other ideas will be key to developing efficient, decarbonised energy, and to how we use this energy in our homes. This week, we introduce the shortlisted entries for the 2025 Engineering Matters Awards....
The post #309 A Generation of Change – Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, Planet, Part 1 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
We live in a world where data and connectivity are essential to almost everything we do. Cable and satellite connections add value to business through trade and collaboration, and enrich our personal lives with the ability to engage with friends and family around the world. Maintaining these connections is a central aim of engineers in...
The post #308 Building Bandwidth in the 1920s first appeared on Engineering Matters.
For many of us, now is a season of giving. A well chosen gift can bring lasting joy. But it’s easy to get wrong. One of the finest gifts anyone can give, is the gift of engineering. But how can engineers and designers ensure that when they share their gifts, they really meet the needs...
The post #307 Giving the Gift of Engineering first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This week, we are returning to Rothera, in the Antarctic, where, in 2021 the British Antarctic Survey had just completed work on a project it has called ‘the world’s most extreme construction site’. Pour yourself a warming drink, and enjoy the episode. We’ll be back with a new episode next week. Since the end of...
The post #306 Revisited: Building Rothera Wharf first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Nature-based solutions are emerging as vital tools to tackle the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss by leveraging nature’s inherent resilience to protect and restore ecosystems. This episode explores how innovative approaches can make these solutions mainstream and economically viable while addressing complex challenges like urban flooding, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable investment opportunities....
The post #305 Making the Case for Nature-Based Solutions first appeared on Engineering Matters.
During the last Ice Age, glaciers scored huge trenches through the land beneath the Irish Sea. Today, those valleys are filled with softer material and sit between tracts of hard rock, creating a diverse landscape that wind farm developer Codling Wind Park has had to research in painstaking detail before it can begin installing its...
The post #304 Grounded in Knowledge – Ireland’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Monitoring and maintaining an entire rail network can be costly, slow and, for those working on the track, very dangerous. Specialised trains were developed that could be mounted with sensors for collecting data on track gauging and track condition, however these couldn’t be mounted together. In this episode we look into the development of RILA...
The post #303 Gathering data at the speed of a train: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Health & Safety Gold Champion – Fugro RILA first appeared on Engineering Matters.
From habitat destruction, to use of pesticides, the arrival of invasive species and the growing impact of climate change, life, in all shapes and sizes, is fighting to survive. To protect the world’s biodiversity, first we have a better understanding of what and where that biodiversity is. In this episode we delve into iNaturalist, the...
The post #302 Conservation, Community and AI: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Community Gold Champion — iNaturalist first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In the early 1900s Sydney was transformed by its first electric lighting system, which was so bright compared to gas lamps it was hailed as “turning night into day”. The network did much more than just light up the streets. It democratised power, electrifying communities, homes and businesses for the first time. The system, designed by...
The post #301 Electrifying Sydney: Transformational Energy Systems first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Governments and businesses around the world have made commitments to achieve Net Zero by the middle of the century. This will require engineering innovation, and changes to practices, standards and regulations, across the generation, transmission, storage and transport segments. In this episode we explore these challenges and how they intersect. The IET’s Powering Net Zero...
The post #300 Bonus: Powering Net Zero first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The Thames had been for thousands of years London’s main route to the sea. But it is also an obstacle. The last crossing east of London is the bridge and tunnel at Dartford, and this is often congested. But a new crossing has been proposed further down the river. Throughout its planning, the focus has...
The post #299e Highways UK Live – A Legacy of Excellence first appeared on Engineering Matters.
National Highways has adopted clear net zero targets: its own operations will be carbon free by 2030; those of contractors on its roads by 2040; and of road users by 2050. The challenge will be meeting those goals, while also fulfilling its mission of getting drivers where they need to go, safely and efficiently. The...
The post #299d Highways UK Live – The Journey to Net Zero and Resilience first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In 2024, National Highways completely closed parts of the M25, London’s orbital motorway. This blockage in the arterial system of the UK economy wasn’t a mistake. Instead, it was an example of meticulously planned surgery, performed by experts. In the previous episode of this mini-series, recorded live at Highways UK, we saw how data is...
The post #299c Highways UK Live – Next Generation Asset Management first appeared on Engineering Matters.
As an engineer, it is easy to think of roads as a challenge to be solved. Many of the innovations we will discuss in this mini-series will have a real impact on the safety, efficiency, and environmental impact of roads. But roads should be thought of as a service, not as an end in themselves....
The post #299b Highways UK Live – Roads Reimagined first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Why should we be thinking about roads as a service, not just an engineering challenge? What does it mean for a road to be a computer wrapped in asphalt? How can we use data from cars, highway assets, and even the road itself, to plan maintenance with minimal disruption to road users? How can roads...
The post #299a Highways UK Live – The Future of Highways – Mini-series Preview first appeared on Engineering Matters.
We should all want to build workplaces where everyone feels safe and included. But how can we do that when we don’t know what everyone needs? How can we make sure that we understand our colleagues and potential recruits, and provide them with the tools they need to be welcomed, and to be successful? Engineering...
The post #298 Making Everyone Welcome in Construction: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Diversity & Inclusion Gold Champion — EKFB first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In 1985 diver Henri Cosquer discovered a submerged cave entrance in the Mediterranean near Marseilles. Exploring over the next six years he discovered a chamber filled with prehistoric art. Conditions in the caves and the submerged passages leading to it are extremely dangerous: three divers lost their lives exploring the caves. Efforts to map the...
The post #297 Revisited: A Deep Dive Into the Past first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The North Sea’s natural conditions, with shallow waters and strong winds, make it ideal for wind farms. But, these same factors pose challenges for construction. To meet ambitious Net Zero targets, improving the speed and efficiency of installing wind farm foundations is critical. At the same time, these works must be carried out safely, without...
The post #296 A Safer, Faster, Way to Build Offshore Wind first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The first stable atom to form after the Big Bang was hydrogen. Transformed into other atoms through stellar nuclear fusion, it is the foundation of all matter. Bound with other elements in water and hydrocarbons, it is the basis for all life, and the fuel of the industrial revolution. But can it also be the...
The post #295 Decision Time for the Hydrogen Economy first appeared on Engineering Matters.
On Coire Glas, in the remote Scottish Highlands, geologists and engineers are developing a vision of Scotland’s energy future. SSE Renewables plans the first pumped hydro storage facility in the UK for decades here, taking advantage of the unique and awe inspiring landscape. But first, they need to understand conditions on and in the ground. And to do that, they needed to trek to the mountaintop, bringing in all the tools they needed by hand or by helicopter.
Coire Glas is the largest hydro storage project in UK history and would be the first one to be built for 40 years. The project will have a 1500 MW capacity, enough to power 3 million homes for 24 hours, all of which can be generated at the flip of a switch. But the project is located up a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. SSE has been working on plans for Coire Glas for over a decade. Last year ground investigations began.
Jessica Smith works for SSE and is technical authority for engineering geology on the project, she explains how the remote location led to Coire Glas feeling more like an offshore project.
With access to the site so limited, David Shillitto and Balazs Rigler of Fugro had to come up with clever and innovative ways to get equipment to site and complete the necessary ground investigation, including the use of a helicopter to deliver the borehole drilling equipment.
The ground investigation team work is now complete and the data collected will be used to inform the final design. The guests all highlight the importance of collaboration and early contractor involvement in delivering the ground investigation comprehensively and efficiently despite the conditions.
Guests
Jessica Smith, senior engineering geologist, SSE Renewables
Chris Jack, technical director, COWI
Balazs Rigler, UK wireline services manager, Fugro
David Shillitto, senior project manager, Fugro
The post #294 A View of the Future from Coire Glas first appeared on Engineering Matters.
For 70% of the world’s population, doing the laundry means hours of difficult manual washing. It was this fact that led Nav Sawhney to leave his job as a design engineer at Dyson and try to come up with a way to fix this problem. After six different design iterations, Nav and his team at the Washing Machine Project had come up with the Divya, a hand crank washing machine that uses no power, 50% less water and a fraction of the time.
The machines are built from durable and easy to access materials. When they are distributed, the Washing Machine Project team teaches people how to use them. Locals learn how to maintain and repair the machines during a six month monitoring and evaluation period, helping develop new employment opportunities in the community.
The Washing Machine Project partners with local NGOs to find the people who would most benefit from owning a Divya. Over the last six years they have impacted nearly 30,000 people with their machines. They have been able to deliver these machines with the support of industry, including companies like RS Components. Innovation consultant, TV presenter, and IET vice president Yewande Akinola came to know the project through her work with RS, and describes the approach it takes to sustainable design engineering.
Nav and his team are continuing to grow and expand looking into new potential areas of innovation, like cooking or air conditioning. Organisations can find out more about how to support the project at thewashingmachineproject.org.
Guests
Navjot Sawhney, founder of The Washing Machine Project
Yewande Akinola, MBE, vice president, the Institution of Engineering and Technology
The post #293 Engineering Matters Awards: Community Champion, The Washing Machine Project first appeared on Engineering Matters.
How should local and regional leaders encourage investment in their communities? Around the world, cities struggle with a legacy of industrial decline. In England, devolution of planning policy to mayoral combined authorities has allowed for regions like Greater Manchester to outpace national growth. But within regions, local areas can themselves fall behind, and require a joined up approach to planning and investment.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford City Council, joined Tim Newns, MD for Levelling Up at the UK Department for International Trade’s Office for Investment, and Richard Robinson, president, UK & Ireland at AtkinsRéalis, at a panel discussion at UKReiif in May 2024 to consider the importance of place in planning and investment. After the event—and after the 2024 UK general election—John Rayson, MD of Northern Transformation at AtkinsRéalis, joined Engineering Matters to explain the history of devolution in England, and to consider the impact of newly proposed new devolved authorities.
In this episode, we learn from the successes of Greater Manchester and Bradford. We discover how they consider the history and needs of places within their communities, and the opportunities they present. We find out how the creation of place-based plans can spur investment, from national and international investors. And we discover how transport infrastructure within and between regions can provide the foundation for growth.
Guests
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester
Susan Hinchcliffe, Council Leader, Bradford City Council
Tim Newns, MD, Levelling Up, Office for Investment, UK Department for International Trade
Richard Robinson, President, UK and Ireland, AtkinsRéalis
John Rayson, MD for Northern Transformation, AtkinsRéalis
Partner
AtkinsRéalis is a world-leading professional services and project management company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. Employing over 37,000 people across Canada, the US and Latin America, the UK and Ireland, and Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, AtkinsRéalis creates sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems.
The post #292 Place is the Space for Growth first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Project managers have traditionally measured the viability of a project design or materials choice as a triangle, balancing cost, scope and performance. With the addition of carbon, this triangle becomes a three-sided pyramid, with four considerations each interacting with the others.
Materials suppliers and project designers now have a wealth of carbon cutting innovations available to them. They can use materials derived from plant sources, replace fossil fuels used in materials processing, and use electric vehicles for delivery. The challenge is to show clients the carbon benefits of these innovations, while continuing to be mindful of cost, scope and performance.
In this episode, we talk to two experts about the tools and methods available to assess carbon cutting innovations, and to compare them using the new project management pyramid.
Guests
Jessica Tuck, National Technical Director, UK, Tarmac
Tim Smith, Regional Technical Manager, South, Tarmac
Partner
Tarmac is the UK’s leading sustainable construction materials, road contracting and building products business. It leads in the supply of construction material comprising aggregates, asphalt, cement, lime, concrete, road contracting, building products and recycling services.
The post #291 Making the Case for Cutting Carbon first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Formula Student is Europe’s top educational motorsport competition, with students and teams from all over the world coming to compete. The competition is integrated into engineering degree courses, allowing students to take what they are learning in the classroom and lab, into the real world. It tests both engineering skills, and the project management that is vital to a professional career. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes at Silverstone, as this year’s finals took place, with over 50 teams competing across a variety of disciplines.
Chief judge Dan Jones went from competing in Formula Student, to a career in motorsports. He explains the process each team goes through on the day. But the work, he says, goes on throughout the year as they design and build their car. Jones also explains how Formula Student has played an integral role in helping him get into a career in motorsport.
We also hear from the teams themselves and explore how these engineering students tackle everything from design and manufacturing to testing and racing. From internal combustion engines, to the EV cars that now dominate the competition and even new AI cars, we hear from teams competing in all the different classes.
Guests
Naomi Rolfe, project lead Formula Student, IMECHE
Dan Jones, chief judge, Formula Student
John Dangerfield, head cost and manufacturing judge, Formula Student
Cara Fox, team principal, Queen Mary Formula Student
Prescott Campbell, team leader, Oxford Brookes Racing
Dash Gilbert, technical partnerships lead, Oxford Brookes Racing
Links
Formula Student
The post #290 Racing for Innovation: Inside Formula Student first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Lean production techniques have become common across heavy industry. They cut resource use, and promote quality assurance. They were inspired by shelf stocking techniques used in US grocery stores. But can they now be turned to the start of the grocery supply chain, farming itself? That is the goal of Engineering Matters Awards Sustainability Gold Champions, Intelligent Growth Solutions.
IGS’s vertical farming towers take components from heavy industry, and repurpose them for farming. Within a structure around the size of a two-storey house, plants and seedlings grow in trays, in precisely controlled conditions. Clever control of LEDs and other electronics, makes the towers energy efficient, and particularly suitable for use with intermittent renewable energy.
For some crops grown in warmer climates and traditionally transported by road or air, these can deliver carbon benefits in terms of reduced food miles. The towers allow crops to be grown anywhere, meaning that land currently dedicated to farming can be used for carbon sequestration and biodiversity renewal. And, by allowing tree seedlings to be grown reliably at scale, they could help boost reforestation efforts.
Guests
Colin Campbell, chief executive, The James Hutton Institute
Dave Scott, CTO, Intelligent Growth Solutions
The post #289 Engineering Matters Awards: Sustainability Champions, Intelligent Growth Solutions first appeared on Engineering Matters.
We can only efficiently reduce those things that we can measure. The Whole Life Carbon Assessment standard, produced by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), established a method for assessing the carbon impact of buildings. Its updated version, which came into effect in July, expanded its scope to include infrastructure, and was designed to be used around the world, not just in the UK.
For this comprehensive and global impact on carbon reduction efforts, the Institution was named Net Zero Gold Champion in the Engineering Matters Awards. In this episode, we learn why the standard was revised, and how it has been developed for wider use around the world.
The standard allows architects, engineers, and construction professionals to evaluate and reduce the climate impact of their work. And it provides a way to compete effectively to meet clients’ Net Zero goals.
Guests
Simon Sturgiss, lead author, Whole Life Carbon Assessment, 2nd edition; founder, Targeting Zero LLP
Mark Rogers, Head of Net Zero Carbon, Cost Management, Turner & Townsend
Amit Patel, Head of Professional Practice in Construction, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Sarah Perring, policy and strategy lead, Department for Transport
The post #288 Engineering Matters Awards: Net Zero Champion – Whole Life Carbon Assessment, 2nd edition first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The Engineers Without Borders UK People Design Challenge is a year long challenge that is part of many UK engineering students’ degrees. For this episode we went to Stoller Hall in Manchester to cover the Design Challenge final.
The design challenge each year focuses on a new community, and puts them at the centre of the project. For 23/24 the community was Pu Ngaol in Cambodia. Students received video messages and a briefing pack, and then it was up to them to design a solution to improve the lives of the community of Pu Ngaol.
From using the local river to generate power through to reusing plastic waste, there was a huge range of creative and innovative ideas, so join us as we talk to the students and judges and find out the Engineering for People Design Challenge 2024 Champion.
Links
Engineers Without Borders UK
Engineers WIthout Borders International
Design Challenge
The post #287 Engineers Without Borders: The Design Challenge first appeared on Engineering Matters.
With the launch of robot taxis, we are already seeing autonomously controlled devices operating alongside humans in the public realm. As AI improves it will become embedded in our physical environment, in factories and construction sites, and in our streets and homes.
In episode 267, we talked to Darren Martin about the importance of considering human needs when developing and deploying technological solutions. In this episode, Darren joins us to work through the implications of new machine learning and AI tools moving into the real world. These tools, Darren explains, will play a role across the work of architecture, engineering and construction firms.
Robot taxis should encourage us to rethink how we use public space, freeing us from the dominance of cars and roads. As Big Tech makes acquisitions and launches experiments in the use of AI in our cities, engineering firms are well positioned both to use these tools, and to undertake the public consultation process needed to ensure they are accepted. And, from the architect’s desk to the job site, AI will help efficiently deliver new homes that are shaped to each resident’s needs and preferences.
Guest
Darren Martin, chief digital officer, AtkinsRéalis
Partner
AtkinsRéalis is a world-leading professional services and project management company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. Employing over 37,000 people across Canada, the US and Latin America, the UK and Ireland, and Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, AtkinsRéalis creates sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems.
The post #286 AI In the Real World first appeared on Engineering Matters.
What does it take to win at the Olympics? For Pierre Engel, chief engineer at ArcelorMittal, victory took years of experience, precision, and collaboration. He was aided by kit made entirely of a novel material—low carbon recycled steel.
Pierre’s challenge shared much with those faced by Olympians. But he wasn’t skipping rope to keep himself within his weight class—he was shaving kilos from three of the Olympics’ most important symbols, in order to help deliver this years’ games with half the carbon impact of London 2012.
Pierre joins this bonus episode to explain the engineering that supports the Olympic Rings on the Eiffel Tower, and the Agitos on the Arc de Triomphe, without drilling into these world famous monuments. And, he says, the techniques and materials employed for these spectaculars could one day help slash the carbon impact of construction around the world.
Guest
Prof. Pierre Engel, chief engineer, ArcelorMittal
Photo credit: Geraldine Bruneel
The post Bonus: Engineering a Low Carbon Paris Olympics first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The UK is a global leader when it comes to the development of offshore wind energy. Despite past government bans on onshore wind development, the UK was able to continue developing its wind energy portfolio by going out to sea. The UK now generates over a quarter of its electricity from wind, with a significant portfolio of offshore wind projects amounting to 80+ gigawatts.
Despite this success offshore, continuing development is now getting more complicated. With sites selected for development being in much deeper waters the industry is transitioning from fixed to floating foundations. And deployment of offshore wind will need to grow exponentially, not just in the UK and North Sea, but around the world, in order to meet Net Zero targets.
Industry experts like James Faroppa from Fugro, Emily Summers from Simply Blue Group, Daniel Gumsley from Marsh and Amy Beeston from DNV share insights on the intricacies of developing offshore floating wind farms. They highlight the importance of collecting accurate seabed data, the certification process, and the evolving insurance landscape.
The transition to floating wind farms necessitates a shift in traditional methods, requiring innovative approaches to data collection and certification to meet ambitious net zero goals. Collaborative efforts and standardisation across the industry are crucial to overcoming these challenges and accelerating project timelines. The Crown Estate’s proactive approach to seabed planning and data provision aims to streamline the development process, while industry stakeholders emphasise the importance of collaboration, data sharing, and innovation to achieve sustainable and efficient offshore wind energy production.
Guests
James Faroppa, service line director marine geoconsulting in Europe and Africa, Fugro
Amy Beeston, geotechnical engineer, DNV
Emily Summers, project development engineer, Simply Blue Group
Daniel Gumsley, offshore wind strategic lead, Marsh
Will Apps, director of offshore wind strategy, The Crown Estate.
The post #285 Delivering the Floating Offshore Wind Revolution first appeared on Engineering Matters.
When the Queensway Tunnel opened on 18th July 1934 King George V declared it a miracle. At 3.4km long and with a 13.4m internal diameter it was the world’s longest subaqueous tunnel and the largest municipal engineering project that had ever been undertaken in the UK. The project pushed the boundaries of engineering design and construction from its use of advanced grouting techniques to development of a mechanical erector for placing the cast iron segments that lined the tunnel.
“I thank all those who have achieved this miracle. I praise the imagination that foresaw, the minds that planned, the skill that fashioned, the will that drove, and the strong arms that endeavoured in the bringing of this work to completion.”
King George V, 18th July 1934
Guests
Colin Dever, technical services manager, Merseytravel, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
Ray Langley, divisional director – north west, Mott MacDonald
Guna Rajadurai, account director utility tunnels, Mott MacDonald
Alison Smith, leisure and attractions officer, Merseytravel
Andy Thompson, tunnel design manager – east coast, Mott MacDonald
Partner
Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy focussed on improving society by considering social outcomes and relentlessly focussing on excellence and digital innovation. Its predecessor firm Mott, Hay and Anderson designed the Queensway Tunnel.
The post #284 Queensway Tunnel: The Miracle Under the Mersey first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In every home, ancient technologies lurk, threatening fire and ruin. While many devices—lights, TVs, and hard drives, for example—have adopted solid state technologies, power bricks still use ageing electromechanical systems.
AmberSemi’s AC Direct DC Enabler is a fabless semiconductor system that replaces these bricks. At home, that means smaller, safer ways of connecting DC devices to AC main power. But the technology could also benefit industrial users and data centres. In factories, low power controls and high power motors can now be safely managed from one connection; in data centres, cascading circuit failures can be predicted and prevented before they happen.
AmberSemi’s innovations have met with an enthusiastic response from semiconductor companies and electrical manufacturers. It promises to transform power systems and controls, across residential, commercial, digital and industrial applications. And, working with partners including ST Micro and Nordic Semiconductor, it is bringing its solid state ideas into commercial reality.
Guests
Thar Casey, CEO, AmberSemi
Rob Halligan, CMO, AmberSemi
Chris Casey, EVP, operations and business development
The post #283 Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero champion AmberSemi first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Can an ancient technology help spin up the renewables revolution? Dumarey—formerly Punch—Flybrid is doing just that, with its flywheel-based technology. In this episode, one of a series this summer, we look at their winning entries to the Engineering Matters Awards.
On construction sites, power supply must be shaped around the peak demands of heavy equipment. Waiting times for high power connections typically mean that generators are used instead, and these must be sized for the maximum power drawn. Dumarey’s flywheels can remove this need. A trickle of power from a generator a tenth of the size, or even a standard grid supply, can be enough keep a flywheel spinning, and able to hit peaks when needed.
Flywheels also have a role to play at the other end of the electricity grid. On wind farms in Northern Ireland, software company Izon and maintenance business Everun are using flywheels on older turbines to meet tight power factor requirements from local network operator Northern Ireland Electricity Networks, and to smooth supply as winds rise and fall.
Guests
Tobias Knichel, managing director, Dumarey Flybrid
Aaron Devaney, CEO, Izon
The post #282 Engineering Matters Awards: Dumarey first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The adventures of astronauts have inspired the dreams of many young people. But once those dreams collide with the reality of years of demanding training and study, they often fade. Today, space is about much more than high profile crewed missions. In the UK alone, tens of thousands of workers will be needed by the space industry.
In this episode, part of a series on Engineering Matters Awards winners, we speak to Diversity and Inclusion Champions the UK Space Agency, and learn how their Space for Everyone tour has helped demonstrate the real opportunities available in space, and the wide range of skills the country will need.
The tour saw a full size, 72ft (21m) replica of the first rocket to launch from the UK, crossing the country. It visited towns and cities without an existing link to the sector, and was part of a fuller programme of online and in person engagement, helping to show young people that their space dreams could become real, and the many paths they could take to join the sector.
GuestsMatthew Archer, director of launch, UK Space Agency
Simon Foster, outreach manager, faculty of natural sciences, Imperial College London
Image credit: UK Space Agency
The post #281: Engineering Matters Awards: Inclusion champion—Space for Everyone first appeared on Engineering Matters.
We delve into the critical role of the built environment in addressing the climate emergency, and how our Engineering Matters Awards Net Zero champion the Built Environment Carbon Database (BECD) is helping decarbonise the industry. Created by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS), the BECD is a comprehensive initiative to collect and share data on carbon emissions from construction projects. With contributions from various professional bodies and industry experts like James Fiske of BCIS and Fabrizio Varriale from RICS, the episode explores the database’s development, purpose, and the importance of transparent carbon data sharing.
The BECD consists of two key databases: the asset level database and the material database. The asset database helps developers benchmark carbon emissions of projects like buildings and bridges throughout their lifecycle, from construction to operation and maintenance. The material database aims to provide comprehensive coverage of materials used in construction, facilitating more accurate whole life carbon assessments. Experts Orlando Gibbons from Arup and James Fiske highlight the significance of consistent and transparent carbon reporting in driving the industry towards lower emissions and better practices.
Despite the BECD’s potential, the episode underscores the need for government support and regulation to maximize its impact. Initiatives like the proposed Part Z regulation, which would mandate carbon calculations for construction projects, are crucial for creating a competitive and accountable landscape. The collaborative efforts of industry bodies and the development of standards like the UK net zero carbon building standard are pivotal in achieving decarbonization goals. The BECD was a gold winner at the Engineering Matters 2024 awards. Entry for next year’s awards is now open.
Guests
James Fiske, CEO, BCIS
Orlando Gibbons, Embodied Carbon Specialist, Arup
Fabrizio Varriale, Place and Space analyst, RICS
The post #280 Engineering Matters Awards: Net Zero Champion BCIS Built Environment Carbon Database first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The concept of intersection has given society a new way to understand identity. It has profound implications for how we understand ourselves and others in our workplaces. For engineers, it can inform how projects are designed, and how they meet the needs of diverse users.
The concept was developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw, and draws on her analysis of a 1970s discrimination claim brought by Emma DeGraffenreid. DeGraffenreid’s potential employer had successfully defended the claim, by pointing out that it was not racist—it employed Black men in production—and was not sexist—it employed white women in administration. But as a Black woman, DeGraffenreid was discriminated against due to the intersection of these two aspects of her identity.
Crenshaw’s work seeks to inform the justice system. But her insight that discrimination can be shaped by multiple facets of our complex identities, has much wider implications. In this episode, we consider what this view of identity means for engineering workplaces, and the work engineers deliver.
Guests
Claire Sarafilovic, director, project and programme services, AtkinsRéalis
Rebecca Crowther, ED&I lead for the UK and Ireland, AtkinsRéalis
Adam Lawrence, associate acoustician, AtkinsRéalis; chair, HSP Support Group
References
Kimberlé Crenshaw TED talk on The urgency of intersectionality
Partner
AtkinsRéalis is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies. Employing over 18,000 people across the UK, North America, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, AtkinsRéalis uses the latest technology to deliver major capital projects, and provide expert consultancy for clients across the energy, transportation and infrastructure sectors.
The post #279 Intersection, Identity, and Engineering first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Around the world, 8% of CO2 emissions come from the production of concrete, and 90% of those emissions come from the production of cement. This episode highlights the groundbreaking work of Engineering Matters Awards Gold Champion Seratech, a company pioneering the use of carbon capture technology in concrete production.
Their innovative process uses the abundant mineral olivine to capture CO2 during cement production, resulting in byproducts such as silica and magnesium carbonate. These byproducts not only reduce the carbon emissions of concrete but also serve as valuable materials for construction, making this approach a potential game-changer for the industry.
Seratech materials are still in the early stage of development, however the future potential of Seratech’s technology and its impact on the construction industry’s carbon emissions could revolutionise the construction industry.
Seratech received the Gold Innovation Champion Awards at the 2024 Engineering Matters Awards, and Silver Champion in the Net Zero category. Entries for next year’s awards are now open.
Links
Engineering Matters Awards
Guests
Michael Cook, Chairman, Seratech
Tanya De Hoog, President, the Institution of Structural Engineers
David Watson, Technical Director, AKT ll
The post #278 Engineering Matters Awards: Innovation Gold Champion Seratech’s Carbon Capture Concrete first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The race to hit Net Zero targets will require an unprecedented surge in innovation. As Dame Laura Sandys, CBE, explains, energy systems will be reshaped, with a few hundred players in the market replaced by millions of actions and assets in a distributed system. These will necessitate not just physical changes to how we generate, use, store and distribute energy, but a new digitalisation that allows for an effective market to function.
But this is just one aspect of the complex web of innovation that will be needed. In this episode, we learn about the challenges of decarbonising at pace from exhibitors and speakers at the Innovation Zero conference in London.
There is no shortage of ideas for tools that will help us reach Net Zero. The challenge for innovators is to fund the rapid scaling up of these ideas, and to understand the needs of potential customers. And those customers—governments, asset owners, engineering firms—must find ways to spot the best ideas, and to direct their investment wisely.
Guests
Dame Laura Sandys, CBE, chair, UK government Energy Digitalisation Taskforce, non-executive director SGN, SSE Transmission, Highview Power, Energy Systems Catapult.
Jonathan Holyoak, Global Engineering Net Zero Programme Director, AtkinsRéalis
Stuart McLaren, Global Director – Net Zero Innovation and Decarbonomics Co-Founder, AtkinsRéalis
Exhibition interviewees
Hermione Crease, co-founder, Purrmetrix
Manuel Sanabria, project manager, SatVu
Benjamin Todd, PR liaison, UnDo
References
Partner
AtkinsRéalis is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies. Employing over 18,000 people across the UK, North America, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, AtkinsRéalis uses the latest technology to deliver major capital projects, and provide expert consultancy for clients across the energy, transportation and infrastructure sectors.
The post #277 The Race to Net Zero – Innovation at Pace first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Cone Penetration Testing is a conceptually simple technology first developed in the Netherlands almost a century ago, but is still a critical component in the geotechnical toolkit. Now far more accurate and capable than early cones, modern equivalents are being deployed to solve some of the most pressing challenges, within the Dutch lowlands and far overseas.
In recent years a surge in research and development has transformed the traditional cone and equipped it with a range of new capabilities. New testing techniques can now be used to understand the infiltration of water into aquifers. In the Netherlands, these have been used to understand the stability of dikes and levees, with lessons learned that can be applied around the world to more efficiently build these structures. And insights from the marine sector now allow for more automated penetration testing, reducing risks associated with manual insertion of the rods used to push cones deep into the ground.
Guests
Edward Russell, Senior Principal Engineering Geologist, Mott MacDonald
Gerry Sinjorgo, Manager Transducer Workshop, Fugro
Barbara Snacken, Senior Consultant Hydrology, Fugro
David Tindall, Global Product Owner – Geotechnical Equipment, Fugro
Resources
For the much-referenced paper, The Causes and Mechanisms of Historical Dike Failures in the Netherlands, click here
For a paper on the need to integrate flood and drought disaster reduction strategies, click here
For a blog from TU Delft on the effect of rising sea levels on the Low Countries, click here
For ISO 22476-5:2023 Geotechnical investigation and testing, click here
For a video on the Deep Drive system, click here
Partner
Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from Geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #276 A Deep Understanding of the Ground Beneath Our Feet first appeared on Engineering Matters.
For any military operation the objectives of the mission are absolutely paramount. Failure is not an option. The team is motivated to achieve a common goal, often working under extreme pressure, pulling together to overcome challenges, paying attention to detail and always prioritising the objectives of the mission. In this way veterans have a lot to offer construction and infrastructure projects.
In this podcast we explore how veterans are using their military skills in new ways from serving their country to serving communities. We find that their experience of working in a dynamic and demanding environment enables a very unique understanding of the objectives of a major project and a skills set that is primed for successful delivery.
Guests
John Buck, program manager, Mott MacDonald
Jan Koslowski, director operating capital projects and work equipment, Metro North Railroad (MNR)
Heather “M” McCrae, structural engineer, Mott MacDonald
Frank Townsend, president, Patriot Shotcrete
Partner
Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy focussed on improving society by considering social outcomes and relentlessly focussing on excellence and digital innovation.
The post #275 Serving Countries to Serving Communities first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Dar es Salaam is one of the world’s fastest growing cities. In the 1970s, it was home to less than one million people. Today, it has a population of more than five million people, and by 2035 it is projected to have more than 13 million residents.
The city sits on a natural harbour, the Zanzibar channel, and is crossed by a series of short rivers and tributaries. These supported the population, and helped build its position as one of Africa’s most important ports. But as climate change takes effect they bring risks: of flood, and of disease. And, like other cities, Dar es Salaam also faces intolerable heat, with the urban heat island effect adding to global temperature rises.
As the Tanzanian government starts a second tranche of development in the city, with the support of the World Bank, it wanted to consider the impact of using more nature-based engineering techniques. In this episode, we learn how engineers from Arup made use of flood mapping from Fathom, as they calculated the impact of urban greening on the city.
Guests
Caroline Ray, regional director, East Africa, Arup
Gavin Lewis, head of engineering markets, Fathom
Dr Natalie Lord, principal climate scientist, Fathom
Anthony Cooper, hydraulic modeller, Fathom
Partner
Fathom gives risk management professionals the most scientifically robust intelligence to understand the climate’s effects on water risk. By publishing cutting-edge peer-reviewed academic research and applying it to real-world challenges, Fathom enables stronger decision-making for (re)insurance, civil engineering, corporate risk, financial services, disaster response and government.
The post #274 Seeing the Future of a City first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In this episode, we delve into the dynamic world of Power Electronics, Machines, and Drives (PEMD), exploring its pivotal role in shaping the future of energy systems and sustainability efforts.
PEMD technology plays a critical role in advancing electrification and decarbonisation efforts worldwide. With PEMD technology enabling the integration of renewable energy sources, improving energy conversion efficiency, and driving advancements in electric mobility, the industry is poised to play a pivotal role in shaping a more sustainable energy future.
But creating an industry from diverse sectors that include academics, government organisations and the commercial side of the industry, requires commitment and vision. Conferences like PEMD 2024 are crucial platforms for fostering collaboration, sharing knowledge, and driving innovation within the PEMD community. The conference, organised by the IET, will shed light on the diverse range of topics, from integrated motor drives to advanced control techniques for high-frequency power electronics, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of PEMD research.
Guests
Daisy Deng, NUAcT Fellow in Electrical Power Research Group, Newcastle University
Jon King, Midlands regional lead, DER-IC.
Nigel Jakeman, engineering and business development director, Turbo Power System
Partner
The Institution of Engineering and Technology inspires, informs and influences the global engineering community to engineer a better world. As a diverse home across engineering and technology, the IET shares knowledge that helps make better sense of the world in order to solve the challenges that matter. PEMD 2024 takes place at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham, from June 10–13 2024.
The post #273 The Core Technologies of a New Power System first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In late 1973 the UK’s Central Electricity Generating Board gained parliamentary approval to build the largest and most difficult pumped storage hydroelectric power station in its history. It was the largest civil engineering contract ever awarded by the government and became the biggest construction project in Europe. Engineering teams had to burrow 750m deep into the Cambrian slate of Elidir Fawr mountain at Dinorwig, North Wales to create the underground power station and a 16km labyrinth of tunnels up to 10.5m in diameter linking upper and lower reservoirs.
It’s scale and complexity pushed the limits of design and construction with engineers developing state of the art practices for rock reinforcement and concrete design and pioneering new construction methods. As the station celebrates 40 years of operation and looks ahead to a bright future as a battery for renewable energy, we speak with the people that planned, designed and constructed electric mountain hearing stories that have never been told before.
Guests
Kin Almond, supervising civil engineer, James Williamson & Partners
John Armstrong, station manager Dinorwig and Ffestiniog, First Hydro
James Arthur – senior engineer, James Williamson & Partners
John Cowie – associate, James Williamson & Partners
Chris Roberts, commissioning engineer, Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB)
Dyfrig Roberts – assistant engineer, James Williamson & Partners
Robin Thomas – civil engineering technician, James Williamson & Partners
Ian Waite – project surveyor, James Williamson & Partners
Musical recording of “Tydi a Roddaist” used with the permission of the Caernarfon male voice choir who performed in the excavated machine hall in 1979.
Partner
Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy focussed on improving society by considering social outcomes and relentlessly focussing on excellence and digital innovation. James Williamson & Partners became part of Mott MacDonald in 1990.
The post #272 Designing Dinorwig: Inside Electric Mountain first appeared on Engineering Matters.
On the receiving end of among of the worst natural disasters in modern history, while being blessed with some of the most abundant natural resource reserves, and a developed economy, Australia sits in a unique position with regards to climate change.
Many eyes are on the country as it looks to maintain the grid resilience of its traditional coal-fuelled economy, while undertaking one of the most dramatic shifts to renewables in the developed world.
The southern continent walks an uncharted path, with enormous challenges, but with every advantage. A realistic route to renewable energy is possible if it embraces established technology.
Guests
Vinod Batta, Global Lead for Hydro and Pumped Hydro, AtkinsRéalis
Tom Hasker, CEO – Australia and New Zealand, AtkinsRéalis
Sebastien Mousseau, Global Lead for Power and Renewables, AtkinsRéalis
Resources
For the WWF Australia report, Restoring habitat for fire-impacted species’ across degraded Australian landscapes, click here
For the International Energy Agency’s review of Australia’s climate policies, click here
Partner
AtkinsRéalis is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies. Employing over 18,000 people across the UK, North America, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, AtkinsRéalis uses the latest technology to deliver major capital projects, and provide expert consultancy for clients across the energy, transportation and infrastructure sectors.
The post #271 Pumped Storage: Australia tackles Intermittency first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In the UK, over a quarter of a million kilometers of road have been laid. From motorways and A-roads to small country lanes, every kilometer of construction comes with a big carbon cost, emitting up to 2,600 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per kilometer.
Over the last decade investment into new material technology and machinery has produced an array of tools for the road construction industry to use which can reduce carbon emissions. We’ve previously explored some of these individual innovations, such as warm mix asphalt and the UK’s first ever eMixer.
However, decarbonising road construction can’t be achieved with one or two innovations, it requires careful planning and commitment to decarbonisation, every step of the way. Carbon emissions are found at every stage of the process, from quarries to asphalt plants, to the road construction site, and the transport in between.
In 2023 Stockton-on-Tees council and Hartlepool council, together with Tarmac completed three ambitious road projects. With help from across the supply chain, they aimed to reduce the carbon emissions at every stage as much as possible. By electrifying quarry equipment, using Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as a fuel source and using groundbreaking material technology, together these efforts reduced their carbon emissions by 84%. Now, Tarmac is joining forces with National Highways to take that blueprint for low carbon roads across the strategic road network.
Guests
Chris Wright, general manager of paving in the Northeast of England and Scotland, Tarmac
Stephen Elderkin, director of environmental sustainability, National Highways.
Partner
Tarmac is the UK’s leading sustainable construction materials, road contracting and building products business. It leads in the supply of construction material comprising aggregates, asphalt, cement, lime, concrete, road contracting, building products and recycling services.
The post #270 A Blueprint for Low Carbon Roads first appeared on Engineering Matters.
It will be just as important to upgrade pipeline networks for the energy transition, as it is the electric grid. These will carry carbon dioxide and hydrogen, along with ammonia and biogas. They will enable carbon capture, local hydrogen for fuel intensive industry and transport, and for export.
Governments around the world have struggled to develop these networks. The UK’s strategy is to create clusters of carbon emitters to make use of offshore carbon storage. These can take advantage of legacy pipeline infrastructure in historic industrial regions, and bring new opportunities to struggling economies.
In this episode, we speak to pipeline and energy experts about the technical and project management challenges of building these new networks.
Guests
Laura Hughes, energy sector director, Costain
Sean Gleeson, project manager, PX
Niku Nobakhti, project manager, Costain
Ewan Brodie, consultancy and advisory manager, Costain
The post #269 The Pipeline to Net Zero first appeared on Engineering Matters.
HS2 is one of the most complex and challenging railway scheme the UK has ever undertaken. As such, it has been generating vast amounts of data across the board. Every geological survey, every design, every site, every environmental survey, all generating more and more data.
So with all this data, what do you do with it?
The final episode of the Learning Legacy Podcast looks at how HS2 has been using their data to build more detailed models, advance approaches to work and better equipment that can provide greater insights into the world of construction engineering.
Featuring:
- Roberto Alberola – TYPSA, Head of BIM and Digital
- Peter Ruff – SCS, Head of BIM
- Jonny Neville – Mott Macdonald, Engineering Geologist and Information Manager
- Idarousse Mouhtar – BBV, Senior Materials Engineer
- Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE – Social Entrepreneur and Computer Scientist
Roberto and Peter dive into the creation of a digital version of the project using Building Information Modelling (BIM) and ensuring there is a single point of truth so all designers and contractors along the length of the project are on the same page.
Jonny and Idarousse talk through the process of earthworks excavation by using a new 3D GeoBIM model which allows for more advanced ground investigation surveys. Further pushing the importance of the planning process before putting a spade in the ground.
Dr Anne-Marie closes out the series with an extract from her speech given at HS2’s Learning Legacy Live event. Highlighting having a growing mindset, experimenting along with learning from our actions and asking “how” we do things.
“Recognise and use that influence you are owning, up to something you are able to share, you are re-sharing and building based on the lesson that’s come from someone else. There’s something magical actually in being able to do that.” – Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon
To find out more about HS2’s Learning Legacy Programme, click the link below
Homepage – HS2 Learning Legacy
Papers Featured in this episode
Towards a Digital Blueprint: data, technology and collaboration at the core of HS2 – HS2 Learning Legacy
Driving efficiency and sustainability in material reuse through GeoBIM – HS2 Learning Legacy
The post Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 5: How to Swim in a Sea of Data first appeared on Engineering Matters.
HS2 is focused not only on safety, but on overall health and wellbeing on all employees and contractors. Identifying long term risks to wellbeing is a challenge within any industry. It’s a particular problem on construction sites, where people often move between projects and sites.
Episode 4 dives into some of the innovations and technology being implemented across the project. From monitoring site workers exposure to Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome, to understanding the approach in place at BBV to ensure teams are establishing an inclusive and safe culture for all employees.
Featuring:
- Fiona King – HS2, Head of Occupational Health and Wellbeing
- Timothy Callow – EKFB, SHW Advisor
- Alison Crawley – EKFB, Head of Occupational Health
- Bill Strachan – EKFB, Health Safety and Wellbeing Manager
- Chloe Chand – Diversifying Group, Lead Diversity and Inclusion Trainer (Former BBV, EDI Partner)
- Ben Hickman – BBV, EDI Partner
Fiona outlines the importance of occupational health. Monitoring a workers’ health from the design stages onwards allows teams to take action against signs of long-term health issues at the earliest moment.
Tim, Alison and Bill explain the journey of improving the problem of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome of workers putting together a concrete batching plant, and the use of a React Tech vibration monitor device allowing managers to rethink their approach on the job.
Chloe and Ben walk us through BBV’s approach to ensure an equal and inclusive environment is achieved. From the 4 Golden Rules to ensuring any lack of understanding or awareness is addressed in a civil and respectful way. Inclusion of all when monitoring health and safety is critical to help continue to push the industry.
“The concept of Learning Legacy is understanding what legacy you want to have or be known as, but also the whole point about learning is it’s continuous. We’re always learning.”
– Ben Hickman
To find out more about HS2’s Learning Legacy Programme, click the link below
Homepage – HS2 Learning Legacy
Papers Featured in this episode
Control of hand and arm vibrations on HS2 and beyond – HS2 Learning Legacy
Safe at Heart: establishing an inclusive and safe culture for our employees – HS2 Learning Legacy
The post Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 4: Being Safe and Inclusive Every Step of the Way first appeared on Engineering Matters.
HS2’s place within the current climate and environment has always been its top priority. Once operational, the British-built bullet trains will provide zero-carbon journeys between the UK’s two largest cities, Birmingham and London.
Episode 3 explores how HS2’s railway assets have been designed from the start with climate change resilience in mind, as well as utilising waste clay from tunnelling, and how it can be transformed into low carbon concrete.
Featuring:
- Kay Hughes – HS2 Design Director
- Alison Walker – HS2 Climate Change Manager
- Dr Rachel Allison – HS2 Climate Change Specialist
- Nick Podevyn – Align Innovation Manager
- Athina Papakosta – SCS Sustainability and Carbon Lead
- Dr Fragkoulis Kanavaris – ARUP Concrete Materials Lead
- Apostolos Tsoumelekas – SCS Materials Engineer
- Tom Burr-Hersey – HS2 Senior Environmental Manager
Kay sets the scene with how the project is being delivered with the future in mind, achieving sustainability from as early as the design stage and maintaining it through strong communication.
Alison and Rachel take us through all things climate when it comes to construction of the project. ‘The 4R’s of resilience’, the planning towards weather conditions by using multiple climate models, and how much climate adaption is front and centre from design all the way through to operation.
Nick focuses on the construction of the Colne Valley Viaduct with Align’s giant launch girder. Combating issues with wind, rain and heat to ensure the construction schedule isn’t affected and the use of MetSwift weather models.
Athina, Fragkoulis, Apostolos and Tom dive into the reuse of London Clay to reducing climate impact by cutting transport emissions related to removing the material. The possibility of excavated London Clay being turned into local concrete, it could also reduce the embodied carbon emissions.
‘l think a project of this scale has so many different aspects and things that need to be thought about. And I think as Allison said, it was no one person can do all of this. So having it all set out, make sure that it is considered and it doesn’t get lost in the scale of the project.’
– Dr Rachel Allison
To find out more about HS2’s Learning Legacy Programme, click the link below
Homepage – HS2 Learning Legacy
Papers featured in this epsiode
Delivering a climate change resilient railway – HS2 Learning Legacy
Transformation of London clay into construction resources: Supplementary cementitious material and lightweight aggregate – HS2 Learning Legacy
The post Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 3: Reducing and Reusing first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Design not only encapsulates the creativity and innovation of new products, but is the main source of information for construction to take place.
Episode 2 of the Learning Legacy Podcast takes a look at the design stages of stations and tunnel portals and encapsulating the importance of finding new methods of work and finding the opportunity to answer questions when there isn’t much existing research out there.
Featuring:
- Giles Thomas – HS2 Integration Director
- Kim Quazi – ARUP Lead Architect
- Fernando Ruiz-Barberan – ARUP Building Envelope Team Associate
- José Marquez Santoyo – ARUP Architecture Lead
- William George – Jacobs Senior Engineer
- Darren Carter – Jacobs Senior Associate Director
- Lee Canning – Jacobs Senior Associate Director
Giles describes his role in connecting the teams creating 140-miles of track, 4 state-of-the art stations, two depots and 32 miles of tunnel together, and what HS2 has taken on board from London 2012 and Crossrail to make its Learning Legacy programme most beneficial for the industry.
Kim, Fernando and José take a deep dive into the new Interchange Station, and how cloud-based data sharing allowed for a new way of sharing revisions for major infrastructures gave a new meaning to ‘going back to the drawing board’.
William, Darren and Lee talk through the design process for the largest porous portal in the UK and documenting the challenges and collaboration with external experts in a paper will give other designers a head start when new tunnel portals are built.
“It is really important to tell the world the extraordinary things that are happening. Not only in our project, but throughout the line and the thousands of people who are working on the project. And they’ve all been given the opportunity to innovate and drive things forward.”
– Kim Quazi
To find out more about HS2’s Learning Legacy Programme, click the link below
Homepage – HS2 Learning Legacy
Papers Featured in this episode
HS2 Interchange Station – Innovative Roof Design: An exemplary project on Integrated Design Team collaboration and the use of advanced Digital Workflows – HS2 Learning Legacy
Design of Chiltern Tunnel South Portal – HS2 Learning Legacy
The post Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 2: The Blueprint and the Real Thing first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The concept of the Learning Legacy programme has been around for longer than you might think. Starting at London 2012, collating and sharing knowledge, innovation, good practice and lessons learned from major projects has developed in a number of ways to get to where we currently reside.
In this first episode we’ll take a look back at other major projects and their approach to knowledge sharing, and we’ll explore how HS2 has gone about creating the most comprehensive Learning Legacy programme of any major UK project to date.
Featuring:
- Bridget Badoe McQuick – HS2, Learning Legacy Manager
- Karen Elson – Co Cre8, Learning Legacy Manager
- Simon Bennett – Crossrail International, Associate Director for stakeholder engagement and Learning Legacy
- Andy Murray – Major Project Association, Executive Director
- Clive Roberts – University of Birmingham, Professor of Railway Systems
- Martin Sherlock – National Highways Knowledge Management Lead
Bridget gives an overview of HS2’s Learning Legacy programme and its open challenges.
Karen takes us back to London 2012 with the start of Learning Legacy and the journey of the programmes over the years that brought us to where we are now.
Simon and Andy describe the setup of Crossrail’s Learning Legacy and the MPA’s Knowledge Hub. Their collective experience and support made each programme better than the previous and to have it all in one place within the Knowledge Hub.
Clive and Martin give their thoughts on the importance of HS2’s Learning Legacy Programme for the wider industry.
“Obviously, the main focus of any big major project is to deliver that project. But the legacy is important as well, because that is what shifts the industry on. It’s what we learn from.”
– Clive Roberts
To find out more about HS2’s Learning Legacy Programme, click the link below
Homepage – HS2 Learning Legacy
The post Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 1: Building a Learning Legacy first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Timekeeping has been a pursuit fraught with challenges throughout history. From ancient sundials to mechanical clocks, humanity has continuously sought methods to measure time with greater accuracy. Technology has given us new ways to measure time, but also demands more accurate synchronisation.
Time synchronisation stands as a linchpin in modern technology, ensuring coherence and accuracy across systems and applications. From financial transactions to global communication networks, synchronised time is indispensable. The advent of global communication networks and the need for precise coordination across vast distances amplified the importance of accurate timekeeping.
When GPS timekeeping emerged it was immensely valuable. However it was not without its challenges. One notable issue is the vulnerability to signal interference or jamming, which can disrupt the transmission of timing signals from satellites to receivers. This interference can result from both natural phenomena, such as solar flares, and intentional malicious activities.
Amidst these challenges, Fugro’s AtomiChron® emerges as a revolutionary solution, representing a leap in timekeeping precision. By harnessing the inherent stability of atomic physics, AtomiChron® offers unparalleled accuracy, surpassing the limitations of traditional clock mechanisms. In a world where nanoseconds can make a difference, AtomiChron® stands as a testament to humanity’s relentless pursuit of precision.
Guests
Roel de Vries, business development manager, Fugro
Ahmad Byagowi, research scientist, Meta & project lead, Time Appliance project
Harold Hauglin, head of timekeeping, Justervesenet
Heiko Gerstung, managing director, Meinberg
Partner
Fugro
The post #268 Mastering Time: The Challenge of Time Synchronisation first appeared on Engineering Matters.
With the launch of ChatGPT, the power of generative AI has captured public attention. Systems like this can not only work through millions of options, like earlier chess-playing supercomputers, but develop original ideas that might not occur to humans, used to working within proven traditional approaches. New techniques of advanced information processing like this, promise...
The post #267 AI and Humanity, with Darren Martin first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Cities around the world face a housing crisis. In countries like the UK, local authorities struggle to finance projects and to find space for development. In faster growing and younger cities, it can be a challenge to ensure services and infrastructure are developed at the same pace as new housing. Urban development requires a clear...
The post #266 Building Communities Together first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Sixty years ago a civil engineer called John Bartlett of Mott, Hay & Anderson had a revolutionary idea. He noticed that bentonite clay could be used in a slurry to stabilise the face of tunnels during excavation. This could prevent non-cohesive, water bearing soils from collapsing inwards making excavation safer and cheaper. The first...
The post #265 Tunnelling Innovation: Inventing the Bentonite Shield first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Social Value is a term that has been used to mean the additional benefits a company can provide to wider society beyond their business as usual. In the built environment, where infrastructure projects can already lead to negative consequences for local communities, considering how a company or project can provide real opportunities and benefits to...
The post #264 Finding Career Pathways into Social Value first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Digitalisation is changing every part of the economy. Modern mobile cranes have been developed based on some of the most fundamental concepts in engineering, many of which were first described by Archimedes. But here too, advances in sensors, computing power, and data transfer have been transformational. What can this meeting of modern and ancient tell...
The post #263 The Tipping Point first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #262 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 3 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #261 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 2 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #260 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 1 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #259 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 3 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #258 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 2 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #257 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 1 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #256 The Engineering Matters Awards – Environment first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #255 The Engineering Matters Awards – Sustainability, part 2 first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #254 The Engineering Matters Awards – Sustainability first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #253 The Engineering Matters Awards – Community first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #252 The Engineering Matters Awards – Health and Safety first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...
The post #251 The Engineering Matters Awards – Diversity and Inclusion first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The use of “The Observational Method” could be one of the best kept secrets of the engineering world. Time and time again it has been used to deliver world leading projects safely and cost effectively. In some cases it has been the only way forward when other methods have failed. The powerful methodology has been...
The post #250 The Observational Method – Engineering’s Best Kept Secret first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The modern world is bound together with cables. As our economy moves to the cloud, the vast majority of data traffic passes through subsea cables. As we transition to renewable energy, hundreds of kilometres of cabling are needed within each wind farm, and to connect wind farms to the shore. When the first cables were...
The post #249 The Cables That Bind Our World Together first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Are there really bodies buried in the Hoover Dam? Was the hard hat really invented here in 1931? And why was it originally called Boulder Dam? In this episode, first aired in 2019, we explore and uncover the secrets of one of the greatest engineering projects ever built. The unique and formidable Hoover Dam. Learn...
The post #248 Revisited: Secrets of the Hoover Dam first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In this podcast we go back in time to the invention of cathodic protection 200 years ago by President of the Royal Society Sir Humphry Davy. Initially applied to ships and pipelines, Mott MacDonald has spent decades pioneering its use on civil infrastructure designing systems for bridges and buildings around the world. This innovative thinking...
The post #247 Saving Structures with Cathodic Protection first appeared on Engineering Matters.
From tireless assembly lines in bustling factories to the delicate precision of diamond cutting, robots are transforming industries by becoming superhuman coworkers. But what if we shrunk these tireless partners down to the size of a grain of rice? Enter the realm of microrobots, where the boundaries of automation shrink to the scale of a...
The post #246 Tiny Robots, Big Moves: The Basics of Microrobot Actuation first appeared on Engineering Matters.
What would it mean to be able to look at a bag of concrete, and see its embodied carbon? That’s the goal of the new benchmark rating scheme for concrete, developed by the UK Low Carbon Concrete Group. It will allow suppliers, contractors and developers to consider the carbon footprint of projects, alongside cost and...
The post #245 Transparent Concrete first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Post the industrial revolution the UK’s waterways became very polluted, but the last 30 years have seen a massive turnaround in the UK’s water quality. Since the pandemic wild swimming has had a boom in popularity, with the UK’s beaches, lakes and rivers becoming popular destinations for being in nature and going for a dip....
The post #244 Water Quality: Navigating Challenges in UK’s Wild Waters first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Virtual Reality has been steadily growing in the gaming market over the past few years, but now it could be about to change not how people play but how they work. From the imaginative realms of science fiction to the cutting-edge developments of the 21st century, we explore the roots of VR, paying homage to...
The post #243 Virtual Reality: A New Vision for Construction first appeared on Engineering Matters.
It can seem, at times, as if we are drowning in a sea of waste, a great ocean of paper and tin, glass and plastic, all mixed together, and resistant to recycling and re-use. AMP Robotics build systems that cut through this complexity. Trained using millions upon millions of images, their robots can identify, pick,...
The post SHORT: Recycling, Without Waste first appeared on Engineering Matters.
It is vital that we limit the impact of climate change, through decarbonisation. But communities around the world are already experiencing harm, through floods, wildfires, and other climate-related catastrophes. We must also address these harms, mitigating them through increased resilience. Building better resilience cannot be left just to the state, or private sector industries like...
The post #242 Partnerships and Resilience first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Across the ocean there is an intricate relationship between human activity and marine biodiversity. The energy transition means a huge increase in the number of offshore wind turbines. As our oceans become increasingly intertwined with human activities, marine life faces an evolving challenge. Extensive monitoring of biodiversity takes place during the pre-construction and construction phase,...
The post #241 Wind, Waves and Wildlife: Navigating Biodiversity in Offshore Wind first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The West Kentish Town Estate provides more than 300 flats to social housing tenants. Built in the 1960s, using a panel building system, it has provided generations of Londoners an affordable home, close to the heart of one of the world’s biggest cities. But today, it is not meeting the needs of local families. Homes...
The post #240 Saving Homes, Saving the Planet first appeared on Engineering Matters.
This week, we’re bringing you a guest episode from the Planet Beyond podcast. In this episode, Planet Beyond host Jon Baston-Pitt talks to Resilience Association vice chair Peter Power, about how organisations in the public and private sectors can develop a ‘resilience mindset’. We live in a world of unparalleled complexity and risk. The structure...
The post #239 The resilience mindset, on Planet Beyond first appeared on Engineering Matters.
For the last three summers, shire horses have been at work each Lammas Day, mowing the new wildflower meadow on the former lawn of King’s College, Cambridge. The meadow isn’t just a quaint call back to East Anglia’s past, but gives a glimpse of the future, as new regulations come into force that require measurable...
The post #238 A Greener More Pleasant Land first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Katie Kelleher, is a trailblazer in the construction industry. Her incredible story, from a career in recruitment to becoming a crane operator, defies gender stereotypes and highlights the importance of determination in breaking new ground. In this episode we hear Katie’s experiences working on high-risk construction projects, including the Thames Tideway and Crossail. She shares...
The post #237 Climbing the Ladder to Gender Equality first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a renowned professional organization at the forefront of advancing engineering and technology. The IET plays a pivotal role in fostering innovation, knowledge sharing, and networking within the engineering community, making it a cornerstone institution for professionals dedicated to shaping the future of technology. Becoming an IET fellow...
The post SHORT: Junade Ali – The Youngest Fellow at the IET first appeared on Engineering Matters.
RAAC, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, enabled a boom in public building in post-war Britain. It allowed schools, hospitals and other services to be built safely and efficiently, giving working Britons services they had long been excluded from. It, and other manufactured building materials, formed the basis of what are now known as Modern Methods...
The post #236 RAAC: The Misunderstood Material? first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Hidden in the mountainous peaks of Snowdonia’s National Park is a clean source of energy storage that has been supporting the UK’s electricity grid since it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1963. Ffestiniog was the UK’s first ever pumped storage hydropower project and it remains a critical part of today’s energy system....
The post #235 Ffestiniog: 60 Years of Pioneering Storage first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Around the world, engineers, project owners, and policymakers must make hard choices as they work to ensure our infrastructure is fit for the future. They must consider how climate change will impact those assets, and how those assets will help or hinder the energy transition. This week, with the UK’s political conference season in full...
The post Introducing: Connected Places first appeared on Engineering Matters.
For more than a century, the UK’s Rolls-Royce have designed power systems for cars and planes, ships and submarines. Today, they are developing a novel form of nuclear reactor, which will bring reliable power to the Moon, and green energy to some of the world’s furthest frontiers. The microreactors they are developing are tiny: terrestrial...
The post #234 Microreactors: From the Moon, to the ends of the Earth first appeared on Engineering Matters.
The Dawlish sea wall, a historic and iconic structure, has long served as a critical link connecting South Devon and Cornwall to the rest of the UK. Its rich history and importance in facilitating transportation have made it a symbol of resilience. However, after a storm in 2014 the wall collapsed and left the train...
The post #233 Rebuilding the Dawlish Sea Wall first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Many organisations undervalue the role young employees can play, one in five UK employers outright refuse to hire from the 22-25 age group. However young employees can offer a different way of looking at problems and with an emerging skill gap across STEM industries, employing and training young people gives companies a chance to mould...
The post #232 Future of Technology and Engineering first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Governments and businesses around the world have made commitments to achieve Net Zero by the middle of the century. This will require engineering innovation, and changes to practices, standards and regulations, across the generation, transmission, storage and transport segments. In this episode we explore the challenges and how they intersect. The IET’s Powering Net Zero...
The post #231 Powering Net Zero first appeared on Engineering Matters.
In our increasingly complex and interconnected world, wars are fought not only on the battlefield, but within the infrastructure that supports our society. To address these challenges, engineers must adopt a ‘secure by design’ approach that identifies risks from the outset. Just as cyberattacks extend threats to a new digital domain, so too is climate...
The post #230 National Security’s New Frontlines first appeared on Engineering Matters.
Ever since the first computer chip was created the size of transistors on chips has been getting smaller and smaller. Gordon Moore, who went on to co-found Intel, predicted the doubling of number of transistors on a chip would double every two years, over the last 60 years this has been true but only thanks to some incredible technological breakthroughs.
In 2018 the most advanced chip making machine was made available for mass production by Dutch company ASML. The machine uses EUV (extreme ultraviolet light) to etch transistors just 1 nanometre wide. Many companies within the semiconductor industry have spent the last 30 years trying to crack this technology but ASML is the only company to ever do so.
In this episode we find out how ASML, despite only being founded in 1985, have become Europe’s largest tech company and the process they went through developing their EUV machine and how it works.
Guests
Christophe Fouquet, ASML Board Member
For consumers, and for many businesses, the road to Net Zero is simple: replace fossil fuels with electricity, source the electricity from renewable sources, and use it as efficiently as possible, But this isn’t a road every business can follow. Some have energy requirements so intense, that they cannot be easily powered from the grid....
The De Havilland Beaver is a single pilot, seven passenger piston airplane that’s an icon of Canadian aviation. It has been out of production for over 50 years but is still a popular plane for short flights to Canada’s most remote areas. The De Havilland Beaver now finds itself on the cutting edge of aviation....
What can an engineer or town planner learn from a computer game Viking? In this episode, we look at how one design team is using real time simulations, or gaming engines, to develop accessible ways of communicating engineering proposal to the public. Games such as Valheim challenge players to survive in a world of richly...
Saudi Arabia has set out on a journey. This historic land is today home to a young country: a quarter of the population are under 15; more than 40% are younger than 25; and 90% are under 55 years old. The country aims to build a diversified economy that will provide new opportunities for this...
Power companies like National Grid Electricity Distribution, have used helicopters to monitor power lines for decades. Once, an inspector would check each component visually from the helicopter. Today, they are backed up by a data specialist, who manages the acquisition of LIDAR and other data. The ability of these companies to acquire detailed data over...
The operations and maintenance (O&M) sector has changed significantly since the inception of the 3P, or public private partnership, model in the 1990s. Once, these contracts merely assigned O&M responsibilities. Today, clients want suppliers to help them implement specific social and environmental values. This is changing the way O&M contractors work. They must collaborate closely...
In episode #221, Engineering Matters looked at a new way of manufacturing feedstocks for plastics. This approach will eliminate the use for oil products, instead making use of plant-based materials, which will also help remove carbon from the atmosphere. But eliminating the use of finite oil resources is only one part of the circular economy....
The world consumes 4.25 billion tonnes of oil every year. Over half of the oil drilled out of the ground goes towards transport, but the entire sector is moving to decarbonise. However even if the transport sector no longer requires oil, many industries across the economy will still be reliant on extracting fossil fuels. In...
Buildings and the construction industry account for 39% of global carbon emissions: 28% from materials and operational emissions, and 11% from construction operations. One of the main sources of those emissions during building works, is the use of diesel generators to power heavy equipment, such as tower cranes. But this equipment only needs high levels...
Can engineers help to build peace? Can the solutions engineers develop in places of conflict, contribute to the development of low carbon? They can. And Engineering Matters listeners can help with this important work. Over the past decade, many of Syria’s urban areas have been ravaged by aerial bombardment and shelling by artillery. It is...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. From jobs and skills to Learning Legacy case studies, the HS2 project continues to provide good practice, innovation and lessons learned. HS2 isn’t just about building a new piece of infrastructure,...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. With any project, health and safety plays an important role. From working at height to operating heavy machinery, there is always a risk towards the health and wellbeing of workers, and...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. Climate change presents unprecedented challenges; the actions we take today will fundamentally affect our lives and the lives of future generations. How we travel – and how we build our infrastructure...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. In this episode, we explore how it all fits together – how we integrate our rail systems. Rail travel has come a long way over the years. Now, with advances in...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. This episode of the HS2 podcast series is all about the journey, and the destination. Stations sit at the heart of any railway system. They receive passenger flows from the railway...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. This episode of the HS2 podcast series goes back above ground to explore the design and construction of bridges, with a specific focus on HS2’s iconic Colne Valley Viaduct. Good infrastructure...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. The latest instalment of HS2’s podcast delves into the fascinating world of tunnelling. As Phase One of the railway winds its way from Birmingham to London, it passes through an ever-changing landscape....
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. We are always looking towards new methods and technologies to help us work smarter, safer and more efficiently. Construction and engineering is no different. This episode of How to build a...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. As the largest single environmental project in the UK, protecting and enhancing the environment has always been an integral part of the HS2 programme. Since 2009, every metre of the design has been carefully considered in navigating sites of natural significance. Episode four, ‘Creating the Green Corridor’, explores our endeavours to protect, replace and...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. Over 250 miles of new high speed railway is planned, with trains capable of speeds up to 225mph (360km/h), and linking the biggest cities in Scotland with Manchester, Birmingham and London....
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. This episode, ‘Unearthing History’, explores everything archaeology. HS2’s archaeology programme is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that will allow us to reveal over 10,000 years of British history. As Europe’s biggest dig, HS2’s...
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. This episode focusses on why HS2 is needed, the historical context of our country’s railways, project progress so far and upcoming goals. Guests Starting back in the 1830’s, Bob sets the...
Engineering Matters is celebrating its fifth anniversary this week. Podcast founders Bernadette Ballantyne and Jon Young, along with the rest of the Engineering Matters team, tell the story of the show’s creation and rapid growth, and share a behind-the-scenes look at how some of our favourite and most popular episodes have been put together. Engineering...
More and more of the economy is being powered by the grid and that trend will continue over the next few decades. At the same time countries are looking to reduce their reliance on coal and gas and use more renewables like solar and wind. Managing the transition to a green grid will require extensive...
The next decade will see an unprecedented level of offshore energy construction. In order to achieve the 2035 emissions targets adopted by many governments, the offshore industry will need to build thousands of turbines. Each of these must be secured by appropriate foundations and anchors, often in unmapped areas of the seabed, much deeper than those that have been used before.
Achieving the pace of construction needed will strain a sector with some hard limits on its capacity. New surveying vessels, and more expert surveyors, would take years to build or train. Instead, new tools and techniques are needed that can each contribute to cutting construction and surveying time.
In this episode, we will learn about some of the physical and digital tools that are being used by wind farm developers to speed up their work. These include a new drilling system, similar to a tunnel boring machine, that can be used to efficiently prepare the seabed for foundations; vision technology, which can help ensure work is conducted with precision; and new digital platforms that can help project stakeholders make sense of the massive amount of historical and near real time data they hold of sites and gain early insights, anywhere, anytime, on land and at sea.
Guests
Peter Richards, Designer and Chief Engineer, Fugro
Sjoerd Butter, Product Owner, Vision Technologies, Fugro
Jason Smith, Global Director, Geo-Data Analysis & Geoconsulting, Fugro
Kathryn Rovang, Senior Geoscientist and Global Product Owner VirGeo, Fugro
Partner
Fugro
Waste is an integral part of the circular economy. It is, in many cases, simply a resource that is in the wrong place. But it can also be a nuisance, an eyesore or even a risk to health. In the UK, new regulations, and changes to ways some waste handling is allowed to take place, will both open up opportunities, and impose new liabilities.
The industry still makes heavy use of paper waste transfer notices. These limit the ability of regulators to spot waste crime, and of industry participants to ensure that their obligations are being met. A new digital waste tracking system, currently under development, will make enforcement easier, and improve the sector’s ability to identify profitable opportunities for re-use and recycling.
At the same time, some of the exemptions used to allow waste operations without a permit are being removed. And, the Environment Agency has taken a tough approach to enforcement, successfully holding directors personally liable for waste crime in court.
In this episode, we learn more about these changes, and the steps companies should take—even if they don’t think of themselves as being in the waste business—to make sure that they are ready for a new way of tracking waste.
Guests
Sharon Palmer, head of environment – assurance, The Clancy Group
Craig Burman, partner, Schofield Sweeney
Jessica Morgan Smith, principal consultant, MPG
Hannah Haeffner, national recycling and recovery manager, Tarmac
Partner
Tarmac
When a major public infrastructure project is announced often a brand new organisation is set up that is tasked with delivering the project. These organisations can be very small and not have the experience delivering a major project that only a few people have.
In the past organisations like these have hired a programme or project manager, who takes over the delivery of the project. However this model cuts out the owner organisation from making key decisions on the project’s delivery. Now a new model for megaprojects delivery is emerging. One that has successfully delivered major projects across Europe and focuses on collaboration between the client and delivery organisation.
In this episode we hear from three experienced project managers about the new delivery partner model that has been used on major projects like the London 2012 Olympics, Crossrail and HS2.
Guests
Peter Zuk, project executive, Atkins
Richard Robinson, CEO of Atkins in UK and Europe
Kurt Goddard, head of rail and transit, Atkins US
Just over a week ago, SpaceX successfully launched one of the largest rockets ever, a key step in humanity’s journey beyond the earth. While the rocket underwent a ‘rapid unplanned disassembly’ shortly after launch, it gave the company’s engineers a wealth of data for future launches.
The same company also owns the world’s largest constellation of more than 4,000 satellites, StarLink. Constellations like this have great potential. StarLink will provide internet service in the parts of the world that other telecommunication services just don’t reach, and has shown its worth in war-ravaged Ukraine. Other constellations address a range of commercial, academic, and defence applications.
But these two ways of exploring and exploiting space are in tension. Without proper tracking, we face the risk that collisions between small satellites will create a chain reaction, surrounding our planet with an impenetrable cloud of debris.
That is the doomsday scenario predicted by NASA scientist Donald Kessler in 1978. But new technologies are being developed that enable companies and agencies to know precisely where their assets are in real time. Not only protecting against collisions, but improving outcomes and enabling new applications for Earth monitoring.
So this week, we have delved into the archive to find you an episode of Engineering Matters, that addresses this problem: How can we make the most use of space, without trapping ourselves on Earth?
Guests
Ane Aanesland, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ThrustMe
Mark Heine, Chief Executive Officer, Fugro
Javier Tegedor, Global Navigation Satellite System Scientist, Fugro
Pieter van Duijn, Chief Technology Officer, Loft Orbital
Tyler Jones, Senior Advisor – National Infrastructure, Norwegian Space Agency
Partner
This episode is produced in partnership with Fugro. Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from Geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The brewing industry has become a testing ground for the energy transition. Many drinkers want to drink responsibly: not just to protect their own health, but the health of the planet.
Brewers large and small are taking innovative approaches to their energy use. In Samlesbury, AB InBev has started working with Protium, who will fund, build, and operate a green hydrogen facility that will provide renewable energy, heat for brewing operations, and fuel for their distribution vehicles.
Hepworth & Co, a much smaller brewery, based in Horsham, has been taking an incremental approach, using solar panel, and careful recovery of heat from its systems, to cut its use of fuel oil. And the company is now looking to use methane, produced on site in a containerised anaerobic digestor, to replace some of its fuel use. The next step for the brewery will be to store heat produced over the weekend, and use it in its small batch brewing through the week.
One day, brewing consultant Tim O’Rourke says, brewers may be able to source agricultural raw materials from farmers who use techniques that actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, meaning that every pint drinkers enjoy, will help heal the planet.
Guests
Tim O’Rourke – The Brilliant Beer Company
Andy Hepworth – Hepworth & Co
Chris Jackson – Protium
Britains biodiversity has been declining sharply over the last 50 years. We are now one of the most nature depleted nations in the world. Despite legislation and efforts to stem the tide of wildlife population decline, nothing has worked.
Some Wildlife Trusts and organisations now support a more nature based approach to wildlife and land management. Rewilding is the process of helping nature return to its natural state and one of the best ways of doing that is by letting big animals do the job of wildlife managers.
In Kent, in the Summer of 2022, a family of European Bison, the first to roam wildly in the UK for thousands of years, were released into the Blean Woods. The hope is as they move through the woods, they will interact with the environment around them creating better, more livable habitats for the entire ecosystem.
It’s also not just Bison, across the UK species that once lived here are being returned to see if they can play a role in managing and improving this island’s depleted wildlife.
Guests
Paul Hadaway, Kent Wildlife Trust
Sara King, Rewilding Manager, Rewilding Britain
Resources
For more on the Bison reintroduction project, click here
For more on Rewilding Britain, click here
Last week the UK government announced plan to ban the sale of wet wipes to deal with the problem of fatbergs in sewers. This week we’re rerunning an episode from 2019 where we venture down into the sewer system to see the largest fatberg in Europe.
Underneath cities all over the UK subterranean mountains of calcified fat are gathering in our sewers as fat, oil and grease stick to baby wipes and harden to form a blubbery bacterial blockage. Removing them is dangerous, manual work, putting people and the infrastructure itself at risk. Special projects manager Andy Howard, who is clearing Europe’s biggest fatberg in Blackfriars, London with Lanes Group, explains that removing a fatberg is not necessarily the end of the story. Unless people change their habits, fatbergs will come back. At Whitechapel, in east London they have already witnessed the return of the fatberg.
Hear Andy describe in detail how fatbergs are hacked, drilled and dug out as well as describe a new phenomenon plaguing the sewers – concretebergs.
GUEST
Andy Howard, special projects manager, Lanes Group
A new report from Lanes shows that public awareness of fatbergs is increasing with 77 percent of people knowing what they. However 85 percent of people had never heard of concretebergs! Full survey here.
SPECIAL THANKS
Lanes Group
Thames Water
Water UK
In a world of complex supply chains, how can owners secure their assets against risks like climate change and disease lockdowns? By using the concept of resilience, owners can form strategic asset management plans, which balance the level of service required, against the cost of that service, while paying attention to all the risks faced: both by the asset itself, and by the supply chains it is part of.
In this episode, Shiv Iyer and Donna Huey explore how asset management experts can help owners methodically break down each of the risks they face. This approach can be used to bring together large groups of stakeholders, to understand how assets connect to the world around them. These can be modelled over decades, using simulation software from Atkins.
Owners can use resilience to inform their decisions about the location and design of new assets. It can also allow them to update their existing maintenance programmes to respond to new and changing risks, And it can help them win the confidence of insurers and bond ratings agencies.
Guests
Donna Huey, chief digital officer, SVP, Atkins US
Shiv Iyer, technical director, asset management, Atkins US
The first edition of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment, published in 2017, is a professional statement that establishes a methodology for calculating the carbon cost of buildings, and now infrastructure, from construction, through use, to end-of-life.
The guidelines already allow users to make finely tuned carbon cost/benefit calculations. For example, do the energy savings of added insulation justify the embodied carbon cost of the insulating material? Or, has a building truly reached the end of its life, or could it be more efficiently re-used or retrofitted? If it cannot, can any carbon costs be saved through salvaging materials?
The professional statement is now being revised, and a public consultation is taking place until 18 April 2023. In this episode, Simon Sturgis, who has led the development of the guidance, explains its origins, and the ideas behind it, and the RICS’s Matthew Collins explains how it is being used, and why it is being revised.
Guests
Simon Sturgis, founder, Targeting Zero LLP
Matthew Collins, senior specialist, construction and infrastructure management, RICS
Resources
Simon Sturgis’s paper Redefining Zero, which helped spur debate on the carbon costs of buildings.
The UK House of Commons environmental audit select committee report Building to net zero: costing carbon in construction.
The Bath University Inventory of Carbon and Energy (Bath ICE) database.
For 50 years the North Sea has been critical to European energy. Technology and skills developed over decades enabled the extraction of oil and gas in some of the most extreme and hazardous conditions on the planet.
As the world transitions away from oil and gas, the North Sea will again be a critical source of energy. In time it will play host to thousands of wind turbines, generating unlimited clean power.
The UK is targeting 50GW of offshore wind power by 2030. To realise this dream, and future growth, will mean drawing on the experience of the offshore drilling and production industry, as well as new technologies and approaches, as energy companies look to site and maintain more assets than anyone had ever imagined.
From anchors styled like spider legs to inspection robots mimicking octopuses; design, technology and robotics advances will be continue the North Sea’s tradition as the offshore energy sector’s incubator.
This episode was recorded live in Edinburgh.
Guests
James Faroppa, Director, Marine Geoconsultancy Europe and Africa, Fugro
Pawel Michalak, Global Innovation Director, Fugro
Laura Aldren, Digital and Data Manager, Total Energies
Yvan Petillot, Professor of Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles, Heriot Watt University
Francesco Giorgio-Serchi, Institute for Integrated Micro and Nano Systems, University of Edinburgh
The Swedish city of Gothenburg is celebrating its 400 year anniversary in 2023 and as part of the celebrations the city is undergoing a construction boom. For much of the city’s 400 year history, major construction projects have been very limited by the wet and weak ground conditions beneath the city.
This means that Gothenburg, unlike most comparable European cities, doesn’t have an underground metro network or any skyscrapers.
But now thanks to new innovation in construction, particularly in the ground shoring sector, digging deep underground and building up to the sky, can take place on Gothenburg’s weak clay.
This is the story of how Gothenburg is building its first underground metro line and Scandinavia’s tallest skyscraper, when only a few years ago these projects may have been impossible.
Guests
Sam Oldroyd, European sales manager, Groundforce
Richard Dawson, Senior Operations Manager at Groundforce
Olaf Buerger, Project Manager, NCC
In recent decades, companies have moved manufacturing to countries offering low cost labour. Today, as they aim for Next Zero, they must also consider their carbon footprint. And that is almost impossible to do if raw materials are sourced from around the world, from countries with highly emitting energy systems and poor record keeping.
Sam Turner, Net Zero champion for the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult, proposes a new approach: not offshoring, but ‘greenshoring’. The strategy would see countries competing not just on their ability to supply cheap labour and materials, but on their ability to reduce carbon emissions and other environmental harms.
It’s an approach that has been adopted by Frog Bikes, a manufacturer based in the UK’s Bike Valley, a regional cluster of businesses that aims to develop bicycle manufacturing in the country.
But the company has struggled to find the data it needs to prove its ability to compete in terms of carbon costs. Doing this will require the development of new carbon accounting tools, and of standards that allow them to be validated.
Guests
Katherine Bennett, CEO, High Value Manufacturing Catapult
Sam Turner, Net Zero champion, High Value Manufacturing Catapult
Russ Hall, Chief engineer – Net Zero, High Value Manufacturing Catapult
Shelley Lawson, director, Frog Bikes
Jerry Lawson, chief frog, Frog Bikes
How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line.
The podcast series features industry experts and special guests giving their unique insight on a whole range of topics including tunnelling, archaeology, ecology, architecture, building bridges, innovation, and rail systems. Each episode will focus on a different aspect of our story so far, from archaeology to enabling works, the main civils works underway and much more.
Across the series, Engineering Presenter Fran Scott, known for her explosive demonstrations on CBBC’s Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom and Channel4’s Lego Masters, will lead listeners on a journey covering every aspect of Europe’s largest infrastructure project.
The podcast series will feature insight into how the project is progressing, including huge feats of engineering such as tunnels, brand new stations, depots, viaducts and bridges.
Episode One: “The What and the Why of HS2” explores why HS2 is needed, the progress so far and upcoming goals. It features HS2 Ltd’s CEO Mark Thurston, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, HS2’s former Chief Engineer Andrew McNaughton and National Railway Museum Associate Curator Bob Gwynne.
Globally, the aviation industry accounts for 2.5% of all carbon emissions, but its warming impact may be even larger with the other gases and particulates emit at altitudes.
Industry wide, from manufactures to airlines and even airports are all looking at how to bring in a new age of green plane technology, whether it’s a hydrogen fuel cell, battery electric or some other sustainable fuel.
However, for airports, the arrival of a green plane does not mean they will have decarbonised their own operations. Airports will have to find their own ways of reducing their carbon emissions while also helping accommodate new flying technology.
Atkins’ Decarbonomics programme is being brought to airport to help identify the areas responsible for the most carbon emissions and creating a roadmap towards net zero.
Guests
Justin Jones, Global Aviation Market Lead, SNC Lavalin
Isabelle Smith, Director of Engineering Net Zero, SNC Lavalin
Resources
For more on Decarbonomics and Engineering Net Zero, click here
In light of the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, this we are revisting the story of Nooraullah Kuchai. Noorullah is a civil engineer, a humanitarian and a refugee twice over. He lived in a tent in a Pakistani refugee camp for a decade and is now dedicating his life to helping people who have been displaced by war like he was. And the challenge is enormous. More people are being displaced by conflict and disaster than ever before. Today 71 million people around the world are in need of shelter, either as refugees having crossed borders to get to safety, or by becoming homeless inside their own countries. And in most cases these people will not get to go home for years, sometimes even decades. New approaches are therefore needed to ensure that shelter is sustainable, durable and socially beneficial for displaced people and the communities that host them. To enable this, collaboration is needed between humanitarians, local governments, academia and technical professionals to bring together those that manage disaster on the ground, and people who are developing better shelter. We head to the UK Shelter Forum in London to find out more about how this knowledge gap is closing.
Partner
Mott MacDonald
Guests
Dima Albadra, Research Associate, University of Bath
Tom Corsellis, Executive Director, Shelter Centre
Jamie Johnston, Head of Global Systems, Bryden Wood
Anne Kerr, Global Head of Cities, Mott Macdonald
Nooroola Kuchai, PhD Candidate, University of Bath
Dr Francis Moran, Research Associate, University of Bath
Brett Moore, Head of Shelter and Settlements, UNHCR
Ana Ruiton, Façade Engineer, Mott MacDonald
Jake Zarins, Associate Director Disaster Risk Reduction, Habitat for Humanity
Resources
UK Shelter Forum website
Healthy Housing for the Displaced project
Engineering Hope
What do we do after a structure fails? Often, we go to court. Courts cannot make bereaved families, or those injured, whole. They cannot repair damaged structures. But they can go some way to making right some of the harms suffered.
Forensic engineers, or building pathologists, are often called on to offer expert witness testimony in these cases. James Cohen has studied many building failures. With Arup, he wrote a report that analysed the complex causes of a multiple fatality tower crane collapse in New York.
Reports like this can help engineers, policymakers, and regulators, understand and learn from failures. But, Cohen says, building pathologist’s insights are often hidden, rather than shared. He calls on forensic engineers to act as truth tellers, not just advocates for their client’s interests. He says we should share insights not just from failures, but on near misses. And, he thinks more contracts should be structured so that parties share an interest in a project’s success or failure.
Guest
James Cohen
In 2019 Tarmac announced their Innovation Challenge, for companies to propose new technologies to help Tarmac decarbonise. Over the next three years in partnership with Renault Trucks and TVS Interfleet they developed the first electric concrete mixer to be used in the UK.
Through the process of designing and building a first of its kind mixer, they discovered massive inefficiencies in existing diesel mixers and made a cleaner and far more efficient mixer than any diesel mixers that came before.
Guests
Graham Waters, Director of Logistics, Tarmac
Ben Garner, Senior Logistics Manager, Tarmac
Andrew Scott, Head of Electric Mobility and Product Development, Renault Trucks
Vito Ronzano, Industrial Design Director, TVS Interfleet
Resources
For more on Tarmac’s eMixer, click here
Robots are increasingly able to take on any repeatable task in industry, and are used in many dull, dirty or dangerous tasks. But their deployment for highly variable tasks remains limited. They are now being used in nuclear decommissioning, to sort, cut, and repack waste storage skips. And this could serve as a testing ground for their use to handle other complex and variable streams of materials.
At Sellafield, one of the most complex nuclear decommissioning sites in the world, Atkins have helped develop systems that can identify the best way to cut contaminated storage skips, which have been stored in pools over decades of nuclear power generation and fuel reprocessing.
The company is also developing robotic systems that can allow staff to perform work in laboratory glove boxes—or isolators—without being exposed to risk. These developments come as the sector faces a growing labour shortage, explored in the recent Atkins/SNC-Lavalin report Digital in Nuclear: Our vision for 2035, and will help ease these pressures, while speeding up the decommissioning process.
Guests
Christian Pilon, head of robotics, SNC-Lavalin
Robert Marwood, technical director, robotics and technology, Atkins
How can we maintain reliable power through the energy transition, while still making significant cuts to energy emissions? Carbon capture and storage promises an answer, but much groundwork must be done to bring this potential to life.
SSE recently received approval to build a new gas power plant at Keadby, in Lincolnshire, which could be the UK’s first power station equipped with carbon capture technology. The power plant will help maintain reliability for the UK National Grid, even when renewable energy is not available, while cutting carbon emissions by as much as 95%.
The Keadby plant is one of many industrial and power emitters of carbon in the UK that will pump gas to the East Coast Cluster, a system of carbon transport and storage under development in disused oil and gas wells in the North Sea.
But first, the project team needed to understand the ground that the power station site sits on and assess geo-hazards and any risks they may cause to the development, working collaboratively with Fugro to develop a geotechnical ground model that will inform the design.
Guests
Katy Burke, Lead Engineer, Keadby Carbon Capture Project, SSE
Mark Birley, Keadby CC Project Director, SSE
Nick Armstrong, Lead Consultant, LSC Fugro
Rob Hawkins, Regional Commercial Excellence Manager, Fugro
Getting to net zero emissions requires a paradigm shift in the way that we think and in the way that we do business says Dr Kim Yates from Mott MacDonald. In this episode we explore how collaboration between climate resilience, decarbonisation and improving biodiversity along with systems thinking could deepen efforts to reduce global carbon emissions, improve our natural environment and protect society from the impacts of climate change.
This is critical as the UN Environment Programme reports that progress is not happening fast enough to keep global warming between 1.5 and 2 degrees centigrade. It finds that infrastructure will absorb 88 percent of the investment needed to prevent climate catastrophe. We have to do things differently.
Guests
Julia Baker, Head of Nature Services, Mott MacDonald
Maria Manidaki, Technical Director, Decarbonisation, Mott MacDonald
Nikki Van Dijk, Technical Director Climate Resilience, Mott MacDonald
Dr Kim Yates, Climate Change Operational Lead, Mott MacDonald
Resources
Good progress but not fast enough: Decarbonising infrastructure
Nature Based Solutions: An interactive map
Partner
Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy. Its purpose is to improve society by considering social outcomes in everything it does, relentlessly focusing on excellence and digital innovation, transforming its clients’ businesses, our communities and employee opportunities.
In 1992 rolls Royce helped to fund a new technology centre at the University of Birmingham which began a long relationship between the manufacturer and the university. Over the last 30 years research into material sciences for aviation have led to important safety and efficiency gains in plane performance.
In 2022 the University of Birmingham and Rolls Royce were given the Bhattacharyya Award which recognises excellent achievement in work between industry and academia.
The future of aviation, whether sustainable fuels or electrification is having a big impact on the materials research taking place and the close relationship between Rolls Royce and the University of Birmingham is on the forefront of the research.
Guests
Neil Glover, Head of Materials Research at Rolls Royce
Paul Bowen, Research Director at the University of Birmingham Technology Research Centre.
Resources
For more on Rolls Royce’s University Technology Centre’s, click here
For more on the University of Birmingham Technology Centre, click here
The US National Ignition Facility recently announced that it had achieved a milestone in the development of fusion technology, producing more energy from a fusion process than that put into the reactor directly by the lasers that control the process. While the NIF is not designed to research power generation—it has its roots in the 1960s nuclear test ban treaty, and aims to allow maintenance and design of nuclear weapons without explosive tests—this is still a breakthrough.
For this episode, we go back to March 2021 to look at another important step in the decades long development of fusion power.
In the episode, we looked at a project being run by the UK Atomic Energy Authority which aims to build a prototype fusion power plant by the 2040s. To do that they have been working on a concept design, choosing from a menu of international technologies. Their work needs to be complete by spring 2024 to then work on and complete a detailed design by about 2030.
Called ‘STEP’, its success will be measured in one way, whether it can sustainably put electricity into the grid.
This is a challenge that will push the limits of robotics, plasma science, materials science, nuclear science. But if we get it right, if all of the technologies fall into place, we have the potential to generate carbon neutral energy for millions of years.
Guests
Jenny Cane, Product Area Lead for In-Vessel Components at STEP, UK Atomic Energy Authority
Nick Walkden, Head of Executive Office, UK Atomic Energy Authority
Resources
The UK Atomic Energy Authority’s webpage on STEP can be found here. The website for the project in the south of France ITER can be found here.
Every December in London a magnificent Christmas tree is unveiled in Trafalgar Square. It is an annual gift from the people of Norway to the people of Britain that began 75 years ago.
The origins of this tradition lie in the darkest days of the Second World War, and a British naval hero who undertook a mission for Norway’s government-in-exile.
Today, the crossing of the tree from Norway to Britain is a more peaceful affair than the story that started it all. But growing such an enormous tree, and transporting it to London, is not without challenges.
In this episode, we tell both of those stories…
Guest
Eivind Johan Birkeland, Forest Manager – Municipality of Oslo, Agency for the Urban Environment
Resources
For a video showing the unveiling of the first Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree, click here
For more information on the daring escape of the Norwegian Royal Family, click here
Listeners interested in the exploits of WW2 torpedo boats should read ‘Dog Boats of War’ by Leonard C Reynolds, click here
The UK government recently confirmed its support for Sizewell C. Getting to this point, and planning how thousands of construction crew and millions of tonnes of materials and plant will get to the site, has taken a decade of work.
Nuclear power plants like Sizewell C are almost always built in rural locations, by the sea. Their neighbours are often used to a quiet pace of life, and transport links have limited capacity. To gain permission to build the plant, EDF, helped by WSP, had to carefully consider a mix of road, rail, and sea transport options.
Their proposals were eventually considered by five examiners during a tightly scheduled six month process. This took place under an approach to planning of nationally significant projects in the UK, called a Development Consent Order, or DCO.
The DCO system was adopted shortly before work on planning Sizewell C began, in 2008. While it promises to streamline planning approvals, with one consent given for an entire project, it requires companies to prepare thousands of pages of documents, and detailed simulations of transport impacts for dozens of miles around the plant.
Guests
Richard Bull – Head of DCO delivery Sizewell C
John Hicks – Technical director, WSP
Nick Cottman – Technical director, WSP
This year saw infrastructure resilience included in the Carbon Crunch programme for the first time. It is recognition that our infrastructure is being exposed to greater environmental risks than before, and so the impacts on people and communities will be even more profound. If construction does not properly consider the growing risks of rising floods...
It has been nearly 10 years since the world first recorded atmospheric carbon above 400 parts per million. That year, 2013, also marked the first edition of the Carbon Crunch event which brought together infrastructure professionals to discuss the issue of decarbonisation. A decade on and much has changed for the better; we have near-universal...
The deepest hole ever drilled drives 12.2km down below the border of Russia and Finland. The Kola Superdeep Borehole was an experiment to penetrate as deeply as possible into the Earth’s crust, but since 1995 it has been abandoned. Now a company believes that new technology will be able to drill to depths of 20km....
In 1985 diver Henri Cosquer discovered a submerged cave entrance in the Mediterranean near Marseilles. Exploring over the next six years he discovered a chamber filled with prehistoric art. Conditions in the caves and the submerged passages leading to it are extremely dangerous: three divers lost their lives exploring the caves. Efforts to map the...
For 200 years, towns and cities across the British regions developed specialised roles in the economy of empire. Mining towns and ports, potteries and steelmakers all made their own contribution to a global trade network, and local communities enjoyed jobs for life, with clear paths to entry. With the changing global order of the late...
How do we assess the environmental impact of construction materials? Some materials may enjoy a reputation as natural and sustainable. Timber, quite literally, grows on trees It is abundant, it captures carbon from the atmosphere, and at the end of its life can decompose naturally, leaving no harmful waste. But some of the highest value...
UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimates that over the past 20 years, 1.2 million people have been killed by more than 7,000 disasters. It estimates the economic damage at just under $3 trillion. It also found that when compared to the 1980s and 1990s, this impact has almost doubled. Countries are working to become...
In Los Angeles only 3% of the population say they take public transit regularly, compared to 84% of residents who commute to work in their car every day. This results in huge amounts of traffic and air quality so bad that under public health requirements it’s illegal. LA Metro is making major investments to improve...
On 20 September 2006 Richard Hammond raced down the Elvington airfield in Vampire, the jet-powered dragster that still holds the British land speed record. Hammond was travelling at 288mph (464km/h) when one of the car’s tyres unexpectedly blew, flipping the vehicle onto its back. Although seriously injured, Hammond escaped with his life. The Vampire itself...
The Canada Line is North America’s most efficient commuter rail. Since it opened in 2009, they have operated with a system availability of 99.9% and a punctuality record of 99.8%. But now they have reached a crucial stage in the line’s lifespan. After 13 years, major maintenance and replacement operations will need to take place...
Net Zero is our 2050 ambition for society, but to make this a reality city must be held to a far higher standard. Our urban environments will need to become ‘carbon negative’ if we intend to mount a robust response to the climate emergency. New technologies and techniques are part of the solution. But there...
At the end of 2019 the Coronavirus pandemic began its global take-over, the world had to react fast to try and stop the spread. A project sprung up overnight, to create a megalab large enough to cope with never before seen testing requirements. The project would be complex, intricate, and require a quick delivery. It...
As electricity grids around the world transition to using renewable energy resources, investment will need to be made in energy storage. When the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow there needs to be a way for the grid to be supplied with electricity. Currently pumped hydro storage is the main form of energy...
When picturing the Arctic, people from warmer latitudes are likely to imagine frozen tundra and lonely steppe. Add global warming to this and the vision shifts to melting ice caps and desperate fauna. But the Arctic is much more than that. It is a region of community and a land of opportunity. With immense fisheries...
For industries across the world to reach net zero they are going to rely on mining critical minerals to allow for the electrification of their vehicles and machines. This has caused a huge leap in demand for minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt. Added to this, the mining industry itself is already a major polluter...
In July 2022 the UK burned as temperatures broke 40°C for the first time in recorded history. As each of us tried different approaches to dealing with the heat, trees offered respite for some astute Brits. In the immediate aftermath the UK Government announced £44 million in reforestation funding for this year. In appreciation of...
Antarctica New Zealand runs a critical research hub on the volcanic Ross Island. Originally built in 1957, it consists of 12 buildings connected by walkways – none of which have been upgraded since the 1980s. To keep the important science going for the next 50 years a redevelopment was launched in 2017. However, building in...
An era of tunnelling megaprojects has dawned as governments have invested in the underground the world over. Skills shortages are nothing new to the engineering world, but in some sectors, it is beginning to bite. One such area is surveying. In these situations, technology and collaborative ways of working can take the strain off an...
Founded in the late 1800s to supply coal to the Union Pacific Railroad, the town of Hanna, Wyoming has a proud place in the industrial story of the United States. It also has another legacy to contend with – Abandoned Mine Lands. Historical mining activities have left the region with voided geology and subsidence issues....
In Bangalore, the high-tech heart of India, sits a centre of technology. A state-of-the-art engineering facility working on projects across the globe. In its time, the centre has transitioned from an offshore project design centre to the forefront of technological innovation in the company. Becoming a centre of excellence and pioneering digital innovation, this hub,...
The UK’s roads are in increasing need of repair and local councils are facing a nine year long backlog of overdue road maintenance. However, with new technologies entering the road construction industry, future road maintenance and construction projects could be safer, greener and result in longer lasting roads. Tarmac is bringing together all the industry’s...
Buildings can use around three times as much energy as design models anticipate. This is an incredible figure and becomes a real problem when considered in context: real estate accounts for 39% of the UK’s total carbon. Around ¾ of that also comes from the operation phase. Part of the problem lies in the way...
Denmark is embarking on the largest construction project in its history with the assembly of the first energy island in the North Sea. The 120,000sq.m site could serve as a hub for as many as 200 wind turbines, storing and supplying electricity to Denmark and its neighbours. The impact of greenhouse gases on our planet...
Norah Magero, the co-founder of Drop Access talks about her invention the Vaccibox. In Kenya a large majority of the population live in remote rural areas with often limited energy access. The Vaccibox is a solar powered vaccine fridge that allows for the safe transportation and storage of vaccines to remote areas. In this episode...
For most environments, disinfection has barely changed since the 1918 influenza outbreak; many of the same companies offer similar chemical products with which to douse surfaces. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic a startup decided to explore the use of ultraviolet light to disinfect surfaces, not just in high-end laboratories, but classrooms, bars, shops...
Although ‘pet food’ and ‘engineering’ may not immediately align in the mind, one supplier wanted to ensure its products were both sustainable and ethical; from certification to packaging, and from farm to bowl. To do this required a keen understanding of its supply chain and the impact its decisions would have on its carbon footprint....
This week we are bringing you a guest episode from the Planet Beyond podcast. This is another podcast we produce, and is brought to you by Fugro. For much of history the seas have loomed impossibly large and untouchable. This perception is at odds with the vulnerability of ocean environments. Now, following decades of abuse...
Supply chain disruptions that initially left companies entirely without critical materials have given way to inflation of shipping and production costs, shortages of skilled labour, and volatile prices for everything from plaster to electronics. Unpredictable and unreliable supply chains are a headache for anyone involved in project cost or schedule management, but for a property...
In the 1970’s Dr Armand Feigenbaum coined the term ‘Hidden Factories’ to talk about the hidden part of organisations where as much 40% of production capability was lost through inefficiency. Finding these weak spots proved difficult until very recently. An exponential increase in data processing power has led to a fourth industrial revolution, or industry...
At its core, being an ally is about support, a willingness to learn about the struggles of others, take them on board and be an advocate for those people’s rights. This is an important part of a healthy business culture. Given the current engineering skills gap, opening business to a wider pool of candidates through...
As access to space has become less expensive, companies are moving to create an in-orbit servicing and manufacturing industry. In-orbit servicing, repairing existing spacecraft and satellites, has been taking place for many years but as we move beyond low earth orbit advanced robotics will be used to carry out these tasks rather than astronauts. Space...
In 2020 National Highways released their 2030/2040/2050 Net Zero plan. The plan laid out three main targets for reaching net zero, first cutting all their direct carbon emissions which includes lighting the network and all forms of corporate office emissions by 2030. Second is cutting all emissions from the network’s construction and maintenance by 2040,...
In the last century, the tides of conflict swirled around Europe as the world’s largest powers fought for dominance over air, land and sea. The North Sea was a critical theatre that could have determined the future direction of the planet in two World Wars. Since the guns fell silent in 1945, the North Sea...
For more than 40 years, The IET’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards have been celebrating the incredible women engineers working to improve our world and shape our future to help change the outdated perception that it’s an industry just for men. These awards are all about showcasing the best women engineering talent in...
Our world is becoming increasingly more virtual, promising new ways of relating to each other and of doing business. The benefits of this, however, are unclear. Virtual and augmented realities could amount to no more than Pokémon Go or Second Life, but they could accentuate the harms we already see online in ways no-one can...
On concrete paved roads, cracks can be reflected up from the joints between paving sections, into the surface layer. These cracks can lead to further damage to the road structure, and require maintenance from road owners. But the latest road surfacing technology has been proven effective on Formula 1 tracks and airport runways around the...
You have just arrived in a Biosafety Level 4 Containment Lab. These are the most secure laboratories built by human hands, and they are where scientists study the most dangerous pathogens. Containment is an absolute requirement and they are often in isolated locations. They are also extraordinarily intricate, complicated and expensive structures, that often require...
When an engineer has an idea that could change the world, the world might not immediately be ready for it. That is what Omer Keilaf realised in 2012 when he thought he could revolutionise LiDAR technology while watching an advert for the Xbox Kinect. At that time the world was interested in mobile phone technology,...
Once infrastructure projects pass a certain value, around 200 to 300 million dollars, data becomes a major challenge. There is no shortage of data in engineering and the complexity goes up exponentially. Data science is becoming increasingly important in an ever more complicated sector. Guests Tom Goldsmith, Product Manager – Lighthouse, Atkins Marianna Imprialou, Principal...
Potager Farm CEO Mario Gatineau grew up in the French countryside as the son of a beekeeper and botanist. When pesticides used in local farming killed around 80 percent of his father’s bees he dedicated himself to finding new environmentally sustainable ways to produce food. Today he is launching a vertical farm in the heart...
The engineering industry is only as good as the talent it can attract and retain. In this Engineering Matters Short we follow the journey of a talented young engineer, who found herself unable to connect with an industry dominated by older white men. Now she is set to host the upcoming E&T Innovation Awards in...
Standing on the cliffs of Ireland’s west coast you can feel the reason that Ireland generates more than 35% of its electricity from wind power. But what happens when the wind passes on its way east towards Great Britain? When conditions are poor for renewables, a high penetration in the electricity mix becomes a liability....
When it comes to adhering to standards, working within regulations, and ticking boxes, companies are pretty great. It’s how they are set up, and it is how they are used to thinking. But starting around 10 years ago, companies and organisations were asked to look at the world, and the work they do, in a...
Coral reefs are sometimes called the rainforests of the oceans and support an estimated 25% of all known marine species, but they, and the sponges that inhabit them, are unusually susceptible to changes in the waters and the local microbial community. Coral bleaching is just one of the negative effects of changing world. However, teams...
This is the story of a structure so unique that there is nothing like it in the entire world. The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the only rotating boat lift ever built. Constructed in the late 1990s as part of the Millennium Link project to connect the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal...
In partnership with Tabsal SCL, Engineering Matters speaks with Javier Saldise about how his Spanish company is taking waste wood and transforming it into structural timber.
What if we could take the waste that no one wants, the kind of waste that is shoved into landfill and turn it into sustainable fuel? Thanks to developments in gasification technology this is now possible at a commercial scale. In this episode we visit the Varennes Carbon Recycling Plant to discover why engineers are...
As hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flee their country which is under attack by Putin’s Russia, we find that the number of forcibly displaced people is at an all-time high. This episode, first run in 2019 and created with Mott MacDonald at the UK Shelter Forum examines the issues affecting shelter provision for refugees. Original...
In this week’s episode we will learn about the technologies that have driven the development of electrification for a variety of well-known industrial OEM brands. Electric motors, high-frequency battery chargers and motion controllers have made electric and hybrid vehicles more and more ubiquitous. And industry is just getting started. Guests Claes Avasjo, Executive Director, ZAPI...
Green hydrogen, created from renewable energy resources, has been hailed as a panacea to decarbonisation of heat and fluctuation in natural gas prices. But the reality is that not every application will be either cost effective or practically viable. In this episode we explore the case for green hydrogen and find that its success is...
In the UK in 2020, 80% of freight was moved by road and 90% of passenger miles were travelled by road. It is considered a high-carbon form of transport today, but this is changing as new technology is rapidly making electric vehicles and alternative fuels more attractive. With the decarbonisation of road transport, its popularity...
Predicting the future is difficult, every year would-be prophets fail to predict major events and over-eager journalists seize on the words of ancient mystics to fill column inches. But there are some people who need to be able to predict what society will need, up to a decade in advance. Developers of skyscrapers need to...
In the summer of 2021 record rainfall overwhelmed river systems across Europe. People in the Limburg region of the Netherlands held their collective breath as water levels in the River Meuse rose. Floods in the 1990s had taught them what devastation flooding could bring. Fortunately, the government had already acted, investing in a unique and...
The 2021 energy crisis saw coal power plants fire into life as natural gas prices spiralled and wind turbines stood idle. The combination of circumstances emphasised the need for firm power that is also zero carbon. Fortunately, a quiet revolution has been underway in the nuclear industry as Small Modular Reactor (SMR) plans are maturing....
When Andrew Smyth turned the handle on his clockwork pies on Great British Bake Off in 2016, it brought together two disciplines that had never been combined before. Engineering and baking were combined in the glory of eight mechanised pies. For aerospace engineer Andrew this was just the beginning of a new career as a...
In this first episode of the New Year, we are telling a story about renewal. A project in 1950s New Zealand called the Kaituna Cut re-diverted a river, draining wetlands to create pasture. But working against nature can have negative consequences. The process caused the Maketū estuary to silt, and biodiversity to crash. Now, following...
This week we bring you a guest episode from the Planet Beyond podcast. An adventurous spirit in people has made many successful organisations what they are today. To be truly great, we often find these people are guided by a moral compass, possessing core values that provide that relentless pointer to the right way, even...
Humans can feel that we have built a world to live in that is above and apart from nature. We concrete the ground, we regulate the temperature of our spaces, and we shield ourselves from storms. But increasingly wild and frequent weather events are making us doubt the endurance of our fortress of glass, steel,...
By the end of 2021, 8 billion doses of COVID19 vaccine had been administered around the world. This achievement has only been possible thanks to world leading scientific research creating vaccines in record breaking time. However not many people realise that this is only part of the story. To get these vaccines into the arms...
High Speed 2 is the UK’s latest transport megaproject. Billed as the largest ever investment in the country’s rail, its first phase will link London in the south via 230km of high-speed rail with Birmingham in the West Midlands. With a focus on innovation and new technologies available, the project is determined to avoid the...
At 4.1GW Berwick Bank is planning to become the largest offshore windfarm in the world. This is enough generating capacity to power Scotland’s homes twice over and it would play a critical role in meeting the UK’s wind energy targets. But in order to move ahead it must overcome a range of challenges from obtaining...
Ever since the beginning of the space age, scientists and engineers have considered the role extra-terrestrial resources could have to supporting missions of exploration and science. However, early missions to space and the moon were too brief to benefit from in-situ supplies. Now with a new drive to return to the Moon, this time to...
Two years ago the world was preparing for COP25 in Madrid, and we released this episode (#36) about a calculator that was helping countries around the world to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and create more sustainable energy systems. Just as relevant now as it was then, and for the benefit of newer listeners, we...
In the 20 years before Covid-19 the proportion of 17- to 20-year-olds with a driving licence fell from nearly half to less than a third. Even before lockdowns and remote working, the way people moved was changing. As we organise for the future, we need to understand that the decisions on what to build and...
Decarbonisation of transportation and shipping will require us to leverage improvements to green technologies and adapt to new ways of thinking and organising. It will require us to make different choices, on an individual and collective level. This is the final episode in our series of specials in the run up to COP26. We will...
The world is in a climate emergency and as its inhabitants, we have a narrow window of opportunity to take control. And the infrastructure industry has a fundamental and important role to play in reducing global emissions. In this episode, the third of our series leading up to COP26, we look at some ambitious targets...
Early in the morning of 6 July 2013 a freight train carrying 7.7 million litres of crude oil derailed, destroying downtown Lac Megantic, a small town in Quebec, Canada. The disaster claimed 47 lives and destroyed over 30 buildings and condemning a further 36. As part of the rebuilding efforts, the town saw an opportunity...
Every year buildings around the world are responsible for 13.6bn tonnes of carbon equivalent to 40 percent of all emissions. These are generated by the materials that shape them, the energy that illuminates them and the molecules that heat them. As countries gather in Scotland at COP 26 for the world’s biggest climate change conference,...
Modern construction cranes are highly optimised. They’re designed to lift as much as possible, as far or as high as possible, while being able to fit into tight spaces when needed. To work safely and efficiently, they need to spread the weight of the load, and the crane, down to the ground they stand on,...
The money flowing in to new construction technology is unprecedented. In the in the five years from 2009 to 2014, $8 billion was spent on digital investments to boost productivity, improve design and optimise project management. But in the following five years – 2014 to 2019 – this more than tripled, with investors pouring more...
Bradford in the North West of the UK was at the heart of the industrial revolution. Its world class textiles industry made it one of the richest cities in the world. But now it needs a new vision for the future and in this episode we have partnered with WSP to discover how the UK’s...
As the regions of space around Earth become increasingly crowded with new satellites, the most popular orbits of all are becoming hazardous. Beyond a point, the crowding will reach a level at which a collision between two objects would result in a cascade. The initial collision would lead to yet more collisions until Low Earth...
In today’s episode we are looking from the dawn of engineering to the modern day, at ‘tools for thinking’. These are the intellectual methods and the physical tools that engineers have used throughout history to work through their ideas and prove viability. Each advance makes it possible to work with numbers in new ways, and...
Vienna, the capital city of Austria is also known worldwide as The City of Music and this musical metropolis is fine tuning the way that it constructs underground. In order to expand its metro system it has turned to the use of hydraulic props to hold back the pressure from the earth during construction of...
New software using AI is enabling planners to identify options for engineering projects that are beyond the realms of human imagination. Traditionally, solutions are studied individually at great time and cost but budgets and timelines are more constrained than ever before. At the same time planners are being asked to incorporate more factors into identifying...
Intensive farming leads to nutrients seeping into the groundwater and into rivers. These enriched waterways deliver immense quantities of nutrients to coastal seas and cause algae to bloom, overwhelming the ecosystem. Fortunately, blue mussels can feed on these algae and also provide a sustainable food source both for humans and for the agriculture and aquaculture...
The world is on the brink of a climate related disaster. The solution requires a combination of engineering disciplines that do not come together very often. But they must, because the challenge is so enormous that the future of the human race quite literally depends on it. Wheat, rice, sweetcorn, and soybean currently provide two...
In this episode we look at how a new plant-based bitumen will be incorporated into asphalt mixtures currently being developed. The hope is that this will allow clients to build roads that act as carbon sinks. The reduction in carbon by using products like this could play a significant role in helping the UK achieve...
After a decade of growth, there were 10 million electric cars on the world’s roads by the end of 2020. This growth trend is set to continue, with at least 145 million on the roads by 2030. The performance of batteries in this electrified future will be critical. In this episode we are looking at...
In 2019, Justin Trudeau declared war on plastic waste. And single-use plastics were listed as a toxic material in Canada in May of this year. Before long, Canadian companies will have to find a use for the immense quantity of material they generate. Yet the North American reprocessing industry is still young. Meanwhile, on the...
As COVID-19 rampaged across the UK in 2020, society shut down and hospitals reached breaking point. For engineers building The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, South Wales their work took on a greater meaning. They had to make sure that this 450 bed critical care facility was completed ahead of time. Their actions didn’t just...
The last time a person walked on the moon was 14 December 1972. Almost 50 years ago. Since then, human operations have been confined to Earth orbit. But during that time, technology has not stood still. Now we are ready to take the next step. This episode we are talking to NASA about the Lunar...
The first boats that harnessed the wind to skip over the waves may have been built 8,000 years ago. Several hundred years later, the earliest seaborne trading networks began to form in the Aegean and the Persian Gulf. Modern cargo shipping relies on ‘bunker fuel’ a thick, black sludge made from the dregs of the...
Island states are at the forefront of climate change. Rising sea levels mean more coastal erosion, overtopping of defences and salinification of land. More frequent and devastating severe weather events are disrupting everyday life and acidification of the ocean is impacting on fishing. It is happening now, not in decades to come. From atolls in...
In this episode we explain how one of the world’s biggest problems – plastic waste can be reused in state of the art, energy-efficient road-building products. Working with Cumbria County Council within an initiative called Adept Live Labs Shell will be publicly sharing the knowledge they are gaining in these lab trials, with the overall...
Ecologists on infrastructure projects have some new team members: Conservation dogs. Their superior olfactory systems mean that they can sniff out a plethora of protected species from great crested newts and water voles, to bats and birds. Critically these canine detectives can do this more quickly, accurately and safely than humans. Thanks to pioneering work...
Every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted. The waste occurs all through the supply chain, from the farm itself, all the way to the household. It represents enough calories to potentially feed every undernourished person on the planet, and there is an environmental cost to this. About 6% of all human greenhouse gas...
Every good superhero universe has its origins story. Hagerbach’s begins with Rudolf Amberg, looking to innovate and find new efficiency savings for his iron mine. So began a 50-year journey from testing equipment and explosives, to fire and tunnel safety simulations, and ever more creative uses for underground space. Ultimately the mining industry in Switzerland...
When people think of digital tools to help with engineering problems, they usually think of a 3D model or a computerised image, representing something that exists in the real world. Machine learning is not that. What it does is completely alien to your way of thinking. It operates in such a way that is totally...
London is the world’s first national park city, with about 50% green coverage of its surface area. This is a legacy of the public and Royal parks, Victorian tree planting, and is something Londoners enjoy on a daily basis. Behind the scenes, major organisations and stakeholders are working to raise the profile of environmental sustainability. ...
For millions of years spiders have been spinning naturally occurring proteins into an incredibly strong and durable silk. By studying the anatomy of these arachnids, scientists in the UK have cracked the code to reassembling natural proteins creating a new alternative to plastic. Pioneering research company Xampla says that its supramolecular engineered protein is fully...
Since the end of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, humanity has focused its activities in the southern continent on science and research. To do this effectively, logistics are critical. To prepare for the arrival of its new ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, the wharf at Rothera Research Station needed to be replaced. The...
Preparation is currently underway for installation of one of the world’s longest fibre optic communications cables. Survey vessels are circumnavigating the entire coast of Africa determining the best locations for laying the cable on the seabed and bringing it onshore. At around 36,000km long it will provide connectivity to countries throughout the continent and form...
Why do we build? Why develop society? And who reaps the benefit? In this episode we look at the new interest the construction industry is taking in quantifying and appreciating social value. That difficult-to-define idea that has also enjoyed the recent attention of central government, with legislation mandating that projects and tenders take it into...
In a field a few miles southwest of the city of Lexington in Kentucky, a sheep is quietly grazing in the shade. This is a very special sheep. It has been carefully selected from a rare breed to control the vegetation at Kentucky’s largest solar farm. The practice is known as Solar Grazing, an environmentally...
In 2019/20 an estimated 693,000 workers in Great Britain sustained a non-fatal injury at work in Great Britain. The figure, which comes from the Office of National Statistics Labour Force Survey, represents 2,160 injuries per 100,000 workers. The rate had been steadily decreasing for decades. This self-reported rate passed just below 4,000 per 100,000 in...
What is Net Zero? And how can we get there? Can we mitigate the damage of three centuries of fossil fuel-powered industrialisation, with three decades of new energy infrastructure? While Canada is rich in renewables and already produces 80% of its electricity using non greenhouse gas sources, it, like countries around the world, has a...
Every two years the Peak District hosts ‘Hillhead’ in a disused quarry. It is the largest event for the Quarrying, Construction and Recycling industries. It is known both for its lively equipment demonstrations and unpredictable weather. This year the coronavirus forced the event online, and the new format forced the organisers to reconsider the focus....
Along the west coast of Scotland lies a chain of island communities where fishing and farming have been a way of life for thousands of years. In securing the future of these islands through providing reliable electricity, engineers and archaeologists are looking to the past to ensure that the rich history is not lost. Replacing...
This is the third and final episode of our three-part special looking at the delivery of megaprojects. In this episode we examine the lessons learned from two of the most iconic tunnelling projects of recent times: London’s Crossrail and New York’s East Side Access. Crossrail was the largest infrastructure project in Europe. Weaving in and...
For the 100th episode of Engineering Matters we bring you this three-part special looking at the delivery of a megaproject. In this second episode, we look at how a client can assess the scale of the task of delivering an impossibly complex scheme, such as a megaproject and supplement gaps in its skillset with industry...
Megaprojects are among the most complex and challenging of society’s undertakings. Each is grand is scope and due to the scale, none are ever built twice. Although they leverage the resources and political will of a nation, most encounter cost and schedule overruns, damaging reputations and souring public support. For the 100th episode of Engineering...
Today the world holds 33 megacities, cities that are home to over 10 million people. As these sprawling urban centres become more crowded than ever before infrastructure is under pressure to do more, last longer and respond faster. In this episode we find out why it is so important to understand exactly what is in the...
As projects grow ever more complex, with tighter delivery demands placed on the entire supply chain, a baseline of digitalisation has been essential for the past few years… the companies that have adapted and thrived in this environment are now looking into areas they might not have worked with before. Predictive analysis, material tracking, sensors,...
To alleviate the burden on its largest city Jakarta, Indonesia is going to move its capital more than 1,000km from the densely populated island of Java, to less developed Borneo. The new city will be constructed near the port city of Balikpapan, an economic boon for the region but an increased strain on its already-tested...
Dalam episode ini kami bermitra dengan Shell untuk membahas pengaspalan ulang landasan pacu (atau runway) Bandara Balikpapan – Bandara Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Sepinggan. Kita akan mempelajari bagaimana peningkatan jumlah penumpang dan armada pesawat yang lebih baru dan berat telah mendorong landasan pacu yang ada melampaui batasnya. Frekuensi serta beban yang meningkat, yang dikombinasiikan dengan...
In this episode we are looking at a project being run by the UK Atomic Energy Authority which aims to build a prototype fusion power plant by the 2040s. To do that they are currently working on a concept design, choosing from a menu of international technologies. Their work needs to be complete by spring...
The world’s oceans are in crisis. Plastic pollution, rising sea levels, warmer waters and chemical changes are degrading ocean systems and the world is at a dangerous tipping point. A point so dangerous that the United Nations has made 2021 the start of a new decade for ocean science for sustainable development. In this episode...
Construction has not always recognised the value of using data from past projects to deliver better results in the present. It often finds itself starting from scratch on new projects, when learning from earlier experiences could help solve its productivity problem. But the so-called data rich design is still sporadic, and the industry suffers for...
Something remarkable is happening in East Anglia. Waste heat from sewage treatment is being pumped into two enormous greenhouses creating low carbon heat for growing tomatoes. A lot of tomatoes, more than 10% of UK production. This use of waste heat is just one of the ways that water companies are using waste as a...
In this episode we partnered with WSP to tell the story of Looe, a fishing port in Cornwall. The small town has the dubious accolade of ‘most flooded place in England’, and without intervention, the situation will get much worse. With sea levels rising by as much as a metre over the next century, and...
With the weight of the built environment exceeding that of the total biomass for the first time, the human impact on the planet has passed a symbolic but significant milestone. What we do matters, and such a society needs to be run as effectively as possible. Every year the World Economic Forum publishes its Global...
The data quality in the planning and development sector is appalling. Whether supplied in this form accidentally, negligently, or recklessly does not matter – much of it is wrong. Yet over the years, this data has been used to form some of our most important decisions for the built environment. Now a new system will...
A revolution is happening in the UK, and it is happening quietly. Inspired by the Copenhagen Bicycle Account, Bike Life is the biggest assessment of cycling in cities and urban areas across the UK and Ireland. Started in Birmingham, but now in 12 cities across the country, Bike Life has informed policy decisions, justified investment...
It is tree planting season in the UK. With their amazing carbon storage ability, flood alleviation capacity and biodiversity boosting potential, trees are fast becoming a critical part of plans to reduce net carbon emissions and mitigate against global warming. But with only 13 percent tree cover the UK lags behind Europe when it comes...
Welcome to the very last Engineering Matters of 2020! In this episode we go back to some of the biggest stories that we covered over the past year and find out what happened next. We also give listeners a peak behind the curtain at how we put the episodes together and introduce you to some...
With a £100bn capital spending plan, the biggest ever investment in new transport infrastructure and a ten-point plan for climate change, the UK is determined to build its way to post COVID19 economic recovery. The bad news is that major projects have a terrible track record for not being built on time and going over...
Contributing around 8% of global climate emissions, concrete is a major source of carbon. It is also essential, and no major project is feasible without thousands of tonnes of concrete. As the world looks to decrease its impact on the environment, with a reduction of carbon emissions forming a major focus within that effort, every...
Have you ever walked past a newly surfaced road, perhaps around the corner from your house… and wondered when it will next be resurfaced? Side roads often seem to be in poor condition, and if you live in England, you probably will not see it resurfaced again in your lifetime. The average interval is 119...
In this episode we look at how the demands of the industry are becoming increasingly diverse, resulting in a similar change in the people carrying out the work. We look at how the industry can adapt to use new tools at its disposal to take advantage of new skills, improve productivity, and make construction a...
Set in the West Midlands county of Staffordshire is a former Royal Forest called Cannock Chase. It is part misty, secluded woodland and part undulating moorland. As you head up to the north of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the landscape becomes tame and you enter the Shugborough Estate, some 10km to the east...
The adoption of healthy or unhealthy behaviours at project reviews can have an enormous impact on the overall project and even the wider industry. Going down the wrong path can have a multiplier effect over the course of the project, and with growing project complexities, you need to be able to rely on your team....
It is by now a topic that sadly needs little introduction. It has impacted everyone in the last year. Changed lives and livelihoods, overturned entire sectors, and altered the global balance of power Our way of living and working has changed, and only in the last couple of weeks has hope appeared in the distance,...
In this episode we look at the Circuit Zandvoort, the iconic post-WW2 racetrack in the Netherlands. Beloved by fans of all flavours of motorsport, it recently had cause to redesign and resurface its track in the hopes of hosting the first Dutch Grand Prix since 1985. To do this required the design of some of...
A revolution is approaching manufacturing, one that will see costs and time to market cut by as much as 50%. The digitalisation of engineering will reduce the need to churn out prototypes as a product goes back and forth between design and manufacturing departments. In a rapidly changing world, this revolution cannot come soon enough,...
Until a few years ago the offshore wind industry was constrained by the seabed characteristics of countries seeking to harness the generating capacity of the wind. Only those with shallow waters of around 40m or less could implement fixed offshore arrays. But in just a few years the game has changed. Floating offshore turbines are...
In this episode we have partnered with Autodesk Construction Solutions to look at a new approach to housing construction in Kenya. We take a look at how a local architecture, engineering and construction firm, BuildX, is working with modern methods of construction – manufacturing modular units offsite – to produce housing on a scale, and...
The Vulcan is one of the most iconic aircraft ever flown by the Royal Air Force. Although not quite the household name that the Spitfire has been, it has always been a crowd favourite at air shows. As well as the immense noise generated by its four Rolls Royce Olympus engines, which has thrilled children...
Imagine a world where Alexa can tell you the latest, greenest, safest and most cost-effective way to design, deliver or operate something. Advice on decision-making that takes into account whole life costing, and tell you where best to spend money, to save more money in future. We all understand this concept in our own lives;...
Anglian Water currently enjoys a daily surplus of 150 million litres of water, but this is forecast to become a 150 million litre deficit by 2045. To help mitigate this shortfall it is constructing hundreds of kilometres of large diameter pipeline, as well as pumping stations and storage points to divert water from areas with...
On a bright morning in April, people in the city of Jalandhar in the state of Punjab stood out in the streets and saw something breath-taking… something that many of them had never seen before. The skies were so clear that for the first time in decades the soaring peaks of the Himalayas standing almost...
Historically civilisations have sprung up wherever the land was most fertile, soils that supported good crop productivity to meet the food requirements of highly concentrated groups of people. Now with the global population close to 8 billion, and all arable land already committed to food production, we are turning to technology to help fertilise soils...
The railway network in the UK is old and vast and home to the first public railway to use steam locomotives in the world. The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825 and connected coal mines in the northeast of England. It was the metal track, the coal-fired furnace, and the shrill whistle of the...
Maintaining a tunnel requires many hours of dedicated work by highly skilled engineers. And as our network of tunnels expands, so does the maintenance demand. Asset owners and local authorities have been under pressure for years to find a cost-effective way of monitoring and maintaining their underground infrastructure. And now, engineers in Switzerland have turned...
Changes to the way we do design are coming; construction is languishing at the bottom of the productivity rankings, now below hunting and fishing. Decision-making is happening late in the project lifecycle, meaning that design work has to be repeated unnecessarily, and a reward culture based on price rather than outcomes builds in more inefficiency....
Remotely operated vehicles, uncrewed surface vessels and ever-increasing autonomy are removing personnel from dangerous work offshore in the North Sea and elsewhere. Inspection of maritime assets is now being controlled from onshore operations centres. We look at one of these command and control centres, the Fugro facility in Aberdeen. With a robust regulatory framework and...
As a small island trading nation, Britain risks killing its economy and losing millions of jobs, unless it can allow people to get back to work in as normal a way as possible. So said John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow Airport, who wants to see a more sophisticated way of opening our borders. He was...
At the start of the Covid-19 lockdown, one of the few reasons people were allowed to leave their homes was to shop for the basic essentials. Social distancing rules meant that shoppers were held in long queues that wound through supermarket car parks, moving slowly. One supermarket in northern England had the added problem of...
Manchester – the city has been on the cutting edge since the birth of the industrial revolution. From John Dalton’s Atomic Theory in 1803, to the invention of Graphene in 2004. More recently it has given the world the greatest music ever made. Home to 2.8 million people in 1.2 million dwellings over 500 square...
When Dan Harmer received a call in March that told him to clear his schedule and prepare for a meeting, he knew it would be important, but had no idea quite what would be asked of him. With Covid-19 spreading exponentially, and the National Health Service looking increasingly vulnerable, he was the man chosen to...
Hundreds of millions of people in the most economically disadvantaged places in the world spend up to 20 hours per week washing clothes by hand. This task, traditionally forced onto women, is back breaking and monotonous. Then in 2018 a promise made in a rural village in southern India has led Nav Sawhney to leave...
On 28 October 1971 the UK conducted its first and only successful orbital launch, firing the Prospero satellite into low earth orbit – LEO on a Black Arrow rocket. Since that time, the country has lacked a native launch vehicle. In this episode we speak with Joe Laynton, a mechanical engineer working for Skyrora, an...
Britain is emerging from some of the toughest social restrictions placed in peacetime history. As people come out of their homes, they are eager to meet friends and loved ones, and head back out into the world – but they are scared. To help keep people safe in a world gripped by Covid-19, and to...
Engineers are in a uniquely powerful position. Able to shape our built environment and so influence the direction of civilisation, the impact that their expertise can have for the good of society and the environment is incredible. But people are human, and if a negative culture is allowed to thrive in the organisations that employ...
Since mid-2019, over 900 architectural practices in the UK have made a declaration of climate and biodiversity emergency, acknowledging the extreme seriousness of our situation and making a public commitment to positive change. Now joined by declarations from other disciplines in the construction industry, the growing movement needs coordination or it risks becoming siloed. In...
The coronavirus pandemic that has torn through society has also seen supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) depleted at an alarming rate. As doctors and nurses are forced to improvise, and traditional suppliers struggle to meet the sudden increase in demand, help has arrived from an unexpected group of enthusiasts. The 3D printing community has...
Biodiversity in the UK is facing an emergency with around 30 percent of native species becoming extinct since the 1970s. This loss of wildlife, which echoes trends all over the world, could have catastrophic impacts on food, air quality and the environment. However for the UK change is on the horizon with a new Environment...
How data from satellites can track structural movement, and give early warning of potential failure. New research shows that catastrophic bridge collapses could have been prevented if engineers had been paying attention to the right information, information that is currently being collected by satellites orbiting our planet. Satellite monitoring is one of the many innovations...
Carving out underground space for railways, roads, waterways, urban development and even fishing and farming is how some people spend their entire careers. One of those people is chair of the International Tunnelling Association Young Members Committee Keith Bannerman, who was obsessed by the industry from the moment he attended a short course in Brisbane...
As cases of COVID 19 explode, the World Health Organisation is urging countries around the world to learn from South Korea. Before even recording its first case of the virus its technology industries mobilised, enabling it to test anyone with symptoms, perform extensive contact tracing and isolate those at risk – fast. This enabled the...
How a new 2.5km cable pulled railway will connect Luton Airport’s terminal to the UK rail network boosting future growth. Today rail passengers arriving at the airport must disembark from the train and finish their journey on a shuttle bus. But not for much longer. Deep sheet piles are currently being driven into the ground...
The rapid and exponential spread of the new coronavirus, COVID 19 is changing the way that we live and work. First detected in December 2019 in Wuhan City, China, within three months it was a global pandemic. To keep operating through the crisis businesses turned to digital technologies to support home working. But this connectivity...
The UK has a legacy of 600,000 tonnes of nuclear waste being held in temporary storage facilities at 30 sites around the country. It is enough to fill a football stadium and despite over 60 years of generating nuclear power in the UK, we still don’t have a long-term plan for disposing of it. Scientific...
This winter a series of weather bombs detonated across the UK, overwhelming river systems and overtopping flood defences. River levels were off the charts, 4000 properties flooded, some temporary defences failed and people took to the streets in canoes. The UK is entering unchartered territory as far as flooding is concerned. Yet the threat of...
How nematode worms, 3D printing and drones could revolutionise our approach to maintaining road surfaces. According to the RAC we are 1.5 times more likely to hit a pothole today than we were over a decade ago and winter is peak pothole time. In the cold months the UK’s road surfaces weather the impact of...
An update on our Drones episode from January 2019 where we learn about new uses for unmanned aerial vehicles, and celebrate being shortlisted for three awards in the Publisher Podcast Awards held in London in March 2020. No-one knows how many penguins are in the Antarctic, and last year we discovered that thanks to the...
A tremendous change occurred with the industrial revolution: whereas it had taken all of human history until around 1800 for world population to reach one billion, the second billion was achieved in only 130 years in 1930, the third billion in 30 years in 1960, the fourth billion in 15 years in 1974, and the fifth...
How new technology is supporting the UK’s offshore wind industry to bring down costs and accelerate construction. From new methods for drilling into the seabed, to advanced foundation design models and improved data capture, innovation is critical for this fast-growing market. But it won’t be easy. Deeper waters and variable ground conditions make these some...
Over the past two decades the UK has become the world’s leading offshore wind energy producer. Not only is it responsible for 40% of all offshore wind generated electricity, it is set to quadruple the installed capacity by 2030. Its journey to becoming a world leader began in 2000 with construction of just two Vestas...
From new immersive technologies to life saving applications, virtual reality is finally meeting up to expectations of the 1990s and transforming the way that projects are designed. Its ability to improve visualisation of new and existing infrastructure is bringing many benefits, including some that users hadn’t anticipated as well as saving millions of pounds in...
This week we are bringing you an episode of our newly launched Tunnelling Podcast, made in partnership with the British Tunnelling Society. In March 1999, the Mont Blanc tunnel fire claimed the lives of 38 tunnel users and one fire fighter. For decades debate has raged over the best approach to tackling a fire, saving...
Last year the UK set a legally binding target to become carbon neutral by 2050, ahead of any other major global economy. In doing so it took the first ambitious steps on a massively difficult path, and the road to net zero requires a total overhaul of how infrastructure is designed, delivered and managed. In...
Becoming a Role Model: Ying Wan Loh From rotary drilling on Mars to hybrid-electric aviation and the expansive global supply chains of the aeronautical industry, we explore the engineering life of Ying Wan Loh. In 2019 Ying became the Institution of Engineering and Technology Young Woman Engineer of the Year, a title given to astronaut...
Heathrow has announced an ambitious expansion plan that will add a third runway and take the airport to cope with growing demand up until 2050. It calls for massive development of its infrastructure to cope with growing passenger numbers and it takes an innovative approach to its supply chain, looking to distribute the economic benefits...
What do the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Ipswich Barrier and Heathrow Airport have in common? None of them could have been realised without a complex network of supporting infrastructure built before the main structures themselves were erected. Known as the temporary works this vital and often complex system of scaffolding, excavation support, propping elements...
Historically, the nation’s productivity has improved with economic growth, but since the global financial crisis and despite the UK’s recovery, productivity has flatlined. The Office for National Statistics calls this “The productivity puzzle” and for construction the situation is even worse. Productivity has floundered since the 1990s. But as big data continues to drive the...
How a calculator is helping countries around the world to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and create more sustainable energy systems. When Professor David MacKay of Cambridge University wrote a book about sustainable energy in 2009, he could not have realised that this groundbreaking text would go on to form the basis for a calculator...
As Quantum computing becomes a 21st century reality, Professor Sir Peter Knight explains why controlling the register of quantum bits that make up a quantum processor is so difficult, and explains how the journey to quantum computing is creating new technologies that no one could ever have predicted……. Peter’s life in quantum physics began in...
Noorullah Kuchai is a civil engineer, a humanitarian and a refugee twice over. He lived in a tent in a Pakistani refugee camp for a decade and is now dedicating his life to helping people who have been displaced by war like he was. And the challenge is enormous. More people are being displaced by...
World leading smart robotics, industry disrupting technologies and the next generation of augmented reality are just some of the advances in action at Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre’s Factory 2050. Launched in December 2015, Factory 2050 was set up as a reconfigurable glass walled factory of the future, and since then it has helped businesses...
Had its use as a gigantic 300m high radio antenna not been recognised in the early 1900s the magnificent Eiffel Tower, would have been pulled down and destroyed. Under its original contract as the wrought iron gateway to the 1889 Paris World Fair, it was only to stand for 20 years. But its creator, engineer...
Back in December 2017 the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission set the UK a huge challenge: to create a digital model of our national infrastructure. Known as a National Digital Twin this engineering feat requires secure sharing of high-quality standardised data between infrastructure owners and operators, making operations more efficient and resilient. A new task force...
Chloe is 16 and interested in an engineering career. She is also the daughter of Philip Hoare, President of engineering consultant Atkins. To find out more she digs deep into her Dad’s engineering life story by interviewing him about the projects that have shaped his career. From harrowing tragedy on a bridge project to world...
Growing up in a tiny village in rural Scotland, regular power cuts would leave Lorna Bennet and her family without electricity for days on end. Determined to become self-sufficient Lorna set about learning how to create sustainable energy, from designing water wheels to working on tidal power arrays and testing the world’s largest offshore wind...
Habitat for the UK’s Great Yellow Bumblebee has declined 80 percent over the last century thanks to the loss of the flower rich meadows that sustain them. They now only persist in the North of Scotland, so when Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks planned a new substation in the Highlands, preserving the habitat of the...
After 844 trial tests, and setting his own street on fire, founder of Scottish start-up MacRebur Toby McCartney finally hit on a viable solution for repairing potholes. His idea sought to resurface roads using recycled plastics, and the result is a form of polymer modification of asphalt that uses a mixture of waste plastics and...
Placing the United Nations’ sustainable development goals at the heart of projects can regenerate UK communities. From a new 4km road link that saved a former mining community in Yorkshire, to a coastal replenishment scheme that brought new opportunity to Colwyn Bay in North Wales, we hear how incorporating the sustainable development goals is changing...
Underneath cities all over the UK subterranean mountains of calcified fat are gathering in our sewers as fat, oil and grease stick to baby wipes and harden to form a blubbery bacterial blockage. Removing them is dangerous, manual work, putting people and the infrastructure itself at risk. In this episode we venture to the site...
Could the lightest element in the periodic table be the answer to the world’s most weighty challenge of decarbonising energy? Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe and the most energy dense. Burning it creates clean electricity and heat without generating carbon emissions, but to utilise it, first it must be released from...
It was a meeting with the first Briton in space, Dr Helen Sharman, that changed the course of Sophie Harker’s life forever. A maths student at The University of Nottingham, she took this advice seriously and went on to become an aerodynamics and performance engineer at BAE Systems. Although she is yet to leave planet...
Since 1913 the world’s most famous flower show has been held every Spring in Chelsea in London. This year among the electric blue Persian Slippers, the white and yellow Anthemis Punctata, and the eye catching, deep pink Digitalis Illumination series of Chris Beardshaw’s Morgan Stanley Garden, there is a focus on creating beautiful gardens with...
Norwegian airline Widerøe needs a new fleet of planes to serve its regional passenger base. But it doesn’t want to buy conventional aircraft. It wants a zero emission fleet to undertake its 450 flights per day, and move 2.8 million passengers per year. But so far, no electric planes have been certified for commercial flight...
How did Norway become the world’s most successful electric vehicle market? Last month almost 80 percent of all new cars sold in Oslo were EVs and across the entire country it was 58 percent. Even more remarkable is that the soaring popularity of EVs is despite the lower operating efficiency that batteries achieve in cold...
From additive manufacturing in space, to 3D printing customised pharmaceuticals and non-planar electronics, the next revolution in 3D printing is already underway. In this episode we head to the International Space Station and interview the engineer behind a world first in 3D printing, “The Refabricator”. This 3D printer that can not only print plastic in...
Four thousand years after it was first used as a form of nutrition for the Olmec people of Mesoamerica, engineers are finding new ways to harness the potential of the fruit from the miraculous Theobroma Cacao tree, better known today as cocoa pods. Their solution could provide rural farming communities in Ghana with a new...
As young people all over the world protest over political inaction on climate change, we ask how engineers can prevent our planet’s temperature rising past the point of no return. Responding to this challenge means that engineering professionals, businesses and institutions must do things differently. They must say no say no to carbon intensive development,...
Do plants hold the key to making cities healthier? Could we design buildings that don’t take away green space, but create it? That don’t demand energy, but generate it? Rudi Scheuermann of consultant Arup thinks so. By employing a range of design techniques including cladding structures in living plant walls and engineering bioreactive facades that...
Providing water and sanitation after a destructive military revolution in Peru; engineering with elephants in Kenya; and plunging into enormous pot holes in Uganda, the professional life of civil engineer Brittany Harris has been more eventful since she graduated in 2015 than many engineers’ experience throughout their entire working careers. Her efforts to bring sustainable...
How did a circus act inspire a revolutionary new construction method for Scotland’s first glass fibre reinforced polymer, cable stayed footbridge? Why did triumph and heartache underpin construction of the world’s most difficult cable stayed bridge, the Kap Shui Mun Bridge in Hong Kong? What did tunnel engineering teach designers about construction that enabled them...
Are there really bodies buried in the Hoover Dam? Was the hard hat really invented here in 1931? And why was it originally called Boulder Dam? In this podcast we explore and uncover the secrets of one of the greatest engineering projects ever built. The unique and formidable Hoover Dam. Learn about the “Double Ugly”,...
No-one knows how many penguins are in the Antarctic, but thanks to the use of drones this is set to change as scientists are using these unmanned aerial vehicles to fly over colonies of chinstrap, adelie and gentoos. And that is not all. Academics at the University of East Anglia are developing artificial intelligence that...
Robots are not just coming. They are already here. From TyBot which can tie steel reinforcement into position on bridges, to the road marking wizard Little Erik, and robotic hot wire cutters that can create bespoke formwork in minutes, robots are able to transform the way that infrastructure and buildings are constructed. From accelerating work...
With 4.8 million kilometres of road China sits third in the world in terms of length of highways behind only the US and India. But its huge investment budget of £455 billion for new and improved highways could see it bypass these other world leaders. In 2018 alone it will add a further 5,000km presenting...
Right now companies around the world are competing in a global race to prove that a new transport revolution is just a few years away. Using high speed transit through low pressure tubes speeds of 1100km/hr per hour are theoretically possible, bringing cities closer together than ever before. London to Edinburgh? 40minutes. Melbourne to Sydney?...
Floating along Copenhagen’s central waterway is a new proposition in affordable student accommodation, Urban Rigger. Each of these 745m2 units starts with a central concrete pontoon supporting nine steel shipping containers, which between them host 12 studio apartments for student accommodation. Launched as a solution to the student housing crisis in the Danish capital more...
The story of how Brooklyn born maths genius Barbara Res became head of construction for Trump Tower, despite deep-rooted sexism that sat at the heart of construction – and society in the 1970s and 1980s. Project owner Donald Trump modestly called Trump Tower “the most important project in the world” and to deliver it, he...
The story of how schools, colleges and professional institutions are working with Minecraft Education Edition to inspire the next generation of young engineers. Engineering UK predicts that 124,000 new engineers are required every year in the UK to fill the gap created by retiring professionals and expanding demand. But it is only managing to attract...
How a small village in Buckinghamshire developed and delivered a clean, green, solar energy project that generates enough electricity to power over 1000 homes and uses its profits to benefit the local community. The 4.18MW solar power project in the village of Gawcott generates three times more electricity that this community of 280 properties requires....
From apps that can tell building residents what to do in a fire, to smart psrinklers and localised external fire detection and suppression, new technologies have the potential to make buildings safer and evacuation faster. Developments in fire detection technology are also reducing the incidence of false alarms and reducing the likelihood of vandalism or...
In the event of a fire do not use the lift, use the stairs. We have been conditioned to fear using an elevator to escape a fire. But one major London project is trying to change all that. At 22 Bishopsgate in London the designers have set in place a lift evacuation strategy that can cut...
In the second of our series of podcasts examining fire safety in tall buildings we ask how can developers of tall buildings be incentivised to build in more resilience, and use some of the innovations already in the market to make buildings safer from fire? We interview Justin Francis of the Queensland Fire Service who...
Now is the time for change when it comes to fire safety in tall buildings. The catastrophic events at Grenfell Tower in London on 14 June 2017 have become the starting point in a drastic restructure of the system governing fire and safety in tall buildings. The post-Grenfell review of building regulations and fire safety...
Digital twins are revolutionising business models for aviation, industry and engineering. These virtual replicants of assets enriched with real time and contextual data are giving more information about networks, systems, factories, equipment and buildings than ever before. Assets then become more cost effective to maintain, and efficient to operate with cloud based data storage enabling...
The UK in now at war with waste plastic creating major new opportunities for the waste industry. In January Prime Minister Theresa May published a new 25 year Environment Plan which pledged to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Increasing recycling rates, using biodegradable materials and reusing plastic are all parts of the strategy...
Satellite based global positioning systems have revolutionised navigation outdoors and now software engineers are bringing the same innovation to indoor spaces. Airports, with their expansive terminals, are a perfect testing ground for new digital navigation technology. In London, Gatwick airport is leading the way. Designed by Pointr Labs the airport introduced 2000 Bluetooth beacons to...