The Infrastructure Podcast: Recent Episodes

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In this episode of The Infrastructure Podcast, we discuss mega projects, specifically their potential impact, positive and negative, on the communities they serve and the environment they leave behind.

While historically the success of a mega project was measured in terms of its delivery to budget or completion to schedule, today these metrics have shifted wider and deeper as populations grow and the pressure of climate change bites. Today's measures of success and our focus on the human return on investment, the benefits created to living standards, including carbon reduction, economic growth and environmental improvement. In short, we're no longer just building assets, we're building the social and environmental scaffolding for the 21st century.

To discuss this change and its impact on the infrastructure sector, my guest today is Victoria Johnson, Vice President and global infrastructure executive at infrastructure consultant HDR Engineering, Inc., who has spent the last two decades redefining the architecture of our cities.

The episode was recorded during my recent trip to New York, where she chaired a panel at the Transforming Infrastructure Perform Summit organized by the Infrastructure Policy Advancement team at software giant Bentley Systems. Her panel focused on mega programs for community and climate with fellow experts including Stephanie Wiggins, Chief Executive Officer of Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, the transit agency preparing for the LA 2028 Olympics, and recently wrapping up the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Victoria’s work with a wide array of municipal, state and federal leaders globally makes her an ideal expert to tackle this subject today, as does her glittering career, which over the last few decades has spanned advising the Biden-Harris administration on the historic $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to her leadership in the US Conference of Mayors and the African American Mayors Association.

Victoria certainly bridges the gap between high level public policy and street level impact with recent mega project work, including transformation of JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports in New York, and innovative insights on planning of Olympic legacies at Milano Cortina 2026 and LA 2028 Olympic games, which shares more deeply in an upcoming white paper she is co-authoring in collaboration Bentely Systems and Bocconi University in Italy.

Resources

• Championing Equitable Infrastructure with Victoria Johnson | Data-Smart City Solutions
• Investing in people to power our infrastructure | The Hill
• Mayors Business Council - United States Conference of Mayors
• Governor Hochul Announces JFK Airport Construction Sets Record MWBE Participation With $2.3 Billion in Contracts Awarded | Governor Kathy Hochul (ny.gov)
• Milestone Convening of ‘Equity in Infrastructure Project’ | The Equity in Infrastructure Project
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit New York 2026
• Victoria Johnson | LinkedIn

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In this episode we take a close look at Thames Water’s proposed White Horse Reservoir in Oxfordshire – one of nine new storage schemes advancing under Ofwat’s PR24 plans to confront growing climate pressures, population growth, and the urgent need for long-term water security.

The investment is much needed. No new reservoirs have been built in the UK for more than 30 years leaving an potential shortfall of up to 5 billion litres a day in England by 2055, according to Ofwat’s recent reporting.

As if to highlight the challenge right now, Thames Water has this week announced a new hose pipe ban across the region. Clearly work needs to happen to reduce leakage but without new storage capacity we are heading for problems.

My guest today is Nevil Muncaster, Strategic Water Resources Director at Thames Water and the man masterminding plans to tackle this challenge, including the £7.5 billion mega-project to build a 12 square kilometre reservoir near Abingdon. This facility is designed to hold 150 billion litres of water, drawn from the nearby River Thames during winter, and released to bolster supplies and secure drought resilience of up to 15 million people across London and the South East for the next century.

Supporters call it a critical, non-negotiable insurance policy against a changing climate and a rapidly growing population.

However, the path to a 2040 opening is far from smooth. Local communities, environmental charities, and councils have raised fierce objections over its massive ecological footprint, carbon cost, and the disruption of local livelihoods.

Add to that the multi-billion-pound pressure that the investment will add to Thames Water’s already precarious financial position, which see the company currently saddled with nearly £20 billion of debt and racing against a looming autumn cash-flow crisis.

So much to talk through as we explore progress toward Development Consent Order application for the project this year.

Resources

• Thames Water White Horse Reservoir
• Thames Water website
• Ofwat Major Water Infrastructure Programme
• Ofwat RAPID
• Government announcement on PR24
• Independent Commission on Water - Sir Jon Cunliffe

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In this episode we examine delivery progress on the multi-billion-pound strategy and pipeline underpinning the UK’s ambition to place infrastructure at the heart of economic, social and environmental growth across the nation.

Last week, NISTA, the government’s National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority published its latest Major Projects Annual Report. This document offers a transparent look at the on-going £924 billion government project portfolio, tracking 189 of the UK’s most complex and ambitious initiatives, from nuclear power stations through to digital transformations.

Joining me to dissect these numbers and explain the bold delivery strategy is NISTA’s chief executive, Becky Wood, who has been at the helm of this organisation since June last year, shortly after it was formed, bringing together the National Infrastructure Commission and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority. Its role is help drive strategy and improve performance across this huge investment portfolio.

Certainly this report highlights delivery progress but it also draws a line in the sand ahead of NISTA’s radical overhaul known as "Project Reset," which in April slashed its central oversight down to just 80 core, nationally significant projects and set out to demand sharper accountability and faster delivery.

So, the question is how will this renewed focus help turn around the sector’s lengthening major infrastructure delivery timelines; and how can NISTA use data and digital systems to salvage failing projects and maximise value from every pound of the taxpayer’s cash.

Resources

• NISTA website
• NISTA annual report 2025/26
• Project Reset
• 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy
• Infrastructure Pipeline

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In this episode my guest is Milda Manomaityte, who stepped into the role of Chief Executive at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) and its subsidiary, the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) in March 2026.

According to publicity at the time, her appointment signalled “a gear change for ACE group” and a strategic pivot for its role leading the sector.

Clearly that caught my eye – what indeed has Milda got up her sleeve to drag the engineering sector up the political agenda and into the 21st Century?

Well, given that the UK is about to be handed a new Prime Minister in the form of Andy Burnham, it seems a great moment to find out how an organisation like the ACE - which for over a century has been the voice of engineering consultancy - can ensure that this new administration makes the right decisions when it comes to the long-term planning and delivery of the UK’s critical infrastructure and for protecting and enhancing the natural environment around us.

Milda arrives uniquely equipped to meet these challenges. She spent the last seven years at the Railway Industry Association (RIA) - and we last on the podcast two years ago about driving innovation, performance, and digital transformation into that sector - so she brings a track record of accelerating technology adoption and navigating complex government-industry relationships across rail.

And at ACE, her predecessor, Kate Jennings, successfully elevated the trade body's political profile and established an ambitious three-year business plan. Milda’s tenure begins at a watershed moment. The UK infrastructure landscape is being rapidly reshaped by the rollout of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) overseeing the 10 year infrastructure strategy, and the delivery of an ambitious £720bn pipeline of work across energy, water, transport and of course housing.

But the challenges are abundant – project delays due to funding constraints and planning problems, huge challenges meeting our decarbonisation goals, ongoing lack of skills and of course the looming threat of Artificial Intelligence threatening to soak up jobs across the entire engineering design sector.

So lots to talk through

Resources

• ACE website
• EIC website
• Milda on the Infrastructure Podcast June 2024
• Railway Industry Association
• EIC Nature as Infrastructure campaign

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In this episode we are talking about electric vehicle charging and the challenge of creating the truly integrated and customer friendly charging network needed to support the growth of EVs

My guest is Asif Ghafoor, chief executive of BE.EV, one of the UK’s leading charging networks and someone who I’d say is pretty out there when it comes to honest appraisals of the state of the EV market and the fragmented "wild west” charging networks that now litter out towns cities and service stations.

I last spoke to Asif on the podcast three years ago in Episode 24 back in July 2023 - seems like yesterday! But BE.EV is now five years ago, and arguable since we last spoke the sector finally starting to grow up- less of the “I’ll have a go” mentally; more strategic, customer and business focus.

Certainly BE.EV is expanding and leading the charge. In February this year Asif completed a landmark acquisition of European energy giant Mer’s UK public charging network, adding over 1,600 charging bays across 450+ sites and seeing the business effectively shift from its northern roots to become truly national networks with large numbers of charging sites added across the south and now boasting over 2,500 bays.

And still backed by Octopus Energy Generation’s Sky Fund, the company has established itself as the UK’s second top-rated rapid and ultra-rapid charging network, combining an impressive 99% reliability rate with a deeply customer-centric approach.

BE.EV also recently led a pioneering partnership with Leasing.com which integrated BE.EV directly into the consumer car-buying journey, demystifying public charging at the exact moment drivers choose their next vehicle.

BE.EV’s guiding philosophy remains fiercely simple: drivers shouldn’t have to become charging experts.

So let’s explore the reality behind these claims and headlines, find out what’s changed over the last five years and perhaps unpack how charging networks can actually still underpin the UK’s low carbon future.

Resources

• BE.EV website
• SMMT statistics
• Octopus Energy Generation
• Episode 24 with Asif Ghafoor - "Building the EV revolution " - 2023
• Times interview with Asif

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In this episode we return to the critical issues surrounding the financing of infrastructure – and specifically how private investment can be levered in to support the global ambition for green energy transition.

It is clear that the global push toward net-zero is fundamentally a challenge of capital mobilisation. While global institutional investors sit on an estimated $100 trillion in assets, less than 5% of this wealth flows into sustainable or green development.

This must change if governments around the world are to meet their ambitions for a green energy transition.

My guest today is Georgie Skipper, the founder of infrastructure investment consultancy Lucetia, someone who has worked on one of most ambitious clean energy project ever attempted and who has spent the last few decades wrestling with the accelerating global green energy ambition.

Because energy transition is a huge global challenge; according to a recent report by the Australian Government, the emerging South east Asian region alone faces an estimated $3 trillion infrastructure investment gap by 2040 in meeting it’s vital clean energy targets – targets that are crucial to the economy and its decarbonisation.

And this kind of investment gap is a global issue; one that she has been highlighting at the recent Financing the Energy Transition in Southeast Asia series hosted by Bentley Systems and Lucetia Group in partnership with the Investor Group on Climate Change.

The most recent of these meetings was held during the London Climate Action Week in June and before that at last year’s COP30 meeting in Belém, Brazil.

And it is these practical solutions and investment in so-called First of a kind technologies to bridge the gap between strategic policy intent and practical, on-the-ground project bankability, that Georgie hopes to employ to solve complex green investment challenges – not least given that Lucetia was recently appointed by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority to develop the policy and investment guidelines for a new submarine power cable.

So let’s hear more about the market, the challenges, and we can smooth and derisk the global sustainable and green energy investment challenge.

Resources

• Lucetia Group
• IEA report of Southeast Asia energy
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance summit
• Investor Group on Climate Change
• Australian Government report on SE Asian investment
• World Meteorological Organization
• Green Grids Initiative
• SunCable project
• MIT Sloane School of management

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This is another episode recorded live at UKREiiF, the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum in Leeds.

My guest is Louisa Finlay, Chief Operating Officer and Chief People Officer at contractor Kier Group. Our conversation builds on a panel session that she hosted to discuss the construction sector’s digital mindset and skills needed to power up infrastructure delivery.

Because the reality is that the construction sector has long been criticised as a digital laggard and remaining tethered to legacy processes. However, this narrative is rapidly shifting.

We are moving on from the era of digital experimentation. Today, the use of data and digital technology is no longer an optional efficiency driver but a core commercial imperative.

Tier 1 contractors and their supply chains face mounting pressures to deliver complex infrastructure under tighter regulatory and financial scrutiny. In response the modern construction landscape is being reshaped – like it or not - by cloud-based data platforms, generative AI, predictive analytics, and digital twins.

Yet, the true barrier to this revolution is rarely technical. Instead, the industry is grappling with the need for cultural change, a widening skills gap, and deeply entrenched commercial structures that actively disincentivise data sharing.

To unlock the value of technology, the sector must treat data not as an exhaust product of construction, but as a critical asset with its own lifecycle.

So let’s find out what Louisa is doing about these challenges

Resources

• Kier Group
• UKREiiF
• National Highways digital strategy
• UK Construction Skills Mission Board
• UK Infrastructure Pipeline
• UK NISTA

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This episode was recorded live at UKREiiF, the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum in Leeds.

My guest is Peter Hogg, Country Director for the UK and Ireland at Arcadis and we are going to spend the next few moment drilling into Peter’s perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing the UK infrastructure market as we attempt to invest for the future.

And Peter is a great person to pose these questions to. Having just been elevated to run the UK and Ireland division, he has nearly three decades of experience at the coal face, delivering some of London’s most significant infrastructure programmes, including the Jubilee Line Extension, St Pancras International, and Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

Today he is being challenged to define Arcadis’ strategy and set a clear vision for the future to embrace these challenges and opportunities – a vision that will hopefully help the UK to delivery the sustainable, resilient infrastructure that is critical to the UK’s future success, driving economic growth, jobs and better lives across the regions and communities of the UK.

Resources

• Arcadis website
• UKREiiF
• UK National Infrastructure Service Transformation Authority
• UK Infrastructure Pipeline
• 10 year Infrastructure strategy

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In this episode my guest is Chris McDonald, MP for Stockton North and Minister for Industry, a brief which, of course, includes construction.

Lots to discuss, not least since we have just past the first anniversary of the creation of NISTA – the UK’s National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA).

NISTA was set up to accelerate delivery, unlock private investment, and improve project efficiency and last June was handed responsibility for delivering the government’s ambitious 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, shifting policy vision into a £718 billion public and private sector delivery reality.

Lots of opportunity for the construction sector; but the challenges are mounting: a persistent skills gap, volatile supply chains, stringent new building safety regulations following the Grenfell tragedy, inflation pushing up costs and the accelerating challenge of meeting net zero goals.

Chris McDonald MP is the latest in the long line of Construction Ministers charged with supporting the industry to deliver this ambition. And as Minister for Industry his responsibilities go wider of course as he helps to delivery the Industrial Strategy, overseeing a portfolio that bridges the gap between raw industrial capacity and national renewal.

So much to talk about – let’s crack on

Resources

• 10 year infrastructure strategy
• Infrastructure delivery pipeline
• UK National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA)
• Government's 1.5M housing target
• Construction Skills Mission Board
• Construction Leadership Council

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In this special episode we take a look at the recently completed Tideway Tunnel project now operating beneath London’s River Thames.

Joining me today are two of the minds behind the delivery of this ground breaking project – Roger Bailey, Chief Technical Officer at Tideway and Amey director Tom Kinnear who has been leading the Systems Integrator role on the project for the last few years.

Lots to talk about because the £4.5 billion tunnel has certainly been turning programme delivery heads as a rare project that has been delivered pretty much on time, to budget and is now operating to expectation.

And it’s a project that’s not before time,…. because for over 150 years, London’s subterranean drainage and flood management pulse was maintained by the Victorian genius of Sir Joseph Bazalgette. His sprawling underground brickwork was a masterpiece of public health, keeping sewage off the streets and out of the Thames.

Yet as the city’s population has swelled and rain intensity increased, his system had reached its limit, leaving the River Thames to bear the brunt as overflows from the combined sewage and rain water system regularly overflowed in the river.

The Tideway Tunnel, AKA London’s "Super Sewer", has changed all that and is now fully operational. Stretching 25 kilometers west to east and up to 66 meters beneath the city, it has already prevented some 19.7 million tonnes of sewage from reaching the river.

Which makes it more than just a tunnel. As former chief executive and project guiding mind Andy Mitchell put it, the project rekindles Londoners love affair with the River Thames. Cleaner water plus new areas of quality riverside public space mean that the public can now embrace the Thames as a positive part of city life.

But beyond that, the project’s success perhaps represents a revolution in how we deliver national infrastructure, from its pioneering funding model, to the sophisticated digital nervous system that monitors every drop of flow.

The reality is that the project is talked about around the world as having set a new global benchmark for delivery, funding and social impact, with the Tideway company recently recognized by TIME Magazine as one of the world’s most influential businesses.

So lets hear more ….

Resources

• Tideway Tunnel website
• Amey Advisory website
• Background to the Tideway project
• Bazelgette's sewer system
• Time Magazine most influential businesses
• Thames Water and the Tideway Tunnel

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In this episode we focus literally on the bricks and mortar of the construction sector’s battle to boost productivity, embrace new methods of delivery and hit its housing and infrastructure ambitions and targets.

My guest today is Andrew Shepherd, Managing Director of Growth & Innovation at Ibstock Plc the UK's largest manufacturer of clay bricks and a leading provider of concrete building products.

Andrew has spent his career trying to rethink products and create a manufacturing revolution that genuinely transforms the way housing, infrastructure and buildings are designed and delivered.

Because for decades, the UK construction industry has been locked in a struggle with stagnating productivity and a dwindling skilled labour force.

While other global sectors have embraced a digital and manufacturing revolution, construction has largely remained site-based, manual and vulnerable to the whims of weather and the inefficiencies of a fragmented supply chain.

Yet with a multibillion pound pipeline of infrastructure slated; a government target of 1.5 million new homes; and a non-negotiable mandate for net-zero delivery, the industry can no longer afford the luxury of business as usual.

So today we have to move away from building and toward industrialised manufacturing. And if you heard my recent podcasts with the teams at the New Hospital Programme, the concept of industrialised construction and standardised designs – Hospital 2.0 in their case – is now understood to be central to securing the industry’s future.

This kind of transition requires big thinking and a bold pivot toward Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly; shifting from the muddy construction site to the precision of the factory floor to unlock the speed, quality, and sustainability that the 21st century demands.

Andrew’s mission at Ibstock is clear: how can the fundamental building blocks of construction – the brick – be used to solve the UK’s productivity and housing puzzle through true industrialisation.

It’s a big challenge but one that Andrew is embracing with passion – so let’s hear about it

Resources

• Ibstock PLC website
• Ibstock Futures
• Ibstock's new Nostell brick factory in West Yorkshire
• UK government Modern Methods of Construction ambition
• UK government infrastructure pipeline
• Hospital 2.0 - New Hospital Programme

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In this episode we delve into the infrastructure and expansion ambitions of Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport.

Last year Heathrow handled a massive 84 million passengers, a figure which has grown steadily over the last 30 years and continues to climb with the airport looking to top the 85 million mark this year.

Investment in infrastructure – 100% private investment - has been the key to managing this growth – think Terminal Four in 1984, Heathrow Express in 1998, Terminal Five in 2008, Terminal 2 in 2014

But it’s fair to say that, since then, investment has slowed; first as the airport battled for expansion via its controversial third runway; then as the Covid pandemic decimated its passenger numbers and business model.

But all this is changing. Last year the airport unveiled a £10 billion private investment plan for the next five years. And on top of that it finally announced plans to press forward with the long-awaited third runway project. But its a complex web of passenger upgrades, digital transformations and a race to reach net-zero.

My guest today understands that complex challenge having been embedded in the airport for the last 18 years. Javier Echave is Heathrow’s Chief Operating Officer, a role he took on two years ago after nearly a decade as the airport’s CFO.

As such he is now responsible for turning those multi-billion-pound ambitions into both physical and commercial realities; plans that will first expand capacity by 10 million passengers a year through investment in modern expanded terminals, transport and technology - before transforming the airport with a proposed £30-40bn plus third runway investment designed to take capacity to staggering 150M passengers a year by perhaps 2036.

Bold plans so let’s hear more.

Resources

• Heathrow 2026 investment plans
• Heathrow Airport green lights runway 3 expansion plans
• Heathrow H8 Period: 2027–2031 investment plans
• Sir John Egan - Rethinking Construction
• Heathrow Express
• Terminal Five

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In this episode we are talking about the once-in-a-generation reckoning currently facing the British water industry.

Following the publication of the final report from Sir Jon Cunliffe’s Independent Water Commission last summer - and most recently the landmark January 2026 White Paper, "A New Vision for Water," the regulatory landscape across the sector is being completely redrawn.

To discuss these changes and the implications for the supply chain, I am joined today by Chris Taylor-Dawson, Senior Director for Major Water Infrastructure at regulator Ofwat, someone who is, without question, at the heart of this transition.

And there is certainly a huge amount for Chris to get across. To start with Ofwat itself will be reborn via a merger with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, and some functions of the Environment Agency and Natural England, to create a new single integrated regulator.

And there is a huge amount of work to do on the ground following the latest AMP8 price review. Water companies are committed over the next five years to at least 30 major infrastructure projects, including perhaps nine new reservoirs, as part of a complex £50 billion pound major projects pipeline.

And with Ofwat’s recent Economic Impact of Water Supply Infrastructure report highlighting that continued water scarcity could significantly stifle economic growth, the urgency is certainly growing.

Fortunately, Chris is a calm head when it comes to meeting this kind of challenge and brings a wealth of experience from his previous career delivering major projects for National Highways.

I last spoke to him in November at the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in London and it’s fair to say the challenges have become clearer since then.

Resources

• Ofwat website
• Sir John Cunliffe Independent Commission final report
• January 2026 White Paper "A New Vision for Water"
• Ofwat's Economic Impact of Water Supply Infrastructure report
• PR24 price review
• Ofwat Major Water Infrastructure Programme (MWIP)
• RAPID (Regulators' Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) programme
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit London 2025

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In this episode we. explore how infrastructure, arguably one of the most traditional and risk-averse industries, can truly embrace and embed digital technology and artificial intelligence as it trains and inspires the next generation into the sector.

No question that construction and infrastructure are the backbone of the UK economy. Yet we continue to face a critical shortage of skills - as the pipeline of work grows we see older, experienced professionals retire without being effectively replaced by the next generation.

Add to this the impact of technology which is radically transforming – or should be – the way that we design, build and maintain assets, and we have a cocktail of opportunity and challenge.

To help us navigate this situation, I’m joined by Kirsty Ingleson, Head of Digital Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at Leeds College of Building. Kirsty will be expanding on our discussion today at a series of workshops to be help next month at the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREIIF).

In these workshops, Kirsty promises to challenge the idea that innovation is just about 'new gadgets’. and instead, argue that the real revolution is in how we think, how we learn, and how we build confidence in an age of uncertainty.

From the power of 'reverse mentoring' - where a Gen Z apprentice might just be the one teaching the Site Manager - to the ethical tightrope of AI-driven decision-making, it’s a complex and challenging future.

So let’s get stuck in to some of critical questions around how we train the next generation of surveyors, engineers, and site managers for a digital and AI enhance workplace.

Resources

• Leeds College of Building
• Kirsty Ingleson
• UKREiiF show
• UK Construction Skills Mission Board
• Construction Leadership Council

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This is a special episode recorded live in front of delegates at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in New York – the latest in this series of global events supported by software giant Bentley Systems and the UK Government.

My guest is Andy Byford, Special Advisor at Amtrak, former London Transport Commissioner, and the man in charge of the massive multi-billion dollar transformation of New York’s vast Penn Station, the busiest rail hub in the Western Hemisphere.

The Station sits on Seventh Avenue in the heart of Manhattan alongside the Maddison Square Garden sports and concert venue. It serves hundreds of thousands of passengers each day, via numerous the MTA subway lines and the Long lsland Railroad. Yet for decades it has struggled under the weight of aging assets, fragmented governance, and chronic underinvestment.

The result has been a station that works hard, but not well enough for the city, the region, or the nation it serves.

But that is now beginning to change. Under the expert eye of Andy - AKA the "Train Daddy" - the Penn Station Transformation intends to redefine what a modern, customer-focused, high-capacity rail hub can look like in the heart of one of the world’s densest urban environments.

And after a career running London’s Transport network, and before that, transportation in Sydney, Toronto and New York, he is the man that knows what passengers – and crucially what politicians want from this kind of station transformation.

I kicked off by getting to grips with this vast and highly political project - and asking what world class actually looks like?

Resources

• Penn Station tranformation
• Amtrak New Era of Rail website
• MTA project website
• TIP New York Summit 2026
• American Society of Civil Engineers website

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In this episode we talk about infrastructure resilience: the challenge of designing and building infrastructure in an age of deep uncertainty, where a changing climate, a growing population, and a shrinking public purse have rendered traditional asset management models all but obsolete.

To discuss this vital issue, my guest is Sue Percy, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation and our focus will be on the resilience of the UK’s transport networks.

Sue is well placed to tackle the subject given that she fronted the CIHT’s annual conference last month titled “From Risk to Resilience” at which delegates debated a range of critical issues facing the national and local transport sector.

As the conference heard, the UK’s highways and transportation sector has operated for decades on the logic of risk management - calculating known variables to maintain a steady state. But that era is pretty much over.

And as the conference concluded, that range of systemic pressures requires a fundamental pivot in mindset and practice to move from risk to resilience. It requires us to view our infrastructure not as a collection of isolated assets, but as a living system.

That means building networks that don't just withstand disruption - whether from flooding or funding gaps - but infrastructure that actually adapts to it; embracing digital twins and predictive maintenance; breaking down the silos between engineering and policy, and finding the "technical leadership" necessary to deliver results when the skills gap is wider than ever.

It’s a complex story of moving beyond high-level theory to the sharp end of delivery. So let’s hear more

Resources

• CIHT annual conference 2026 - Risk to Resilience
• CIHT website
• Sue Percy Linked In
• National Highways Road Investment Strategy 3
• AIA Alarm Survey 2026
• Integrated National Transport Strategy
• UK government £1bn structures fund
• Climate Change Committee

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In this episode we take a close look at the work of the Women in Property network and preview a special breakfast discussion that they have planned on 19th May at UKREiiF, the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum being held in Leeds on 19th to 21st May.

Joining me is Sam McCabe, the newly installed national chair of Women in Property who in her day job, is Passive House Lead for the UK and Sustainable Buildings Lead for Scotland at consultant WSP.

There is much to discuss at the UKREIIF breakfast. The property and infrastructure sector is at a moment of both urgency and opportunity. Huge amounts of public and private investment are promised to underpin the nation’s growth ambitions, yet there are still a vast number of barriers to overcome.

Sam’s theme for her year in office tackles these challenges head on and underpins her career mission to deliver buildings and infrastructure that actually work for the environment, for people, for communities and for the bottom line.

So when she talks about “Building more with less,” she makes a direct challenge to the industry’s "silo mentality" and the systemic inefficiencies that too often see great designs diluted by late-stage value engineering.

And by championing inclusive leadership as a practical means to drive better decision-making, Sam is setting out at both WIP and WSP to bridge the gap between diversity and delivery.

So as usual the question is how to drive change. So let’s dig in and discuss her vision for a more collaborative more diverse, more effective and more sustainable industry.

Resources

• Women in Property website
• UKREiiF website
• WiP breakfast meeting 19th May at UKREiiF
• Male Allies UK - National Allyship Summit 14 May
• WiP People - Innovation - Place Summit - 23 April 2026
• WSP website
• Sam McCabe Linked In

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This this week's episode we discuss the decarbonisation of global aviation - and specifically a new project that aims to leverage the growth in nuclear technology to accelerate us towards a new world of affordable e-SAF - sustainable aviation fuels

Because for all the pressures of driving towards a net zero emissions future, the world's hunger for air travel continues to grow. Which leaves the environmental cost of traditional kerosene as no longer sustainable.

And to be honest, given the impact of war in Iran, the pressure to accelerate towards new types of fuel is only going one way.

Today I am joined by Caroline Longman, director and guiding mind at nuclear energy consultancy Equilibrion and by Commercial lead Hannah Vickers. Together they are going to talk us through a potential solution - Equilibrion’s flagship e-SAF project, Eq.flight.

Decarbonising aviation is a tough challenge – perhaps one of the biggest challenges of the global Net Zero transition. Unlike road transport, which can lean on batteries, long-haul flight requires high-density liquid fuels.

And global SAF mandates are tightening – the UK and EU have mandated a 2% SAF blend by 2025, rising to 10%–22% by 2030 - making now an increasingly critical moment.

While Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) exists, current bio-based methods face a feedstock ceiling - there simply isn't enough waste oil or land to fuel the global fleet.

The Eq.flight programme attempts to changes the equation by leveraging the carbon-free power of nuclear energy.

Working in collaboration with partners like Rolls-Royce SMR, Equilibrion it is moving from consultancy to delivery, recently launching a call for partners to join a "trusted, outcome-focused" supply chain.

Resources

• Equilibrion website
• The Eq.Flight project
• Eq.Flight - call for partners
• EU mandate on SAF
• Caroline Longman Linked In
• Hannah Vickers Linked In

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In this episode we tackle the evolving challenges of managing infrastructure investment risk in a rapidly changing world.

As systemic threats like climate change, population growth and social inequality intensify, infrastructure funding models centred on individual assets, on clearly defined risks, and on relatively predictable climate conditions are reaching their limit.

In short, if we are to continue to attract private sector cash to underpin investment in our vital public assets, we need new thinking.

My guest today is doing that thinking and helping to take the necessary action.

Donna Lopata is senior manager for corporate engagement at the Sydney based Investor Group on Climate Change and has just been working with the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney on some ground-breaking research into Systems Stewardship, a radical new way for infrastructure investors to approach the management of risk in this changing world.

Donna’s work caught my attention at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Melbourne. In her presentation she pointed out that the Australian infrastructure investment industry is waking up to a stark reality: if the overarching economic and environmental systems fail, no individual portfolio is safe.

However, the IGCC’s report: Systems Stewardship: Managing Interconnected Climate Risks for Lasting Value suggest that a fundamental shift is already underway. Yet while some 85% of investment professionals now apply "systems thinking," a significant implementation gap remains, hampering the transition from high-level belief statements to concrete action.

Bridging this gap requires rethinking everything from procurement and carbon assessment to the very fundamental of assessing risk.

Resources

• Investor Group on Climate Change
• The Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney
• Systems Stewardship: Managing Interconnected Climate Risks for Lasting Value
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne 2026
• Donna Lopata Linked In

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In this episode we are talking about water sector reform with Mark Thurston, chief executive of Anglian Water, arguably one of the most progressive and innovative water companies in the UK.

Not without its problems and critics of course, but Anglian is certainly one water company that has really taken on the challenge to work with its supply chain to boost infrastructure productivity and cut out carbon.

Mark joined Anglian in July 2024 having previously spent nearly seven years at the helm of the challenging and controversial HS2 project – the subject of our last conversation for the Podcast when he joined me back in 2023 for Episode 5.

No question, it’s a challenging time for the water sector. After years of public anger over sewage spills, service failures and rising bills, the water industry in England and Wales is facing a once-in-a-generation reckoning.

That moment crystallised last summer with the final report of the Independent Water Commission, chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe. This pulled no punches and in it 88 recommendations called for sweeping reform: replacing Ofwat with a single integrated regulator, creating regional water planning authorities, mandating water metering, and embedding a new “public benefit” duty into company licences.

At the same time, Ofwat’s latest price review has demanded a step-change in asset renewal, resilience to climate change, and service performance - all while keeping water affordable and the sector investable. The stakes could hardly be higher.

Without action, the country faces a potential shortfall of around a third of today’s public water supply by 2050. Right now, Anglian is responding with plans to deliver new reservoirs in Lincolnshire and the Cambridgeshire Fens, and battling to unlock delivery without compromising environmental protection or public trust.

So Mark finds himself once again at the heart of the infrastructure challenge. But his background perhaps brings rare experience of leading mega-projects under intense public and political scrutiny - experience that I’d say the water sector urgently needs right now.

So let’s explore those challenges.

Resources

• Anglian Water website
• Anglian Water annual performance report 2025
• Independent Water Commission - Cunliffe Review
• Ofwat's AMP8 final determination
• Anglian Water's Business Plan for AMP8
• HS2 website

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In this episode of the podcast we are explore the way the UK Armed Services has been radically upping its game in terms of the support, promotion and development of professional engineering careers.

To do this, I'm joined today by Squadron Leader David Littlemore from the Royal Air Force, currently executive officer infrastructure at Cyber and Specialist Operations Command.

David is also fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in fact, the only chartered civil engineer in the RAF, and I'd say that he is also a passionate advocate for merging the best of military and civilian engineering training to create complete and capable professional engineers fit for the future.

David’s engineering career journey was unorthodox. He started straight from school, aged 16, working in a bridge design office, where he progressed through ONC and then HNC studies before gaining a degree in Civil Engineering at Durham University. He then switched to the military by being commissioning into the Royal Air Force in 2008.

Since then his career has bridged the gap between civilian consultancy and high-stakes military infrastructure, tackling work across the UK and from the South Atlantic to the Middle East.

And today, as a Chartered Civil Engineer, he is certainly testament to the "long winding road" of modern professional engineering careers.

Beyond his technical expertise in project management and infrastructure delivery, he mentors young technicians and engineers and is committed to helping the next generation understand the profound value of professional recognition, and what it takes to build a career.

Resources

• RAF Cyber and Specialist Operations Command
• RAF professional engineering careers
• David Littlemore Linked In
• ICE routes to membership
• ICE Council
• QUEST scholarships

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In this episode we dive into the infrastructure sector’s journey towards digitisation, decarbonisation and modernisation – a journey which to be honest, seems like one that we have been on for some time.

To do this, my guest is Mark Coates, Vice President of Infrastructure Policy Advancement at software giant Bentley Systems and the guiding mind behind TIP, the Transforming Infrastructure Performance global Summit initiative, the latest iteration of which was held last month in Melbourne.

Full disclosure – from the earliest days TIP back in 2022, I have been working with Mark to deliver the summits – in London, Manchester, Singapore, Toronto, New York and, as I say, most recently Melbourne. And it’s fair to say that, throughout this global journey, we have seen many common failings across the delivery chain but also, thankfully, identified a huge number of positive lessons to be shared.

One thing that is clear is that “business as usual”, the "old way" of delivering projects - siloed data, stagnant productivity, and resource-heavy construction – is broken.

Hence the need for a Transformation of Infrastructure Performance. Born from a UK government initiative and now championed by the National Infrastructure Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) alongside partners like Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers, TIP has evolved from a local policy framework into a worldwide movement aimed at repairing this broken model. It’s goal is to help governments around the world to find better ways to deliver the infrastructure needed to support their communities.

So let’s hear more – what does the roadmap look like for a future where infrastructure truly performs for people and the planet?

Resources

• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne
• UK government 10 year Infrastructure Strategy
• Mark Coates Linked In
• Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2025
• Australian Infrastructure Investment Monitor
• Bentley Systems website
• Construction Leadership Council

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In this week's episode we take a deep dive into the global infrastructure investment market as I chat to Jon Phillips, chief executive of GIIA, the Global Infrastructure Investors Association.

The Association represents the world's foremost institutional investors who together manage over US$2.2 trillion in infrastructure assets across 68 countries. And as we stand in 2026, the landscape for private capital has never been more complex.

The podcast is being recorded during the latest Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by software giant Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers in Melbourne so gives us an opportunity to also explore how the infrastructure market is fairing on this side of the world and the pressures, challenges and opportunities that clients and investors face in the Australian and South East Asian market.

While globally 2025 saw record-breaking fundraising, the industry is grappling with a fascinating paradox: a massive hunger for "bankable" projects set against a backdrop of geopolitical shifts, from the evolving impact of the Trump administration to the cooling of the AI-driven digital infrastructure boom.

Jon’s career spans the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to Heathrow, and nearly a decade at the helm of GIIA, where he now sits at the intersection of policy, delivery, and capital.

Which makes him the perfect person to give us a quick update on the global infrastructure investment market.

Resources

• The Global Infrastructure Investors Association
• GIIA’s latest Infrastructure Pulse survey
• Jon Phillips Linked In
• Australian Infrastructure Investment Monitor
• Victoria State infrastructure strategy
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne

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In this week's episode we return to the New Hospital Programme - still one of the most ambitious public infrastructure programmes the UK has seen in decades.

The last time I was in NHP’s Waterloo office in London was for episode 143 just before Christmas. Then I spoke to Emily King and Doug Baldock about the scale and urgency of the challenge to replace ageing and unsafe hospital infrastructure, and the shift towards industrialised construction through the £37bn Hospital 2.0 programme.

Today, we’re going deeper into the “how”.

Because £37 billion of ambition only becomes reality if the market can actually deliver it.

To do that I am joined by Emma Whigham, Alliance Director for the NHP Alliance, and Rick Lennard, Chief Operating Officer for the New Hospital Programme. Together, they’re at the sharp end of designing and procuring the Hospital 2.0 Alliance - the new commercial and delivery model intended to underpin the programme for the next 12 years.

This is about more than building hospitals. It’s about reshaping how the NHS works with industry, creating a stable pipeline that gives suppliers the confidence to invest in skills, manufacturing capacity and modern methods of construction.

It’s about standardisation without stifling innovation. And it’s about learning from decades of fragmented delivery to create something more programmatic, predictable and collaborative.

So let’s crack on and explore how the Alliance is structured, what early market engagement has changed, where the market pushback really is - or is likely to be.

Resources

• New Hospital Programme: Plan for Implementation
• Government hospital investment press release
• Hospital 2.0 Alliance
• Supplier Guide.
• Egan review 1998
• Latham review 1994

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This week's special 151st episode was recorded in front of a live audience at last year’s brilliant Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers in Toronto Canada.

In fact, right about the time this episode is published I will be in Melbourne helping the team to deliver the next event in this TIP series – so look out for podcast flowing out of that!

Back to this episode and my guest is Peter Weltman, Vice Chair of the Canada Infrastructure Council, Director at consultant Technomics and until 2023, Financial Accountability Officer for Ontario.

We discuss the critical issue of Housing-Enabling Infrastructure and its impact on the future of Canada’s Communities – and in particular the work being done to help Canada respond to its growing housing challenge,.

Because Canada’s housing challenge is not just about bricks and mortar - it’s about the infrastructure that makes communities liveable, sustainable, and connected. Roads, transit, water systems, energy grids, digital networks, and social infrastructure all form the backbone that enables housing to be built, scaled, and supported over the long term.

Without this foundation, new homes risk becoming isolated developments rather than thriving communities.

As population growth accelerates, climate shocks intensify, and affordability pressures mount, the question is not whether Canada needs more homes, but whether we can deliver the enabling infrastructure at the speed and scale required.

That means moving beyond fragmented planning toward coordinated investment, smarter regulation, and nation-building programs that unlock land and create confidence for both communities and private investors. The creation of the new Major Projects Office (MPO) should help by creating a single point of contact to get projects built faster – the question is how - and what needs to change first.

The Council is at the heart of shaping Canada’s infrastructure ambitions – we’ll hear how later on – and has just produced its first National Infrastructure Assessment report which I reckon will provide essential reading for all.

So lots to chat through, and I kicked off by asking why is infrastructure so critical to solving Canada’s housing challenge.

Resources

• Canadian Infrastructure Council
• CIC National Infrastructure Assessment report - Building Foundations for Tomorrow:
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Toronto Summit
• Technomics website

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This week's podcast celebrates the 150th episode by delving into one of the most urgent and complex issues that continues to challenge the UK construction sector – namely the critical shortage of skilled workers.

As we know, government plans to invest public and private funds worth over £725 billion in infrastructure over the next decade or so. That will decarbonise and secure our energy systems, reboot the nation’s transport networks, protect the environment, build 1.5 million new homes and retrofit some five million more.

The scale of ambition is enormous. But none of it can happen without the people needed to deliver it.

And that’s where the newly launched Construction Skills Mission Board comes in – bringing together senior industry leaders, educators, training bodies, government ministers and unions to ensure the sector can recruit, train and retain the workforce it needs to meet the demands of the decade ahead.

My guest today is Mark Reynolds, Chair of the Construction Leadership Council, Executive Chair of constriction giant Mace and also Chair of this new Construction Skills Mission Board.

Mark helped CLC to establish the board as a way to support the Government’s commitment to invest an additional £625 million in construction skills. And its inaugural meeting late last year was described as a pivotal moment that signalled a new level of urgency, coordination and commitment to solving one of construction’s greatest long-term challenges.

The goal is clear: to develop and drive a national strategy capable of recruiting an extra 100,000 workers each year. The focus is on five key levers: boosting employer confidence to invest, building clear entry pathways, improving access to training, ensuring effective funding and creating reliable, rewarding career structures.

So big ambitions but what’s next? Let hear more…

Resources

• Construction Skills Mission Board
• Construction Leadership Council
• Mace website
• Mace Group announces majority investment in Mace Consult from Goldman Sachs Alternatives
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance

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In this week's episode we are seeking a new year parliamentary progress update to discover how 18 months of government infrastructure ambition is actually being turned into real economic and social growth potential.

To help me with this I am joined once again by Mike Reader, MP for Northampton South, the newly re-elected chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure and Construction.

And, of course, as we heard in his first visit to the Infrastructure Podcast a year ago, before he was elected to parliament in July 2024, Mike was a director at construction giant Mace.

Well it is certainly an interesting moment for the sector. The UK entered the new year with infrastructure right at the centre of its growth strategy. Ministers are clear that better transport, energy, housing and digital networks are essential if we are to unlock regional productivity, raise living standards and support the transition to Net Zero.

As we have heard in so many episodes of the podcast, large projects are already under way - from new nuclear capacity and grid upgrades to major transport links and hospital programmes. And the pipeline is real and ready.

But the real test now is whether long-promised ambition can be converted into delivery, economic value, and public confidence.

At the same time, familiar structural challenges persist. Slow planning, skills shortages, fragmented procurement, high costs and stubbornly low productivity continue to constrain output. The housing crisis remains acute, energy infrastructure is racing against time, and the UK’s ageing assets demand smarter stewardship, not just new concrete.

Meanwhile technology, data and AI offer huge potential, but meaningful adoption depends on a stable pipeline and the right capability in the workforce.

So let’s get a progress update from the heart of power and explore whether government is actually now doing enough to provide long-term certainty, mobilise private investment, modernise delivery, and turn infrastructure ambition into real social and economic outcomes.

Resources

• Mike Reader MP website
• All Party Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure
• Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
• Construction Leadership Council
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance
• Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development Committee

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In this week's podcast we’re talking about the tricky challenge of safely managing and disposing of the UK’s expanding stock of nuclear waste. Creating a Geological Disposal Facility.

For more than 70 years, the UK has benefited from nuclear technology - generating low-carbon electricity, advancing medicine, supporting industry, and contributing to national defence.

Alongside those benefits comes responsibility.

Because the most hazardous radioactive wastes produced over those decades will remain radioactive for many thousands of years.

And while they are currently stored safely at a number of surface facilities across the country, - as we heard on the podcast in episode 126 last year – those stores require ongoing monitoring, management, and periodic rebuilding. They are secure for the short to medium term - but they are not permanent solutions.

My guests today are tackling that very issue. Malcolm Orford is Head of major permissions and Neil Hyatt, chief scientific advisor at Nuclear Waste Services who are leading the hugely ambitious and challenging project to develop a Geological Disposal Facility for long term disposal of this waste..

As we will hear, it is one of the largest environmental protection programmes in its history: a deep underground facility, between 200 and 1,000 metres below ground, designed to isolate higher-activity radioactive waste within engineered vaults and rock formations, using a multi-barrier system to keep it safely contained long after today’s institutions no longer exist.

Nuclear Waste Services is leading this programme on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Its dual challenge is to find a suitable geological site and identify a willing host community in which to embed the facility.

Progress is being made with community partnerships established in Cumbria, alongside extensive scientific evaluation, engineering studies, and international collaboration. But it all comes at a huge cost over vast timescales and in often uncharted technical grounds.

Resources

• Nuclear Waste Services
• The Geological Disposal Facility
• Video explaining the challenge
• Community engagement
• GDF benefits

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In today's podcast we talk about skills and the challenge facing contractors to build a productive workforce fit for the future.

The UK is in the middle of a huge moment for infrastructure. Government has committed to a long-term national infrastructure strategy, has published a £725 billion pipeline, and repeated its commitments to “build for the future”.

All this points towards a sector finally moving beyond decades of stop-start investment.

Yet on the ground, delivery remains under pressure. Projects are competing for the same finite pool of people. Productivity stubbornly lags behind other sectors.

And despite tens of thousands of people entering construction-related training each year, too many never translate that training into long-term jobs.

Well my guest today is Matt Cannon, chief executive of major contracting group Clancy, someone who understands and faces this challenge - this fundamental tension - day in day out. So I hope he will give us something of a reality check.

Because while the industry is being asked to scale at pace, modernise how it builds, adopt digital tools, and deliver safer, more efficient outcomes, it continues to operate in a system that too often lacks long-term certainty.

Short forward order books, fragmented procurement, and a skills system that still leans heavily on supply rather than real demand continue to undermine confidence to invest in people.

In reality, before the industry can build a larger, more productive workforce, it must first build a safe one - getting more people on site today, working competently, consistently, and with confidence.

Apprenticeships and long-term training programmes are critical, but they take time to mature, and they rely on employers believing that work will still be there in two, five, or ten years’ time.

So the question is no longer whether skills matter - it’s whether the UK’s infrastructure system is set up to support the workforce it says it needs. And of course, what needs to change to turn ambition into delivery.

Let’s find out more from the coal face of contracting

Resources

• Clancy Group website
• UK government announces £600M investment in skills
• UK backs investment in technical colleges
• Vocational level training
• Construction Skills Mission Board demand led economy
• £725 billion infrastructure pipeline

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In today’s podcast we explore the power of investment in infrastructure to change and improve people’s lives - every day.

My guest is David Porter, the newly installed 161st President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a man who throughout his career, has had public service top of mind, top of his agenda and etched throughout everything he does.

As a career civil servant in Northern Ireland, he knows better than most how important it is to work with communities - - and of course how civil engineering and infrastructure shapes almost every aspect of daily life-from the water we drink and the energy that powers our homes, to the transport networks and flood defences that keep the country moving and safe.

And yet, despite its central role, and as David points out, the profession often struggles to explain its value, earn public trust, or influence the decisions that matter most.

But we need to meet that challenge. The UK faces ageing assets, a stretched public purse, ambitious net zero targets, rapid technological change and growing public scepticism about long-term investment.

At the same time, the civil engineering profession is grappling with skills shortages, questions of capability, and how best to deploy emerging tools like artificial intelligence responsibly.

In his inaugural address last November, David argued that civil engineers need to change how they talk about their work - moving away from technical language and towards a clearer focus on the services infrastructure provides and the societal outcomes it enables.

He has also challenged clients, institutions and engineers themselves to raise their game: to become better communicators, better decision-makers and better stewards of long-term public value.

So let’s deep deeper to find out how to ensure civil engineering and infrastructure truly serves society in the decades ahead.

Resources

• David Porter's ICE presidential address November 2025
• ICE website
• ICE President’s Future Leaders initiative
• Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance summit London 25
• Routes to ICE membership
• Volunteering with ICE

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We kick off the Infrastructure Podcast for 2026 by talking about nuclear power and taking a close look at the much discussed - and much anticipated - small modular reactor programme being developed by Rolls Royce SMR.

My guest today is Ruth Todd CBE, Rolls-Royce SMR’s Operations and Supply Chain Director, the person charged with turning this long-standing ambition into a deliverable reality. And having led the UK’s hugely successful Covid Vaccine Task Force back in 2020/21 and worked on High Speed 2, Ruth is no stranger to a massive challenge.

Certainly, delivering new nuclear in the UK is up there in the league table of major challenges. As the recent Fingleton Review put it, the sector is facing strategic failure at a moment of national importance.

We are certainly at a moment of profound transition. The global energy system is under strain from rising prices, geopolitical uncertainty, and the urgent need to decarbonise.

But it is also true that the UK government has responded with one of the most ambitious interventions in its energy history: major investment in Sizewell C, fusion research, and crucially, £2.5bn to accelerate the development and deployment of SMRs.

And at the heart of this renewed ambition for a new “golden age of nuclear energy” is the Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor programme - described as the UK’s first domestic nuclear technology in more than twenty years and designed to provide stable, affordable, emission-free energy for at least six decades.

Rolls-Royce SMR’s approach uses factory-built modules, a standardised design, and a turnkey engineering, manufacture and assembly model which aims to reduce the cost and delivery challenges that have plagued traditional large-scale nuclear projects. And it has the go-ahead to deploy the first three SMRs at Wylfa in Anglesey.

Each will capable of powering a million homes, with a design that is up to eighteen months ahead of any competitor in a European regulatory process. Which arguably means Rolls-Royce SMR now sits at the forefront of what could become one of the country’s most significant green export industries and the key to thousands of new skilled jobs and longlasting local legacy.

It's certainly an exciting moment - so let’s hear more

Resources

• Rolls Royce SMR
• UK Government nuclear July announcement
• UK and Czechia to lead global race on small modular reactors
• The Fingleton Review
• Announcement for Wylfa site
• Ruth Todd CBE

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In this last episode of 2025 we once again look at Canada’s infrastructure market to compare and contrast the global scale of investment ambition on that side of the Atlantic.

As such, it is my pleasure to welcome Jennifer McKelvie, Member of Parliament for Ajax, Ontario, and former deputy mayor of Toronto who has without question emerged over the last few years as one of the leading voices helping to steer Canada’s infrastructure investment transformation.

So first some background: Canada stands at a pivotal moment in its infrastructure journey. From housing shortages and strained transit systems to the growing impacts of climate change, the country faces pressures that span geography, sectors, and generations.

Yet this moment is also one of enormous opportunity. With a renewed federal focus on nation-building, Canada is reshaping how it plans, finances, and delivers the infrastructure that underpins its future prosperity.

In her recent address to the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by Bentley Systems in Toronto, Jennifer outlined an ambitious vision for Canada to accelerate delivery of major projects, create of new federal agencies to drive housing supply, and strengthen the public-private partnership ecosystem.

Key initiatives such as the launch of the Major Projects Office, establishment of Build Canada Homes, and support for Canada Infrastructure Bank’s expanding footprint, underline this as a moment defined by scale, speed, and strategic intent.

And, of course, urgency - urgency to build and adapt in the face of an increasingly uncertain political relationship with the United States and to prepare communities for the climate realities already unfolding across the country.

Resources

• Jennifer McKelvie, Member of Parliament for Ajax, Ontario
• Canada Major Projects Office
• Build Canada Homes
• Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund
• Building Canada Strong
• Canada Public Transit Fund
• Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund
• Canada Infrastructure Bank
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Toronto 2025

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In this week's episode we’re taking a close look at the New Hospital Programme, a programme which has been described as perhaps the most ambitious National Health Service infrastructure investment in decades.

The NHP programme is tasked with delivering a new generation of state-of-the-art hospitals across England. At its core is Hospital 2.0, a standardised, repeatable and industrialised approach to hospital design and delivery that promises greater certainty, faster construction, improved quality, predictable costs, and cutting-edge clinical environments.

To explain the programme and how it will be delivered, I am joined by Doug Baldock, Technical Services Director, and Emily King, Director of Industrialisation at the NHP, two leaders central to shaping the technical, commercial and industrial strategy underpinning Hospital 2.0.

And with a long-term pipeline backed by rolling five-year funding envelopes averaging around £3 billion a year from 2030, the programme aligns with the Government’s wider Industrial Strategy and aims not only to modernise the NHS estate but to boost innovation, strengthen supply chains and support economic growth across the UK.

The scale of this challenge is immense: dozens of complex hospital schemes, varied site conditions, urgent RAAC rebuilds – and, of course, the need to rebuild public and industry confidence after years of delay and uncertainty.

Yet with clearer planning assumptions, a 12-year £37bn Hospital 2.0 Alliance procurement, and deep engagement with suppliers, the programme now seeks to unlock the capability and investment needed for a sustainable long-term programme.

Well let’s find out what it means in reality..

Resources

• New Hospital Programme: Plan for Implementation
• Government hospital investment press release
• Supplier Guide.
• Egan review 1998
• Latham review 1994

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In this week's episode we are once again discussing data, digital tools and the use of artificial intelligence and the way that it’s set to transform infrastructure performance.

My guest today is Nathan Marsh, Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East, Africa at software giant Bentley Systems, someone who has, to be honest, been immersed in tech challenges in one shape or another for his entire career in infrastructure.

So Nathan is well placed to shed light on the way – and the pace - technology is shaping the sector.

We are chatting today at the Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2025 conference in Amsterdam where Nathan has been discussing, amongst other things, the transformative role technology in shaping the future of national infrastructure.

There is no question that over the last two decades the use and power of digital systems has evolved from basic 2D drawing tools, through the evolution of Building Information Modelling to give us the kind of software tools that are at last truly changing the way that engineers approach the design, construction and management of infrastructure assets.

And as we have heard recently on previous episodes of the Infrastructure Podcast, in the short time since generative AI tools such ChatGPT have emerged and become mainstream, there is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s minds that AI is now taking every aspect of that technology revolution up a notch.

Notwithstanding the clear – and potentially well founded – fears around the unintended consequences of accelerating the use of AI technology, few can rule out the potential for change that is around the corner.

Certainly, the use of technology to provide better tools, smarter workflows and more connected data is key to changing and improving the outcomes generated in return for the vast investment planned for infrastructure – but how?

So let’s get a bit more practical insight into what this technology might hold for infrastructure design, construction and management sector.

Resources

• Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2025
• UK government 10 year Infrastructure Strategy
• Nathan Marsh Linked In
• Bentley Systems website
• 1st Battalion Welsh Guards
• Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club
• London Welsh Rugby Football Club

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In this week's episode we’re diving into the world of digital ground movement monitoring – a rapidly evolving field that’s quietly transforming how we manage, maintain, and future-proof our critical infrastructure.

Emerging into this market is Osprey Measurement Systems, a high-tech business spun out of University College London that’s using cutting-edge digital tools to bring greater precision, speed, and insight into ground movement – something that affects everything from railways and tunnels to utilities and city infrastructure.

To help us understand the technology, the market, and the broader implications, I’m joined by Daniel Scott, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Osprey.

Daniel’s background is nothing if not broad – he’s a former lecturer at UCL in civil and geomatic engineering and has worked on major UK infrastructure projects including Crossrail and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

He's also a serving member of the 507 Specialist Team Royal Engineers focusing on railway infrastructure – more about that later, I’m sure!

In this conversation, we explore the journey of OMS as a spin-out company, the power of reality capture and digital measurement to transform infrastructure delivery and monitoring, and what it takes to bring genuinely disruptive technology to a traditionally risk-averse sector – and how technology like this can shift the performance, efficiency, and safety of infrastructure assets.

Resources

• Osprey Measurement Systems
• Daniel Scott Linked In
• University College London ground engineering
• Crossrail lessons learned
• Channel Tunnel High Speed Rail
• 507 Specialist Team Royal Engineers

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This episode was recorded live at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance summit held in Toronto, Canada in October and hosted by Bentley Systems.

I’m joined by Divya Shah, Managing Director of the Trade & Transportation sector at the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB), an organisation at the forefront of this mission to deliver the infrastructure Canada needs to stay competitive and resilient.

Infrastructure has always been central to Canada’s story — a vast country knitted together by railways, ports, roads, and power grids that enabled economic growth and connected communities. Today, the stakes are even higher. As Canada accelerates its transition to a low-carbon, resilient, and inclusive economy, infrastructure has never been more critical — or more political.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank was created to act as a catalyst: unlocking private capital, supporting transformative projects, and enabling the kind of nation-building investment needed to meet 21st-century challenges. With more than $16.8 billion invested in 102 projects across the country, from clean power and green infrastructure to transit, broadband, and trade corridors, the CIB is reshaping the way Canada builds.

But challenges remain. Canada faces shifting geopolitics, urgent climate targets, rising costs, and the need for stronger coordination between federal, provincial, and Indigenous partners. The question is not just how we build, but how we build faster, smarter, and more inclusively.

Resources

• Canada Infrastructure Bank
• Divya Shah
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance
• TIPLive Toronto
• Bentley Systems website
• For the video version of this podcast visit the Infrastructure Podcast YouTube

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In this week's episode we take a look at airport development and specifically how, contrary to popular believe, it can actually positively benefit local communities.

To do this we are going to focus on Luton Rising, the community-owned owner of London Luton Airport and the driving force behind one of the UK’s most ambitious aviation expansion projects — a £2.4 billion investment that will increase capacity from 19 to 32 million passengers per year through the development of a second terminal.

And at the heart of the plan is Nick Platts, Managing Director of Luton Rising. For the last two and a half years he has been immersed in this vast and ambitious project and used his experience from working in aviation and logistic around the world and last April successfully achieved a Design Consent Order – DCO for this important piece of Nationally Significant Infrastructure.

But this is far more than a transport or infrastructure story. As the UK’s only 100% community-owned airport, Luton Rising channels its profits directly back into local services and community projects — over half a billion pounds since 1997.

As such, the project represents not only a major boost for the regional economy — contributing an estimated £1.5 billion annually to GDP and creating thousands of jobs — but also a pioneering example of how growth, sustainability, and social value can align under public ownership.

So lots to talk about as we explore what makes the Luton Rising model so distinctive, and how it navigated the complex Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project process, to get to the starting blocks ready to turn ambition into reality.

Resources

• Luton Rising expansion plans
• Luton Rising website
• London Luton Airport
• Luton Rising DCO for expansion
• Luton Borough Council
• UK Government policy on airport expansion

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This week's special episode is a live recording in front of an audience in the newly revamped main gallery at the Building Centre in London.

My guest is Baroness Hilary Armstrong of Hill Top, Chair of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods and life-long advocate for communities and regeneration and the conversation explores one of the most important – yet often overlooked – questions in public policy: “how do we reestablish the concept of decent neighbourhoods as a means to renew the country from the ground up?”

Some background: Baroness Armstrong has spent her career at the intersection of politics, policy and community life and today – from her work as a social worker in Sunderland ..to her time as a Cabinet Minister in the last Labour Government shaping the New Deal for Communities. A great platform to talk about what’s gone wrong in the past decade, what can be done now to bring new hope across Britain’s neighbourhoods.

The Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods - ICON - is a cross-party initiative dedicated to understanding how neighbourhoods can drive national renewal and in the Spring is set to publish Think Neighbourhoods, its new report in why and how investment and focus on neighbourhoods can revitalise lives across the UK.

And it certainly is a really interesting moment for housing. The government is pressing forward with its target to building 1.5 million new homes and – as we heard on the podcast last week - has just given the thumbs up to the New Towns Taskforce’s plans for 12 communities across the UK. Meanwhile, the post Grenfell fire challenge to build and retrofit homes to be safer, warmer and more carbon efficient, continues to grow.

A tough brief for sure and ICON’s interim report - published last March - makes a compelling case for investment in and focus on neighbourhoods as part of this journey.

It identifies over 600 ‘mission-critical neighbourhoods’ across the country – places where disadvantage, disconnection and declining social infrastructure are holding people back and calls for a radical shift in how government works, arguing that “thinking big means thinking neighbourhoods.”

“if Britain wants to deliver the government’s missions and rebuild trust in politics,” it says, “it must start by investing in its neighbourhoods.”

Resources

• The Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods - ICON
• Baroness Hilary Armstrong of Hill Top
• Interim Report – Think Neighbourhoods
• ICON’s summer progress report
• ICON's lates research on what is happening in England’s neighbourhoods
• The Building Centre, Store Street, London

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In this week's episode we focus on New Towns and specifically the government’s on-going ambitions to tackle the UK’s housing crisis through the creation of a new generation of communities across England.

Now Britain’s housing crisis is not new — but the scale of the Government’s ambition to tackle it is. With a target to deliver 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament, the focus is turning to how this can be achieved in a way that creates thriving, sustainable communities rather than disconnected housing estates.

In September the government accepted the findings of the New Towns Taskforce and committed to working on ideas for up to 12 New Towns through the work of the New Towns Unit – with a consultation planned for the Spring. So some progress but lots to do.

And to discuss the challenge, I am joined today by Lord Ben Gascoigne, chair of the House of Lords Built Environment Committee who will talk us through the findings of the committee’s s latest report, New Towns: Laying the Foundations

This argues that the UK cannot achieve its new town and housing ambitions without decisive national leadership and long-term commitment from central government. It calls for a dedicated cabinet-level minister and a new national delivery agency to oversee a programme of development corporations that are capable of building this new generation of well-planned, infrastructure-led towns.

At the heart of the report lies a message that echoes across decades of British planning history — that success demands vision, coordination, and patience.

But in today’s fiscal climate and fragmented planning landscape, those qualities are harder than ever to muster.

Resources

• New Towns: Laying the Foundations
• House of Lords Built Environment Committee
• Lord Ben Gascoigne
• New Towns Taskforce report Sept 25
• Government response Sept 25

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In this week's episode we’re taking a closer look at infrastructure’s use of data – how emerging digital technologies and AI tools are shaping and transforming the way we manage our built and natural environment.

To help me I am joined by James Lee, the new Chief Operating Officer at global infrastructure giant Bentley Systems in a quiet corner of the annual Year in Infrastructure tech gathering and celebration in Amsterdam.

It is clearly a moment when global infrastructure delivery faces unprecedented pressures — from net zero targets and climate resilience; to skills shortages and digital transformation.

And as we have been hearing at the event, Bentley stands at the intersection of engineering and innovation with a mission “to close the gap between what the world demands and what we are able to deliver – as chief executive Nicolas Cumins puts it.

So a lot to chat through with James today. He joins Bentley after a two-decade career spanning Google Cloud and SAP and so, I think, brings a unique perspective on operational challenges, AI integration, and the power of partnerships to drive transformation at scale.

Let’s explore how James plans to align these innovations with the realities of infrastructure delivery.

Resources

• Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure
• Bentley Systems website
• Infrastructure Policy Advancement - TIPLive summits
• Google Cloud

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In today’s episode we turn our attention to architecture and its role in shaping not just our buildings and infrastructure, but the society, environment and communities that are created by our built environment.

To tackle this challenging brief, I am joined this week in a quiet corner of the Building Centre in London by Chris Williamson, internationally renowned architect, founder of Weston Williamson + Partners – the practice that he set up in 1985 - and the freshly installed new President of the Royal Institute of British Architects – RIBA.

Chris is a man with a bold vision to reshape the profession and reshape RIBA, an organisation which has been a cornerstone for architecture for nearly two centuries.

But today, the institution faces serious questions about its relevance, its purpose, and how it can adapt to meet the needs of a fast-changing world.

And as issues like climate resilience, community engagement, and professional diversity take centre stage, there is growing pressure for RIBA to evolve — to become more accessible, more influential, and more impactful.

But to honest, it’s a challenge that Chris has been immersed in for his whole career, having worked on a huge portfolio of infrastructure projects, including notably the Jubilee Line extension station at London Bridge, Elizabeth Line stations at Paddington and Woolwich, the Melbourne Metro Tunnel project plus many urban regeneration projects, such as the Arden Cross masterplan in the West Midlands.

All of this work has emphasised Chris’s focus on the design of spaces that are not only functional but are sustainable and, crucially, enjoyable for people.

In his presidential nomination bid, Chris promised big change – in his first 100 days he vowed to review the 2021 RIBA Masterplan to create a more purposeful institution that leads on sustainability, champions diverse routes into the profession, delivers lifelong learning, and rebuilds public trust in architecture as a force for societal progress.

So what does that future look like? What will it take to deliver meaningful reform? And how can architects once again be seen — not just as designers of buildings — but as stewards of a better, fairer, more sustainable world?

Resources

• Weston Williamson + Partners website
• Royal Institute of British Architects – RIBA website
• Chris Williams elected RIBA President
• Chris Williamson's presidential bid
• The Stirling Prize
• Chris on “Your Architect” by Derek Senior
• RIBA amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill

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In today's episode we take a close look at the investor’s perspective on the UK’s infrastructure market — and, in particular, what the landmark Final Investment Decision on the new Sizewell C nuclear power station tells us about the appetite, the risks, and the rewards for long-term private capital.

Because, following completion of the deal last month, for the first time, the British public will be co-owners of a nuclear power station, sitting alongside a powerful mix of investors including EDF, Centrica, La Caisse, and Amber Infrastructure.

And as such I am pleased to be joined today by Jamie Hossain, Senior Investment Director at Amber Infrastructure and lead portfolio manager at International Public Partnerships (INPP), who has been leading their latest 7.6% investment in Sizewell C.

Amber is the the specialist international investment manager and investment adviser to infrastructure investment companyInternational Public Partnerships Limited (INPP). As such he gives us his first hand perspective on the deal, what it means for UK infrastructure – and perhaps what is in his future pipeline.

Sizewell C is one of the most significant new energy projects in a generation — a £38 billion nuclear power station in Suffolk that will be a twin of the Hinkley Point C station now under construction in Somerset and provide reliable, low-carbon electricity for six million homes. It’s also a project that signals a new era for infrastructure investment in the UK.

Final Investment Decision is significant. Some 70 per cent of construction spend is expected to flow to British businesses, with tens of thousands of jobs created, and £2 billion a year in savings to the electricity system.

So it’s a project that demonstrates how public and private capital can work hand-in-hand to deliver national benefit.

But what does this mean from the investor’s perspective? How are infrastructure investor's like Amber assessing opportunity and risk and what models offer the right balance of stability, flexibility, and return for future projects?

Resources

• Amber Infrastructure Group
• INPP’s Sizewell C investor presentation
• INPP’s most recent investor factsheet
• INPP's annual report
• All about the RAB model
• Some INPP case studies
• An overview of INPP’s portfolio
• The Australian Cobberdog

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In today's episode we tackle one of the construction sector’s most persistent and costly challenges: productivity.

The UK construction industry is under huge pressure as it copes with economic pressures, a shrinking workforce and a pipeline of increasingly complex projects.

Creating major infrastructure schemes to transform our energy water and transport systems, tackling a 1.5 million house construction target and the constant battle to renew the aging assets that glue our society together — and it is clear that delivering more with less is no longer optional, it’s critical.

And yet, while technology, manufacturing, and logistics have all seen huge productivity gains in recent decades, construction has stubbornly lagged behind.

That’s why the Construction Productivity Taskforce was established: to bring clients, contractors, consultants, and supply chain partners together to find practical ways to change the game.

Its latest report is called Improving Construction Productivity: Practical insights from Pilot Site Studies. And it doesn’t just set out ideas - it actually draws on three live, complex projects to demonstrate what really works on site – and of course what doesn’t.

The findings are compelling. Whether it’s reducing unproductive variability, leveraging digital technologies, rethinking crane scheduling, or embedding early supply chain collaboration, the evidence shows that measurable, repeatable improvements are possible. More importantly, they’re available now.

To explore the report’s findings — and what they mean for the industry at large — I’m joined by Peter Jones, Operations Director at Skanska and Visiting Professor at Loughborough University. As a member of the Taskforce, Peter is uniquely placed to explain not just the research, but how to embed its recommendations across the sector.

Resources

• Improving Construction Productivity paper
• Construction Productivity Taskforce
• Loughborough University School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
• 1 Broadgate
• Timber Square
• Vehicle Storage Support Programme
• Egan Report 1998
• Latham report 1994

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In today's podcast we are talking about bioenergy and specifically looking at how carbon capture and storage is set to transform the technology.

The UK’s net zero energy transition is firmly underway and one of the most promising new technologies is Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, or BECCS. By combining the generation of renewable power with the permanent removal of CO₂, BECCS has been described as a “double win” for climate action.

At the heart of this opportunity is Evero, the low-carbon energy-from-wastewood company. Evero has been selected by the UK government to transform its Ince Biomass Plant into the nation’s first large-scale BECCS facility. Branded InBECCS, the project aims to capture 217,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, generate clean electricity for more than 100,000 homes, and create skilled green jobs — all while diverting waste wood from landfill.

To explore this opportunity, I’m joined today by Alex Young, Head of Development at Evero — an engineer-turned-developer with more than two decades in renewables. Together, we’ll dive into the promise, the pitfalls, and the future of BECCS in the UK.

A bit of background. InBECCS is situated in Cheshire’s Protos energy hub, and will integrate into the HyNet carbon capture, transport and storage cluster, connecting bioenergy directly with the UK’s growing hydrogen economy.

As such it represents not just an industrial retrofit, but a potential template for scaling BECCS across multiple sites nationwide.

So how will it be delivered and what does INBECCS mean for Britain’s leadership in carbon removal and industrial decarbonisation?

Well let’s find out…

Resources

• Evero Energy website
• Ince BECCS project
• Ince plant
• The Hynet cluster
• Government policy on carbon capture and storage

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In today's episode we’re talking about steel — but not in the usual way.

My guest, Ben Holmes, is Head of Sustainability at Elliott Wood, the structural and civil engineers behind, amongst many other things, 30 Duke Street, the UK’s largest steel reuse project in which some 78% of steel from the original structure is being repurposed.

Ben believes that the current public sector rescue of British Steel presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity — not just to save an industry, but to reimagine our fabrication and use of steel entirely - and at the same time give a huge boost to the communities that the industry supports.

Steel is foundational to our modern world — from the bridges we cross to the trains we ride, the buildings we work in to the wind turbines driving the energy transition.

But steel is also one of the most carbon-intensive materials we produce. If the UK is serious about hitting its net zero goals, the way we make, use, and think about steel must change.

Ben has developed five provocative “what if” scenarios that challenge us to look beyond short-term fixes and instead think about system-wide changes that could genuinely transform the steel industry and the communities that it supports.

In today’s podcast we are going to examine these and find out whether they go beyond simply being fanciful — and instead, by drawing on proven global examples from around the world to create the necessary vision and political will - they could actually prompt change.

Let’s here more

Resources

Ben' five "What ifs":

1. What if... we thought generationally, not electorally?
2. What if... we created centres of excellence beyond production?
3. What if... we made green steel the standard, not the exception?
4. What if... we connected steel to communities in new ways?
5. What if… former steelworks became mixed-use districts combining light manufacturing, creative industries, and cultural spaces?
6. Elliot Wood website
7. Great Portland Estates - 30 Duke Street
8. Government policy on British Steel

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In today's podcast we dive into the rapidly evolving world of infrastructure investment — a space that has moved from the periphery of specialist portfolios to the centre of global capital markets.

Once the preserve of a relatively narrow group of pension funds and specialist investors, infrastructure has now become a truly universal asset class, attracting sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, private equity houses and retail capital.

And it’s an asset class that promises stable, long-term returns while underpinning the physical and digital systems that our economies depend upon.

Joining me to today to help understand why we are seeing these huge and profound changes – and why they matter - is Charlotte Madden, Partner and Co-Head of the Infrastructure Sector at global law firm Clifford Chance.

Charlotte specialises in advising private equity and infrastructure funds on complex domestic and cross-border M&A, often involving highly regulated transactions. She has helped deliver the deals that make critical infrastructure happen, from the earliest structuring stages through to completion.

And in the UK, the stakes could not be higher. The government has set out an ambitious £725 billion infrastructure pipeline, with more than half of that expected to come from the private sector. From energy security and clean transport to housing and digital connectivity, these projects are central to national growth plans — yet the tension between private investment and public service delivery remains a live and often polarising debate.

It's a complex subject so let’s dig in …

Resources

• Clifford Chance infrastructure
• 10 year infrastructure strategy
• UK infrastructure Pipeline
• NISTA website
• UK National Wealth Fund

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In today's episode we’re diving into cement – a material that underpins every road, every railway, every school, hospital, bridge, and home we build.

Because without it, the UK’s infrastructure ambitions would, quite literally, crumble!

My guest today is Dr Diana Casey, executive director for cement, energy and climate at the Mineral Products Association (MPA). As she knows only too well, cement may not grab headlines in the way that high-speed rail or offshore wind does, but it is the backbone of our built environment.

And right now, the UK faces a major challenge.

As the Labour government pushes ahead with its ambitious target to deliver 1.5 million homes over the next five years, alongside a significant infrastructure pipeline, the question is simple — do we have the cement we need? And if not, where will it come from?

The Mineral Products Association, representing the UK’s cement producers, warns that domestic manufacturing has become increasingly uncompetitive in the face of high costs, leading to imports tripling over the past two decades. Relying on overseas supply exposes us to volatile global markets, supply chain disruption, and the risk of project delays.

It also means losing out on skilled, well-paid jobs in the regions where cement is made.

So, what needs to change to secure the UK’s cement future? And to secure it with the all important lower carbon footprint demanded by our net zero targets.

From a watertight Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to fairer public procurement, and from support for carbon capture technology to a clearer industrial strategy, the debate is as much about national security and economic resilience as it is about decarbonisation.

So let’s find out out more.

Resources

• Mineral Products Association website
• MPA cement facts
• Decarbonising UK Concrete and Cement
• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
• MPA This is concrete campaign

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In today's bumper post summer special episode we return to the HS2 project - infrastructure’s poster child for delay and cost overrun – as we discuss the content of a brand new book examining how this project went, as the title suggests, so badly Off the Rails.

Few infrastructure projects in British history have generated as much debate and scrutiny as HS2; becoming a lightning rod for wider conversations about the UK’s ability to deliver major infrastructure on time, on budget, and with public trust.

And as we heard in episode 122 with James Stewart, for many, the project was flawed from day 1, with questions hanging heavy over its value for money, environmental impact, and the opportunity costs of such vast investment.

Yet supporters hail it as a vital means to rebalance the UK’s economy, boosting connectivity and capacity and securing the nation’s greener transport future.

My guest today is journalist and author Sally Gimson who has spent the last few years getting stuck into the history, politics and personalities of the project. She has delivered it all up as “Off the rails” a compelling and informing read that gets under the skin of the project and attempt to make sense of the madness that has surrounded the project.

From spiralling costs and shifting political priorities to the complex realities of engineering one of the most ambitious transport schemes in Europe, Sally has explored why HS2 has faced challenges at every stage.

To be fair, few observers have had the time—or the courage—to dig into the full story, unpicking the web of decisions, ambitions, and compromises that have shaped HS2’s journey. Sally has done just that, revealing what the project says about the UK’s infrastructure machine.

It’s a story that blends ambition and caution, engineering brilliance and political miscalculation, and one that goes far beyond a single railway line. In short, it's a fascinating and compelling read.

Resources

• Off the Rails by Sally Gimson
• The Stewart Review: The HS2 Experience
• Mark Wild's CEO first 100 days review of HS2
• HS2 website

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In today's episode we revisit the subject of project commissioning - a vital, often underestimated stage of infrastructure delivery.

What is commissioning – well in a nutshell it’s the complex process of preparing an asset to operate exactly as intended from day one.

So to be clear, it's not testing!

And to discuss this we are back with Paul Turner, chief executive of the newly renamed Institute of Commissioning & Assurance. This time last year Paul had just launched what was then the Industrial Commissioning Association – ICxA - a Canada-based organisation with a global mission to raise commissioning standards across infrastructure, industrial, and process sectors.

Since then, it’s expanded rapidly – growing to over 4,300 members, forming 27 local chapters, establishing a Board of Directors, and convening an Advisory Council to guide strategy and outreach. And changed its name – more on that later I’m sure

In its second year, ICxA has moved from advocacy into delivery. It has launched two new global standards – one defining best practice in commissioning, the other focusing on outcome assurance, helping to reduce the all-too-common risks of delayed openings, unexpected failures, and spiralling costs.

On top of that, ICxA has created a commissioning certification framework and a career development pathway to support both current professionals and the next generation of project leaders

So let’s hear more about how the association has matured, and about how these new standards and certifications can transform project outcomes.

Resources

• ICxA website: www.icxa.net
• ICxA Podcast
• ICxA Free Membership
• ICxA Certification
• Infrastructure Podcast episode 82 - Commissioning for Success

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In this episode we’re focusing on the management of nuclear waste; one of the most complex, long-term, and often misunderstood aspects of the UK’s energy future.

Because while nuclear power is increasingly seen as a vital part of the transition to a low-carbon energy system, - and the UK government has just committed tens of billions of public pounds to accelerating its development - the question of what we do with the waste it produces remains both a technical and social challenge.

At the heart of the UK’s approach is Nuclear Waste Services, part of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The organisation is charged with safely managing the UK’s radioactive waste — waste that includes the low level materials generated today by nuclear power stations through to the legacy waste from decades of energy production, reprocessing, and defence activity.

It’s a huge task, requiring not just robust infrastructure and rigorous safety standards, but also long-term thinking, innovation, and trust.

Joining me to help make sense of this challenge is Mike Pigott, Director of Waste Operations and Sites at Nuclear Waste Services.

Mike brings deep experience across the full lifecycle of the nuclear industry — from working on operational power stations and nuclear new builds to reprocessing and, now, long-term waste disposal.

He’s also worked as a regulator, advisor, and duty holder in the UK and overseas. He currently oversees the UK’s Low Level Waste Repository, where over 750,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste has already been disposed of.

All of which make him well placed to explain the UK’s current and future approach to nuclear waste management!

Resources

• Nuclear Waste Services website
• Low Level Waste Depository
• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
• Government announcement to invest in new nuclear
• Geological Disposal Facility

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In today’s episode we’re diving into one of the most pressing – and controversial – sectors in UK infrastructure: water.

Following years of public outrage over pollution, poor service and rising bills, the water industry in England and Wales now faces a once-in-a-generation reckoning.

That reckoning arrived this month with the publication of the final report from the Independent Water Commission, chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe. Backed by over 50,000 responses and extensive consultation, the report sets out 88 recommendations to overhaul the way water is regulated, governed and delivered.

It proposes sweeping reforms: replacing Ofwat with a new integrated water regulator, creating regional water planning authorities, mandating compulsory water metering, and embedding a new “public benefit” duty into water company licences.

It also calls for a National Water Strategy and much tighter regulation of company ownership, governance and long-term resilience. In short, no one comes out of this review smelling of roses – not the government; not the regulators; not the water companies. As Sir Jon puts it “This sector requires fundamental reform on all sides”.

Meanwhile, Ofwat’s PR24 price review landed with a heavy thud at the back end of last year, demanding a 21% uplift in investment over AMP8, challenging companies with tough efficiency expectations and a step change in renewing creaking assets. The sector faces the daunting task of transforming itself while remaining affordable, investable – and trusted.

To unpack the Commission’s findings and explore the future direction of the sector, I’m joined today by Blair Mitchell, Managing Director for Water at WSP.

Blair has spent three decades working across all sides of the water sector – as a client, as a supplier and advising on everything from resilience and regulation to long-term asset strategy. So I’m hoping he will be able to put some context to what is clearly a landmark moment for everyone involved in the water sector.

Let’s find out ….

Resources

• The Cunliffe Review
• The Cunliffe interim review
• Ofwat PR24 Price Determination
• Scottish Water strategic plan
• WSP website - water

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In today's podcast we delve into the fast-evolving world of infrastructure investment - an area that has never been more critical to delivering the economic growth, national resilience and transition to a net zero future demanded by the UK government.

As we saw in the latest 10 year Infrastructure Strategy and in the Industrial Strategy that sits behind it, public infrastructure underpins the ambitious long-term plans that are set to boost connectivity, create jobs and raise living standards,

From digital networks and clean energy to sustainable transport and social infrastructure, the demands on our infrastructure systems are growing - and so too is the pressure to deliver them faster, smarter and more sustainably.

So private sector investment is becoming increasingly key to supporting the delivery of this public ambition.

But how? Well in this episode, I am joined by Mark Gilligan, who leads the rapidly growing €3bn infrastructure equity platform at AXA IM Alts - one of Europe’s most active institutional investors in infrastructure.

With a pan-European investment strategy focused on decarbonisation, electrification and digitalisation, Mark and his team have built a diversified portfolio across subsectors like energy storage, fibre networks, offshore and onshore wind, district heating, and even Europe’s only green locomotive fleet.

In fact, last month, AXA IM Alts announced major investments in a large-scale battery project in Scotland and a pan-European solar energy platform - reinforcing its leadership in the energy transition space.

So how is the investment future looking – not least in the context of the UK’s new £725bn 10-year infrastructure plan. Well let’s find out.

Resources

• 10-year infrastructure strategy
• AXA IM Alts
• Coalburn battery storage project
• ILOS solar power project
• National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA)
• Planning and Infrastructure Bill

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In today’s episode we are focusing on the government’s latest - and long awaited - 10 year infrastructure strategy.

Because after decades of underinvestment, fragmented planning, and inconsistent delivery, the government has finally published what is perhaps the most comprehensive and ambitious infrastructure strategy in a generation.

Backed by at least £725 billion of public funding over the next decade, the new 10-Year Strategy for Infrastructure aims to chart a long-term path for economic renewal, regional growth, and national resilience.

So it’s quite a moment!

And to discuss this milestone document I am joined by James Corrigan, managing director for infrastructure at consultant Turner and Townsend,

At T and T, James ‘s day job is working with clients to turn this kind of aspiration into reality, making him well placed to guide us through this new strategy and explore the challenges and opportunities it presents.

There’s a lot in it! How to reshape the way the UK plans and delivers infrastructure; how we address critical issues like climate change, digital connectivity, housing, and economic growth, and what it all means for investors, local authorities, and communities.

Let’s get into it

Resources

• 10-year infrastructure strategy
• Turner & Townsend website
• National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA)
• HS2 Stewart Review
• Planning and Infrastructure Bill

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In today' podcast we are focusing on the UK’s new nuclear power ambitions and specifically, exploring the Sizewell C project.

As I said a few weeks ago on the podcast, it’s perhaps one of the most significant moments for the UK’s nuclear industry in over a generation.

Last month, the government announced a multi-billion investment to drive forward this ambition with £14.2 billion committed to accelerate construction of the Sizewell C project. Alongside this comes backing for Small Modular Reactors and investment in fusion research - all part of a landmark commitment to clean energy, jobs, and long-term energy security.

So the message is clear: this is the start of what the government calls a "golden age of nuclear." Discuss.

Well Sizewell C certainly sits at the heart of this new ambition - a twin-reactor power station on the Suffolk coast - a carbon copy of the Hinkley Point C reactor now under construction in Somerset – sitting alongside the Sizewell B station which was, of course, intended as the start of the last nuclear golden age 30 years ago.

When operational in the mid 2030s, Sizewell C will power six million homes with low-carbon energy for the next 60 plus years as the UK’s first fully British-owned nuclear project in decades – and apparently a keystone in delivering both net zero energy and national resilience.

But ambition is just the beginning of course. Turning that vision into reality will mean overcoming a long list of challenges — from regulatory hurdles and construction risk, to workforce capacity and public trust.

Joining me today to unpack all of this is Julia Pyke, Managing Director of the Sizewell C project. Lot’s to talk about when it comes to identifying what the government’s investment really means in practice and how Sizewell C fits into the wider nuclear revival.

And of course, what it will take to deliver this project on time, on budget. So let’s crack on…

Resources

• Sizewell C project website
• Government press release on Sizewell C
• Hinkley Point C website
• Great British Energy - Nuclear
• Nuclear Industry Association release on nuclear investment
• The Stewart Review: The HS2 Experience

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Today’s podcast takes a deep dive into High Speed 2 via the recently published Stewart Review, a detailed piece of work which attempts to help government to learn lessons and take stock from this much discussed project.

And I’m pleased to say that to help me with this task today I am joined by the report’s author, James Stewart, long-standing infrastructure finance and delivery expert who I know will guide us first hand through his report.

A bit of background. As we know, the HS2 project was conceived as a once-in-a-generation investment in the UK’s rail infrastructure — a high-speed line that would transform north-south connectivity, unlock capacity across the network, and drive long-term economic growth.

But more than a decade on, the vision has been dramatically curtailed, costs have escalated, and delivery timelines continue to slip.

Following James’ report, government has now confirmed that completion will stretch beyond 2033, and that costs will be significantly higher than anticipated. All of which means hard questions must be asked — not just about what went wrong, but how we do things differently next time.

James’ Stewart Review offers a forensic assessment of HS2’s delivery challenges, with a particular focus on governance, assurance, capability, and the wider system in which such projects are planned and delivered.

The comprehensive report highlights what really went wrong, what needs to change, and, crucially, how the UK can rebuild trust in its ability to deliver major projects.

Lots to discuss so let’s get stuck in...

Resources

• The Stewart Review: The HS2 Experience
• Mark Wild's CEO first 100 days review of HS2
• HS2 website
• Agile Infrastructure Partners
• The 10 year Infrastructure Strategy
• The Industrial Strategy

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In today’s episode we will focus on the state of public infrastructure in the United States of America.

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers releases what’s been called “the nation’s most important report you’ve probably never heard of” - the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.

Using a simple A–F grading scale, it assesses the state of everything from roads, bridges, and railways to water systems, schools, broadband, and energy grids.

And this year’s Report Card gives U.S. infrastructure an overall grade of C highlighting a mix of hard-won progress - and mounting risk.

So what does that actually mean on the ground Well to help us break it all down, I’m joined by Tom Smith, Executive Director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and one of the country’s most respected voices on infrastructure strategy, resilience, and investment.

Tom gives a great insight into why this year’s report card matters, what it reveals about how we build and maintain critical systems, and what it’ll take to move from crisis response to long-term planning.

And in particular explains what it means for everyday Americans.

Resources

• ASCE Report Card 2025
• ASCE website
• ASCE "Cities of the Future" film
• Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)
• Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
• Bentley Systems' Transforming Infrastructure Performance New York summit
• Renewable Natural Resources Foundation
• ICE State of the Nation report card

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In today's podcast we’re going to explore the UK government's latest announcement to invest vast sums of public cash in the nuclear industry.

The latest spending review included £14.2bn to kickstart the Sizewell C plant and £2.5bn to underpin ongoing research into fusion technology. But crucially, it also outlined plans to pump £2.5bn into Small Modular Reactor development – something that I think is perhaps one of the most ambitious – and transformational announcements in the UK’s energy history.

And it’s this announcement that I really want to focus on today.

But it is also clear that after decades of hesitation, the UK government – through it’s public energy business Great British Nuclear part of GB Energy - has committed to a bold new era of nuclear power, And its backing it with public cash.

So what does this actually mean in practice?

• What is an SMR – and why is the government betting on them to power millions of homes and secure the nation’s energy future?
• How do these small, factory-built reactors compare to the large-scale nuclear power plants like Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C?
• And critically – can we really deliver this bold vision on time, on budget, and with the skilled workforce we need?

Well to unpack all of this – and help make sense of the opportunities and challenges ahead – I’m joined once again on the Infrastructure Podcast by Tim Stone, Non-Executive Director, Great British Nuclear and former chair of the Nuclear Industry Association, the body at the heart of this once-in-a-generation transformation and my go to mind for all things nuclear.

Resources

• Government press release on SMRs
• Rolls Royce SMR press release
• Government press release on Sizewell C
• Great British Energy - Nuclear
• Nuclear Industry Association release on nuclear investment

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Today’s podcast is another special episode, this week recorded live in New York at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by Bentley Systems.

My guest is Aruna Miller, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland State, who I interviewed to open the summit with a discussion on her role in the recovery and rebuild of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge which catastrophically collapsed in March 2024 after the container ship Dhali collided with a pier while passing beneath.

In a matter of seconds, this vital transportation artery crumbled into the River, claiming the lives of six workers and bringing Baltimore’s economy to a standstill.

The collapse was a pivotal event with profound implications for Maryland State, raising many questions about the value of our infrastructure and the economic and social consequences of failure.

And as a civil engineer turned politician, the Lieutenant Governor clearly has a unique perspective on the challenge of recovering and rebuilding after this disaster.

I started by taking her back to the 26 March 2024 to talk us through the immediate response to the collapse.

Resources

• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit New York
• The Francis Scott Key Bridge rebuild
• Maryland State infrastructure priorities
• US Federal Government FSK Bridge response
• Bentley Systems Infrastructure Policy Advancement
• Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller
• ICE FSK question and answer

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Today’s podcast is a special episode recorded live at Bauma 2025 in Munich—the global showcase for construction technology innovation.

My guest today is Ivan Di Federico, the newly appointed President and CEO of Topcon Positioning Systems, a leader in geo-positioning and construction technology, with solutions that are being used everywhere in infrastructure and agriculture today.

Ivan steps into this role at a pivotal moment. Digital transformation is accelerating across both infrastructure and agriculture, driven by automation, AI, and advanced positioning technologies

So how does a business like Topcon stay ahead of the curve - and the competition? What does the future of Topcon look like through Ivan's eyes?

In this episode, Ivan shares how the company is navigating today’s challenges and preparing for what’s next.

Resources

• Topcon Website
• History of Topcon Positioning
• Infrastructure tech
• Agriculture tech
• Topcon technology
• Millimeter GPS
• Topcon sustainability

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In this week's podcast we talk about the challenges of building a career in the complex modern world of structural engineering.

My guest today is Claire Gott, Head of Structures at global consultancy WSP - an engineer whose work has helped shape some of the most ambitious and high-profile structures in the UK and beyond but who has also devoted large parts of her career to date helping and encouraging others to join and navigate the profession.

I first met Claire back in 2011 when, just out of Southampton University, she won the New Civil Engineer Graduate of the Year Award. She was hugely impressive then, and she continues to be today in a senior leadership role at WSP that puts her at the heart of designing many of the buildings and infrastructure that define our cities and communities.

Major projects such as 40 Leadenhall, a landmark commercial tower in the City of London that’s redefining how we think about wellbeing, heritage reuse and sustainability; the visionary Eden Project North in Morecambe, a regenerative design project pushing boundaries on biodiversity, embodied carbon and community engagement; London Bridge Station refurbishment, Paddington Square and of course a rake of structures on the London the Birmingham HS2 project.

And I imagine that she will be turning her hand to the newly approved 1 Undershaft, and it’s clear her influence spans some of the UK’s most complex and high-profile developments.

But as we will explore, Claire’s impact extends far beyond the drawing board. A powerful advocate for diversity in engineering, she is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a mentor with the Circle Partnership, and a visible role model for women in STEM.

And she remains hugely active in Cameroon Catalyst, the charity she co-founded at university focused on sustainable development in rural Africa.

So how do you build such a rounded and complex career like this? Overcoming the technical and cultural challenges to lead projects that build not just for performance, but great places for people and the planet.

Resources

• Claire Gott Linked In
• WSP website
• Cameroon Catalyst
• Creating the LEGO Bridge: A Civil Engineering Challenge
• ICE Connects
• 40 Leadenhall
• Eden North

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In today's podcast we look at the world of nuclear decommissioning

Nuclear power has played a vital role in the UK’s energy story for more than half a century. But as the country transitions toward a low-carbon future, there’s another story unfolding—one of responsibility, innovation, and transformation. The story of the decommissioning.

At the heart of this story is the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, tasked with one of the largest, most complex environmental remediation missions in Europe, and responsible for safely, securely, and efficiently decommissioning the UK’s civil nuclear legacy.

This means dealing with decades-old infrastructure, hazardous materials, and a technical challenge that spans generations.

But it’s not just about dismantling what’s old—it’s about building the systems, skills, and strategies needed to do it better, faster, and more sustainably.

Today, the NDA is in the midst of a major transformation programme. From digital innovation and smarter asset management to a cultural shift that embraces agility, collaboration, and change, the NDA is rethinking what it means to manage nuclear legacy sites in the 21st century.

To find out how this strategy is being turned into reality, I am joined on the podcast today by Stuart Miller, Programme Director at NDA who will help us to explore the opportunities and obstacles on the road ahead.

What does decommissioning look like in an era of digital transformation? How do you drive change in a complex, risk-averse environment? And what does this work mean - not just for the UK today, but for future generations and global best practice?

In short, it’s an opportunity to shed light on one of the most important, yet often overlooked, national missions of our time.

Resources

• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Website
• NDA priorities and policies
• Stuart Miller Linked In
• Sellafield business plans

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In today's podcast we focus on the UK’s mammoth, unprecedented, and, often, highly controversial water investment challenge.

As climate pressures mount, population grows, and economic demands increase, the security of our water supply is becoming a defining issue for national resilience.

Last December, Ofwat’s latest Price Review - PR24 – underscored the scale of that challenge, with more than £48 billion in capital investment planned across England and Wales over the next five years.

At the heart of this effort is the need to secure an additional 5 billion litres of water per day by 2050 - equivalent to more than a third of the current supply.

This is a national endeavour. The RAPID programme, launched by Ofwat in 2019 to oversee water company spending and prompt more collaborative approach to investment, is now being scaled up to deliver a new generation of strategic water infrastructure in AMP9 – the water companies’ latest five year Asset Management Plans.

This means new reservoirs, water recycling, large-scale transfers and desalination schemes - many of which will define how and where the UK secures its water future.

But meeting these goals will require not just infrastructure, but public trust, regulatory innovation, and cross-sector collaboration. All issue that of course are being reviewed for government right now by Sir Jon Cunliffe, Chair of the Independent Water Commission.

My guest today is at the sharp end of this challenge. Siân Thomas is Director of Strategic Asset Management at Anglian Water, one of the biggest and perhaps most progressive water companies, serving over 7 million customers across the East of England

Siân is delivering Anglian’s AMP8 business plan - the largest in its history, including two new reservoirs, significant upgrades to water recycling and mains networks, and a commitment to cut emissions and improve river health. So well placed to give great insight into the challenges.

Siân welcome to the Infrastructure Podcast

Resources

• Ofwat's PR24 determination
• The RAPID programme
• Anglian Water's AMP8 plans
• Utility Week article - "Big projects lured me back into water" (behnid paywall)
• Sir Jon Cunliffe review

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In today's podcast we focus on decarbonising the UK’s vast building stock.

The global buildings sector is one of the most essential but also perhaps the most overlooked frontiers in the fight against climate change.

Homes, offices, shops, schools, and factories - they're where we live, where we work, and where we gather. They are the fabric of our society.

But, as highlighted by a new report from the Energy Transitions Commission, they are also responsible for a staggering one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions – that’s around 12.3 gigatonnes of CO₂ in 2022 alone.

And for context, that’s more than the emissions from transport or from industry.

These emissions come not just from heating and cooling, but also from lighting, cooking, appliances, and even the materials and methods we use to build in the first place.

And as the global population grows and more people gain access to energy-intensive services like air conditioning, the challenge is only getting more urgent.

The good news is that we already have the solutions. In its powerful new report Achieving Zero-Carbon Buildings: Electric, Efficient and Flexible, the Energy Transitions Commission sets out a clear roadmap for transforming the sector - arguing that we can cut emissions while also improving quality of life and reducing energy bills – but only if we act quickly and ambitiously.

So what needs to happen? How do we turn strategy into action?

Today, we’re joined by a Lord Adair Turner, Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission to unpack the findings of this important report, explore what’s possible, and understand the path toward a zero-carbon buildings future.

Resources

• Energy Transitions Commission website
• ETC report "Achieving Zero-Carbon Buildings: Electric, Efficient and Flexible"
• Lord Turner of Ecchinswell
• COP 30
• UK government plan for net zero
• Retrofit 25 "what's stopping us?" - The Building Centre

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In today's podcast we delve into the world of Artificial Intelligence to explore the future of infrastructure and technology - and the people reshaping both.

To do this we’re diving into one of the biggest - and most urgent - challenges facing the built environment: namely how we manage and maintain our ageing infrastructure in a world of rising costs, growing risks, and tightening resources.

Across the UK and beyond, roads, bridges, railways and public assets are showing their age. Traditional methods of inspection and maintenance are expensive, reactive, and often too slow to really move the dial and catch up decades of under-investment.

But there’s a quiet revolution underway - powered by artificial intelligence - that’s potentially changing how we understand and care for the structures we rely on every day.

And my guest today is someone right at the heart of that transformation.

Tom Bartley is Director of Civil Infrastructure at AI scale-up Mind Foundry and brings a deep understanding of both the engineering and the technology worlds. With past roles at WSP and Jacobs - and as co-founder of Barbal and dotBuiltEnvironment, he's spent his career championing digital transformation across planning, design, and delivery.

Now at Mind Foundry - a company born out of Oxford University research - he’s working to deploy responsible AI that helps asset owners predict risk, extend the life of critical infrastructure, and make better decisions, faster.

So let’s find out and explore how AI is being used on projects like HS2, ask what’s holding the sector back from adopting innovation, and see if Tom can convince us why human-AI collaboration - not replacement - is the key to building smarter, safer systems.

Resources

• Mind Foundry website
• Tom Bartley Linked In
• AI for Civil Engineers
• Major Projects Association - "AI is the solution - what's the question?"

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In today's podcast we focus on hydrogen – zero carbon fuel of the future or an exercise in wishful thinking?

That said, as the UK sharpens its focus on delivering a net zero future, hydrogen is increasingly taking centre stage in the national energy conversation.

Touted as one of the cleanest and most versatile fuels available, hydrogen holds significant promise for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy industry, construction, and long-haul transport.

It also offers a route to greater energy resilience and system flexibility – two critical ingredients in the UK’s evolving low-carbon economy.

But while the direction of travel is clear, the path to delivery is far from smooth. Despite a government ambition to scale hydrogen production to 10GW by 2030 – with at least half from green electrolytic hydrogen – progress has been slow. Today, only a fraction of this capacity has reached final investment decision, and fewer still are under construction.

However, the recent announcement of 27 shortlisted projects in the government’s second Hydrogen Allocation Round (HAR2) has been welcomed as a step forward in terms of putting in place the subsidies that might secure future production business models.

But, and there are always many buts… major questions still remain about how this fuel production might be scaled.

Can we develop the infrastructure, market frameworks, and demand signals needed to unlock investment? And crucially, where does hydrogen genuinely add value – rather than simply an expensive distraction on route to zero carbon?

Well to find out, I’m joined today by Brett Ryan, Head of Policy and Analysis at Hydrogen UK, the industry’s leading trade body in the sector. He is the ideal person to chat through the commercial and policy challenges that are shaping the market, the opportunities that hydrogen presents for UK industry and innovation, and what needs to happen now to convert ambition into action.

Resources

• Hydrogen UK website
• Brett Ryan Linked In
• UK Government HAR2 announcement
• National Infrastructure Commission: Needs Assessment tech annex on hydrogen
• Hydrogen UK - the hydrogen story

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In today's podcast we focus on the global infrastructure market and find out what the UK might do to accelerate its ambitions to drive economic growth from infrastructure investment.

My guest today is Jake Mumm, General Manager for Public Infrastructure at global construction design and delivery business Bechtel - someone who has spent the last three decades at the coal face of some of the most challenging projects around the world.

As Jake knows I’m sure, Governments worldwide face mounting infrastructure challenges as populations grow, urbanisation accelerates, and climate change intensifies. Ageing transport networks, outdated water systems, and insufficient digital infrastructure hinder economic growth and quality of life.

And pretty much all of them have similar challenges - funding shortfalls, bureaucratic delays, and political uncertainty – which too often delay or cancel critical projects.

Yet the need for resilient, sustainable solutions is greater than ever, with extreme weather events exposing vulnerabilities in existing infrastructure.

As such, the transition to smart cities, green energy, and efficient public transport is high on the agenda and requires strategic investment, cross-sector collaboration, and innovative financing models.

Addressing these challenges is crucial to ensuring that infrastructure that meets society’s evolving needs. And so often it falls to businesses like Bechtel to steer a path to success.

So let’s find out how.

Resources

• Jake Mumm Linked In
• Bechtel Infrastructure
• Riyadh Metro
• Elizabeth Line London
• California High Speed Rail

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In today’s podcast we takes a close look at the evolution and future challenges of tall building design with engineering design mega star Kamran Moazami.

Kamran is WSP’s managing director for property and buildings and with nearly half a century of design experience under his belt – most recently on projects such as The Shard, 22 Bishopsgate, and One Blackfriars, he is certainly the man to ask!

It is clear that around the world, the skyline is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with ever-taller, more ambitious buildings redefining the way we live and work.

From London to New York, Dubai to Shanghai, the race to build higher is driven by increasing urbanisation, the need for sustainable development, and cutting-edge advancements in engineering and materials science.

But designing and delivering these megastructures is no easy feat. Every tall building presents a unique set of challenges—from wind resistance and structural stability to fire safety, vertical transportation, and carbon efficiency.

The growing urgency around climate resilience also means engineers are now pushing boundaries to create greener, smarter, and more adaptive high-rises.

And as we are seeing post-earthquake in Myanmar and Bangkok, but also following the tragic 2017 Grenfell fire in London, maintaining public confidence in high rise is an increasingly challenging business.

Few understand these complexities better than Kamran – so let’s find out more.

Resources

• WSP Property and Buildings website
• The Shard
• 22 Bishopsgate
• Kamran Moazami interview in the Structural Engineer 2015
• Post Grenfell fire Hackett Report

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Today's podcast is another special episode recorded live in front of an audience for the second of the latest Twin Talks interview series hosted by Bentley Systems.

As with the first TwinTalk event with construction minister Sarah Jones MP, today’s episode heads to Parliament for a conversation with Lee Pitcher, MP for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme, chair of the all Party Parliamentary Group on Water, and, up until the General Election in July, an engineering consultant with decades of experience in the water sector.

Today’s episode focuses on the creation of so-called Sponge Cities and specifically gets Lee’s thoughts on the findings of a new White Paper produced by Bentley Systems and water consultancy Aqua Consultants. This paper presents a rake of new thinking to tackle the growing and urgent problem of urban, pluvial flooding caused as our drainage systems become overwhelmed by increasingly intense rainfall and more frequent extreme weather events.

As we see on the news every year, flooding is not a new problem. But unlike river flooding, pluvial floods can strike anywhere, causing significant damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure.

And as the new Creating Sponge Cities to Tackle Surface Water Flooding white paper points out, urbanisation, outdated drainage systems, and climate change are compounding the issue

But solutions are at hand in the form of Sponge Cities – embracing sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), green infrastructure solutions and a range of new strategies to create cities designed to absorb, store, and manage water more effectively.

But of course, despite the obvious economic and social costs of inaction, we still seem to be struggle to embrace change. The question is why. How can we influence and shape the policy landscape, and embrace the collaborative role of planners, engineers, policymakers, and industry leaders to shaping the future of sustainable water management?

Lee is a great person to ask – so I started by finding out why another report might help prompt the required change?

Resources

• Creating Sponge Cities to Tackle Surface Water Flooding white paper
• Bentley Systems Infrastructure Policy Advancement
• Lee Pitcher MP contact
• All Party Parliamentary Group on Water
• The Independent Water Commission, chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe
• Cunliffe Review call for evidence

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In today’s podcast takes a close inspection of the UK’s ever-deteriorating local roads condition.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the ALARM survey – the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance survey – which for three decades has been the crucial benchmark for assessing the state of local roads across England and Wales.

Commissioned by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), the report was published last week and provides an invaluable snapshot of road conditions, funding levels, and the growing maintenance backlog across the UK’s local roads network.

And once again the 2025 findings, based on real feedback from real local authorities, paint a stark picture: local roads remain in decline, with 34,600 miles in poor condition and the cost to clear the repair backlog reaching an all-time high of £16.81 billion.

And while of course some might argue that “they would say that wouldn’t they!” the reality is that, despite the UK government’s pledge to fix one million potholes per year, we are still very far short of the long-term, sustained investment needed to tackle deep-rooted structural issues.

Because local roads are a vital economic asset - valued at over £400 billion. And just 1% of this value is allocated for annual maintenance. A shockingly poor stat given how much we all rely on these assets.

So what to do? Well my guest today might know! David Giles is Chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance and a director of Continental Bitumen UK – someone who is ideally placed to explore the key findings, the barriers to progress, and of course, the actions needed to ensure a safer, more resilient local road network for the future.

His latest report calls for a radical shift in approach: multi-year funding, ring-fenced investment, and a long-term commitment to repairs – something similar perhaps to the current approach to the strategic road network.

So is that possible? Well let’s find out.

Resources

• AIA Alarm Survey 2025
• AIA website
• Colas website
• David Giles Linked In
• Government pothole repair pledge
• Government statement on local road conditions
• National Highways RIS2

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In today’s podcast we return to the vitally important, hugely complicated and normally highly emotive subject of planning reform.

And help is (potentially) at hand in the form of the long awaited Planning and Infrastructure Bill which was published last week and heralded by government as providing “transformative reforms to get Britain building, tackle blockers and unleash billions in economic growth”.

So who better to bring back to the Infrastructure Podcast to explain and chew over this potential new dawn of planning than Robbie Owen, infrastructure planning guru and Partner at law firm Pinsent Masons.

The UK’s planning system has long been a battleground between the need for economic growth and the challenges of bureaucracy, local opposition, and environmental concerns. As the government pushes forward with ambitious targets—building 1.5 million homes, upgrading transport networks, and accelerating clean energy projects—the speed at which infrastructure is planned and delivered has never been more critical.

Yet, delays remain a persistent problem. As we know, major projects can take years to navigate the approvals process, with judicial reviews and lengthy consultations slowing progress.

The proposed legislation includes changes to infrastructure planning, environmental impact assessments, and compulsory purchase powers … and, as discussed on the podcast before Christmas, limits on the role of Judicial Reviews.

But will these changes truly unlock growth, or are deeper structural issues being overlooked? And how can the planning system ensure that infrastructure projects not only proceed faster but also deliver better outcomes for communities and the environment?

Resources

• The Planning and Infrastructure Bill
• The Banner Review
• National Infrastructure Planning Association
• National Infrastructure Commission
• Pinsent Masons
• About NISTA
• Podcast with Robbie Owen and the Hansard Society on Parliament's planning role.
• Episode 93 of The Infrastructure Podcast with Robbie Owen on the Banner Review

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In today’s podcast we take a deep dive into embodied carbon and try to get a better understanding of why infrastructure professionals need to make its assessment more than just a nice add on but a fundamental part of the design process.

The construction and infrastructure sectors are undergoing a major transformation as the industry seeks to reduce its carbon footprint and meet global net-zero targets. While operational carbon—emissions from heating, cooling, and electricity use—has traditionally been the focus of sustainability efforts, embodied carbon - emissions that are locked in at the point of construction and cannot be reduced over time - is now taking centre stage.

To discuss this issue, my guest today is Adrian Campbell, founder of the Change Building consultancy and someone that I like to describe as an industry sustainability guru and my go-to expert when it comes to reducing carbon across the infrastructure lifecycle.

Full disclosure; I have known Adrian since we studied Civil Engineering together at the University of Southampton back in the 1980s. Well, he did the studying as I remember!

Adrian has made a return to the University of Southampton as a tutor and lecturer and as Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Sustainable Development and Climate Impact He has just produced a new guide to help students get to grips with assessing embodied carbon - a rapidly developing area of professional competence which should provide the skills and judgment to help improve designs and help move us towards the goal of net zero carbon.

For students entering the fields of architecture, engineering, and construction, embracing embodied carbon assessment is no longer optional—it is a vital skill for shaping a sustainable built environment.

As Adrian puts it, having an awareness of the reasons for its adoption (the ‘why’) and some experience of assessment (the ‘how’) is now expected as part of the role of the engineer.

However, this presents challenges: data inconsistencies, limited industry knowledge, and balancing carbon reductions with performance and cost make it a complex area to navigate. So let’s find out why students should engage with embodied carbon thinking early in their careers.

Resources

Adrian Campbell Linked in

Southampton University Embodied Carbon guide

Change Building website

University of Southampton website

Positive Collective

Royal Academy of Engineering

Institution of Structural Engineers - how to calculate embodied carbon

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Today we head back to the vitally important issue of housing and attempt to understand the UK’s complex, and some might say, largely dysfunctional housing retrofit market.

It is a market that is rapidly evolving, driven by ambitious government policies, rising energy costs, and increasing public demand for sustainable, lower cost living. But with a housing stock that is among the oldest in Europe, the UK faces significant headwinds to meet this challenge.

But my guest today has embraced this challenge whole heartedly and two years ago quit a successful career with global consultancy McKinsey and Co to strike out on her own. Anna Moore formed Hestia, now rebranded as Domna, as a brand-new business to transform our approach to domestic retrofit and, at the same time, lever in large amounts of much needed private sector investment.

It's a tough market. Because, as Anna knows I am sure, while the government’s commitment to building 1.5 million new homes continues to grab the headlines as the key to driving up living standards and revitalising communities, the need to retrofit our huge existing stock has been left something of an overlooked, Cinderella sector.

Yes, recent initiatives, such as the Future Homes Standard and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund – now renamed the Warm Homes Grant, have boosted the focus on retrofitting to enhance energy efficiency, lower emissions, and reduce fuel poverty. And the market is seeing growing interest in innovations like heat pumps, solar panels, insulation upgrades, and smart energy systems.

However, the sector faces hurdles, including supply chain constraints, skilled labour shortages, and the challenge of balancing affordability with high-quality retrofits.

That said Anna has just secured a £70M cash injection into the business which she hopes will open up a £500bn opportunity that will help the business to play a critical role in creating healthier, more efficient homes for residents.

So, let’s find out how.

Resources

About Domna Group

Insights from Donna Group on retrofitting

Domna post on £70 financing deal

Building Centre New Homes in New Ways Exhibition

Anna Moore Linked In

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In today’s episode we dive into the UK’s deepening housing crisis– specifically looking at affordable housing where demand is still far outstripping supply.

Despite ambitious government targets to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next five years, the reality is that we are still only seeing 50,000 to 60,000 affordable homes being built each year - far short of the estimated 145,000 required.

The shortfall leaves over 1.3 million households on waiting lists, while rising costs, planning delays, and economic uncertainty continue to challenge the sector.

My guest today is Anette Simpson the director of development and partnerships at Legal & General Affordable Homes where she is responsible for overseeing the delivery of some 3,000 affordable homes annually.

Legal & General Affordable Homes (LGAH) was founded in 2018 to bring institutional investment into affordable housing, leveraging private sector funding to help bridge the gap.

The business has ambition and Anette’s target is to have more than 10,000 homes under management this year. It aims to prove that, alongside the tradition public sector social housing providers, for-profit providers can play a crucial role in tackling the crisis.

As such their approach combines long-term investment with cutting-edge technology, ensuring both sustainability and high-quality service for residents.

However, the sector still faces significant barriers. Planning inefficiencies, limited government funding, and the financial pressures on housing associations are slowing progress. Meanwhile, challenges such as building safety upgrades, decarbonisation targets, and interest rate hikes are forcing traditional providers to scale back development.

And to attract further private investment, the industry needs greater stability, a more efficient planning system, and well-resourced local authority partners.

So let’s hear more as we explore LGAH’s role in shaping the future of affordable housing in the UK.

Resources

Legal & General Affordable Homes

The Legal & General Affordable Housing Fund

Planning overhaul to build 1.5M new homes

Government affordable home ownership schemes

Labour - Get Britain Building

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In today's podcast we explore the role that academia and research can and must play in transforming infrastructure into the modern, joined up, innovative sector needed to deliver a sustainable future for communities.

My guest is Jeni Giambona, Associate Dean of Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise at the University of Southampton Business School, where she is also a Professor and a Member of the Centre for Resilient Socio-Technical Systems. More on that later.

But full alumni disclosure – it is 30 years since I started my own undergrad course in Civil Engineering at Southampton University – fond if distant memories even if I’m not sure anyone there really remembers my particular academic contribution!

Operating at a slight higher academic level, Jeni has worked in the higher education world and been involved at the sharp end of research for around two decades and specialises in Knowledge exchange and dissemination, engagement and systems thinking.

It is fair to say that driving and investing in innovation remains key to boosting the infrastructure sector’s productivity and the outcomes - setting up projects and our approach to the delivery of asset management in new and better ways.

That means embracing a systems approach; really doubling down on the need for collaboration and supply chain engagement; and of course investing in new data and digital technologies to help us to truly understand how infrastructure works.

All of which is firmly on Jeni’s research and teaching agenda at Southampton as she attempts to infect the sector with her passion and enthusiasm for change and pursuit of better outcomes – let’s hear more.

Resources

University of Southampton Business School

Systems Thinking and Leadership Development Executive Education

Leaders and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence programme

New Forest Business Partnership

UK Higher Education and Transnational Education Mission

The Newfoundland breed

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In today’s episode we head back into the corridors of power to talk to Mike Reader Member of Parliament for Northampton South and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure.

And after my recent conversation with Sarah Jones MP, minister of state for Business and net zero it will be interesting to contrast this government view of the nation’s infrastructure ambition with one from Parliament’s back benches.

Certainly, there is no question that this government has infrastructure investment firmly in its sights when it comes to delivering on its ultimate mission for economic growth.

We hear about no end of plans for refocusing on and accelerating delivery of nationally significant infrastructure projects such as Heathrow third runway, Lower Thames Crossing, energy transition and distribution, new reservoirs and of course most recently a £3.6bn injection into the UK’s flood defences.

But, as we also know, local infrastructure improvements are what really turns voters heads – be they improved bus services, tackling potholes, improving schools and hospitals or, indeed, providing new homes.

And of course we also know that local infrastructure impacts, be they pylons on the skyline or rail tracks through the pastures, can and do have a major impact of deliverability.

Navigating this difficult route from infrastructure aspiration to reality so often falls on the desks of an army of back bench MPs representing the myriad of interests – for and against proposals - within communities across the UK. So let’s talk to one of them.

Resources

Mike Reader MP website

All Party Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure

Energy Security and Net Zero Committee

Government Industrial Strategy in the UK paper

Bold reforms to planning systems

Construction Leadership Council

Rachel Reeves speech - January 2025

Transforming Infrastructure Performance

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In today special 100th episode we shift to the heart of the UK government to hear first-hand from Construction Minister Sarah Jones MP about how she intends to embrace and accelerate infrastructure investment as a means to deliver the government’s overarching mission for economic growth.

The podcast was recorded live in front of an invited audience of professionals at last week’s Twin Talks breakfast meeting hosted by Bentley Systems – just before the Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her plans to cut through the planning and environmental blockers and accelerate a rake of nationally significant infrastructure projects such as the much discussed Heathrow third runway, East West Rail and the Oxford Cambridge Arc, Lower Thames Crossing, a raft of new reservoirs and a splurge of national wealth fund cash to underpin electric vehicle charging.

As I discussed in last week's podcast with Skanska UK boss Katy Dowding, infrastructure is truly back in fashion and at the heart of the Labour government's increasingly desperate search for growth.

So a great moment to chat to Sarah Jones, who was appointed as Minister of State at both the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Business and Trade, last July, having been elected as the MP for Croydon West in June 2017.

Her busy, cross-department role brings up an interesting mix of responsibilities, all of which, of course, have major implications for the construction and infrastructure sectors as the government attempts to balance public sector ambitions for economic growth, higher living standards and better environment outcomes with the reality of constrained public finances and the need to truly engage private sector investment and innovation.

We have truly got interesting, challenging and exciting times ahead. I started by finding out a bit more about her plans for delivery…

Resources

Government Industrial Strategy in the UK paper

Bold reforms to planing systems

Construction Leadership Council

Sarah Jones MP website

Rachel Reeves speech - January 2025

Transforming Infrastructure Performance

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Today's podcast is episode 99 and we are going to talk about the challenge of modern contracting.

There is no doubt that we are in a world where infrastructure investment is well and truly back in fashion.

That’s true whether we are transforming our energy future, racing to meet a net zero goals, improving lives and community, protecting the environment, solving the housing crisis or indeed, supporting the government’s lofty ambitions for an AI driven, world leading growth agenda,

Yes, we hear it all the time: infrastructure investment is key to boosting growth. Yet the question still remains: how do we actually create this new world?

The answer of course is contractors - the skills, the ingenuity, and innovation, passion and resource of a pretty unique bunch of folk who, rain or shine, get out there and make it happen.

My guest today knows all about the pressures and delights of contracting. Katy Dowding is president and CEO of Skanska UK, one of the UK's leading and most innovative contractors and the UK division of Skanska AB, the £13bn revenue global business based in Sweden.

Katy has been with Skanska for a large part of her 30 year career in the industry and has ridden the rollercoaster of boom and bust, feast and famine that has too often characterised the sector throughout that time.

So where are we now? Are we moving away from the low margin dog eat dog world? Have we arrived at the new low carbon era of collaboration, quality driven value led outcomes?

And critically, are we creating an industry in which the brightest and the best actually now want to work and a sector that is set up to transform the world around us and create the kind of built and natural environment that really will change lives?

Let's find out.

Resources
Skanska UK website
Construction Leadership Council
National Infrastructure Commission
Infrastructure and Projects Authority
Wates Corporate Governance Principles
Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction
Construction Youth Trust

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In today's podcast we go Stateside to catch up on what is happening in the US as the global super power prepares for the latest iteration of the Donald Trump Presidency and as Los Angeles struggles to contain and recover from catastrophic wild fires.

My guest today is Steve Burrows, ICE Representative for the West Coast of the USA. Steve is based in San Francisco and, after a global career in engineering working for Arup, then Aecom and WSP on projects including the Birdsnest Olympic Stadium in Beijing and Apple’s headquarters in California, is now an independent consultant helping infrastructure clients to deliver better outcomes from their investments.

So after 40 years in the region, If anyone has his finger on the West Coast pulse it’s Steve!

Well the Trump presidency is certainly a massive moment for the US and a massive moment for the rest of the world – huge consequences geopolitically and huge impacts economically if Trump follows through on his election promises.

And huge impacts for infrastructure professionals as the administration switches track from renewables and net zero ambition back to the drill baby drill oil and gas centric policies of the past.

Meanwhile of course the very real impact of global climate change has arrived in Los Angeles which is still battling what is certainly one of the worst natural disasters to have hit the city in its history. So far 25 people have been killed with many more still missing and tens of thousands of properties destroyed as fires rage across the parched dry tinder box driven my unprecedented high winds.

It is truly a scene of tragedy on a massive scale.

From an infrastructure perspective both events raise huge questions for the US – not least in a country that has massively underfunded and under maintained is infrastructure assets and that had world leading ambitions for low carbon development..

So make no mistake there are big challenge ahead as professionals attempt to steer the path toward safe, productive and resilient infrastructure. So how are they coping.

Let's find out.

Resources
ICE North America
CalFire LA wire fires update
The White House
ACSE infrastructure report card
Genuine Intelligence Podcast
Steve Burrows Linked In
B2BURROWS

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In today’s podcast we try to understand how the infrastructure investment we have planned across the UK can actually be turned into better sustainable outcomes for communities.

To tackle this hugely important issue, my guest today is Professor Jim Hall, the 160th President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, professor of climate and environmental risks at the University of Oxford and commissioner for the soon to be wound down – or is it on - National Infrastructure Commission.

Now, in his inaugural speech to the ICE, Jim rightly pointed out that the infrastructure civil engineers provide is central to sustainable development. Yet, he added that, around the world governments continually struggle to provide those much-needed infrastructure services.

The question is why, and, of course, how can infrastructure professions start to really move the dial when it comes to ensuring that, for all the investment and enthusiasm, we are getting the right sustainable outcomes – the social economic and environmental outcomes from infrastructure systems we already have in place and from the new ones that are slated to be built as part of the on-going global drive towards economic and social growth.

Make no mistake, there are some huge opportunities ahead – but there are also huge challenges. Not least in a world increasingly led by climate change sceptics and vested corporate interests.

Well let’s find out what more the profession can do by chatting to an internationally recognised expert in strategic infrastructure planning.

ResourcesICE presidential address 2024National Infrastructure CommissionNational Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority NISTANIC Needs Assessment 2Infrastructure and Projects Authority

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We are back for 2025 and in today's podcast we will I hope, start the new year by catching a glimpse of the art of the possible when it comes to embracing the use of data, technology and digital tools to drive improvement across the infrastructure sector.

As such it is my pleasure to sit down today with Nicholas Cumins, chief executive of global infrastructure software giant Bentley Systems. Nicholas stepped into the hot seat six months ago when former ceo, founder and driving mind for the business Greg Bentley moved up to chair the now public company, ending three decades of family control. So no pressure there then!

Nicholas set out his stall for the direction of the business during his keynote address to the 2024 Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure event held last October in Vancouver. This annual event gathers infrastructure’s top minds to share information and inspiration, find out what’s new in the digital design, construction and operation world and, or course, to celebrate success with a bunch of now highly coveted awards.

These kind of global events demonstrate clearly how governments around the world are banking on infrastructure investment to drove economies but also that the future of our built environment depends on doing more with less and on achieving better economic and social outcomes for communities.

And as Nicholas pointed out in Vancouver, that means creating new, sustainable solutions that will both protect our natural environment and meet global target for cutting carbon emissions. But it also means finding new and better ways to manage and maintain the vast amount of vital infrastructure that already exists.

Digitalisation, data and the power of AI and data analysis tools are key to helping professionals to make better decisions and creating better outcomes for the societies that rely on it.

And it’s fair to say that software companies like Bentley are developing extraordinary tools to power this transformation. So let’s hear what’s new and what’s around the corner.

Resources
Bentley Systems iLabThe Digital Twin HubBentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2024YII 2024 KeynotesCesium 3D TilesGoogle partnershipUnreal Engine

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Today’s podcast is the second of a two-part year end special recorded with Sir John Armitt out-going chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission and all round voice of experience and knowledge when it comes go planning and delivering the UK’s infrastructure needs.

And its the last episode of 2025!

In the last episode we covered a lot of ground talking about NISTA, the all new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, the challenges of turning policy into delivery, reforming UK planning and how the government might create the vital clear and consistent policy to drive forward vital investment needed for infrastructure projects that will boost economic growth and transform lives and communities across the UK.

If you haven’t done so already, I heartily recommend you have a listen. Check out episode 94

In part 2 we will build on these themes and talk a bit more about driving down costs and improving outcomes from investment, about delivering more for the public and about ensuring private sector investors and the supply can really engage with the government’s plans.

But first we have a catch up about the National Infrastructure Commission, what it has achieved since 2015 and where it is heading.

Enjoy the episode

ResourcesNational Infrastructure CommissionInfrastructure and Projects AuthorityNational Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority NISTANIC Needs Assessment 2NIC letter to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 10 year strategyBanner Review into NSIP judicial reviewsPlanning and Infrastructure Bill

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Today’s podcast is a bit special in that it is the first of a two-part, year-end special recorded with infrastructure giant Sir John Armitt.

To be fair, this podcast really needs very little in the way of set up from me, other than to say that Sir John is long standing chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, past president of the Institution of Civil Engineers and, to most inside and outside of the engineering and infrastructure sector, the genuine expert voice of experience, calm and common sense when it comes to the built environment.

And I imagine that if you are listening to this podcast you will be acutely aware that, having served on the commission since it was formed in 2015 and been chairman since 2018, John is stepping down from the role in the Spring next year as the organisation joins with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority to form NISTA, the all new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.

This will be charged with taking the strategic planning and delivery of the nation’s infrastructure to new levels, driving forward the new and eagerly awaited 10-year National Infrastructure Strategy, and boosting the efficiency and outcomes from the vast amounts of public and private investment being slated to underpin the government’s ambitious growth agenda for this Parliament and beyond.

Make no mistake, there is no shortage of ambition for infrastructure – the question, as always, is how to deliver.

But if anyone knows it’s Sir John, so let’s hear from him

Resources
National Infrastructure Commission
Infrastructure and Projects Authority
National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority NISTA
NIC Needs Assessment 2
NIC letter to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 10 year strategy
Banner Review into NSIP judicial reviews
Planning and Infrastructure Bill

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In today’s podcast we take a deep dive into planning and how look specifically at how the recent Banner Review might accelerate the delivery of the UK’s NSIPs - Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.

Reform is certainly overdue. Nick Smallwood, out-going chief executive of the government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority highlighted the UK’s poor track record of infrastructure delivery at the recent TIP Live Summit in London. There he pulled no punches and said: “We take far too long to deliver infrastructure planning. It typically takes as long to get through the planning regime as it does to deliver an asset. That's simply not acceptable. We need to do far better.”

So how can we do better? Well, we have the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill coming down the tracks and reform of the entire planning process is clearly on the government’s agenda with the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner laying out big plans for radical reform with virtually her first strike of the pen.

But reform of the approach to planning around NSIPs has been on the cards for some time.

As such, the Banner Review was commissioned by the last government at the start of 2024 under then-Secretary of State Michael Gove - and has seen Lord Charles Banner KC examine and propose improvements to the planning and approval process.

It is fair to say that the issue is coming to a head. Banner published his recommendations on 28th October, providing a number of routes to improving the system, addressing challenges such as delays, legal challenges, and increasing costs, particularly delay caused by the judicial review process that impacts large infrastructure projects​.

So as we now close in on the end a nine week call for evidence which closes on 30 December it is a great moment to find out about the key issues by welcoming Robbie Owen to the podcast today.

Robbie is a partner and head of Infrastructure Planning and Government Affairs at Pinsent Masons and certainly one of – if not THE leading expert in the field.

Resources
The Banner Review
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill
National Infrastructure Planning Association
National Infrastructure Commission
Pinsent Masons
About NISTA

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As the latest COP29 global climate change conference draws to a close in Baku, this podcast focuses on how the infrastructure sector can summon the courage to transform its approach to sustainability and ensure that the issue moves from niche to become business as usual in the mainstream at every level of the supply chain.

It's a potentially exciting time in infrastructure. The government’s £40bn infrastructure investment plan to get Britain Building is certainly ambitious and challenges all government departments, local authorities and the private sector to focus and prioritise around community and business need.

But the scale of what is required also means securing a genuine transformation in the way the industry plans, designs, constructs and operates new and existing infrastructure, so as to maximise the social, economic and environmental outcomes achieved – reducing carbon, reducing cost and creating better results for communities.

But how?

Well my guest in this episode is Hannah Pathak, international managing director at Forum for the Future and a long-standing champion for driving collaborative action across business to help accelerate this kind of required change in some of biggest challenges facing the globe today.

At Forum for the Future, Hannah works across a multitude of global sectors to help businesses understand and then achieve more sustainable business outcomes, using futures scenarios to understand the risks and opportunities and systems change practices to help navigate a route through the complex challenges.

I met Hannah recently at the FM Conway Collaborative Sustainability supply chain event where she gave a keynote address to describe the ideas contained in the Forum’s recent report The Future of Sustainability: Courage to Transform and where she challenged to audience to have the bravery to act.

Her words and ideas were certainly inspiring and very challenging – and I thought needed to be shared more widely. So let’s hear more!

Resources
Forum for Future website
Climate and Health Coalition
Future of Sustainability - Courage to Transform
FM Conway Sustainability strategy
FM Conway Collaborative Sustainability event
HM Government Budget 2025 to rebuild Britain

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In today's podcast we talk about how modern engineering consultancy really can change lives by creating sustainable infrastructure that focuses relentlessly on delivering creative, value-led solutions for the benefit of people, places and planet.

I am deliberately quoting from the values page of engineering design firm Buro Happold in honour of the fact that my guest today is Paula Gough, the newly installed UK Development Director for Infrastructure responsible for bringing, as she puts it, “some exciting new thinking into the UK infrastructure market”.

It is quite a challenge. Given the scale of infrastructure ambition set out by the Chancellor in last month’s budget and the unbelievably tight financial, social and environmental constraints that come with this ambition for growth, we will need every ounce of new thinking to make it all stack up.

But of course, Buro Happold is synonymous for innovative thinking around difficult problems from the moment the extraordinarily gifted engineer Ted Happold left his successful career at Arup in 1976. Legend has it that he headed to the University of Bath to became professor of Architecture and Engineering Design and then found Buro Happold after Arup refused to allow him to start an office in Bath.

The firm remains the forward thinking, design and people focused business today. Famous for tackling some the globe’s trickiest engineering projects and for doing so with a focus and attention on driving the absolute best community, environmental and economic outcomes

Which iswhy Paula’s new role caught my attention. I first interviewed a very young and ambitious Paula Farshim - as she was then - for NCE back in 2007 when she was just starting her glittering career as Hyder Consulting’s graduate of the year. She was certainly bent on creating change back then.

So a few decades on and with this new role, how can she help a firm like Buro Happold drill deep into this world of infrastructure to rethink our approach and deliver those vital creative solutions to our global challenges

Well let’s find out

Resources
Buro Happold website
SATRO - about the charity
The Budget - Nov 2024
NCE interview - a glittering career (behind paywall)
Being a DE&I and Fairness Inclusion and Respect (FIR) Ambassador

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It's a powerful episode this week as we talk about housing and in particular what can be done to accelerate construction of the vital homes that are needed to support our society across the UK.

Now the need for housing – in particular affordable housing - has become one of THE most pressing social issues of our time. The current New Homes in New Ways project being hosted at the Building Centre in London makes that point abundantly clear – too many people are still living in temporary or substandard accommodation and it’s something that, for a developed nation like the UK, is simply unacceptable.

Yet despite widespread acknowledgment of the problem, progress towards change has been slow, and systemic barriers continue to stall meaningful solutions. The Government’s new target of building 1.5 million new homes in the next five years is ambitious and welcome, but it still raises fundamental questions about feasibility, funding, and strategic planning.

So what to do? My guest today is Jez Sweetland, founder of the Housing Festival think-tank and a passionate advocate for changing the way we deliver housing in the UK.

As he pointed out very powerfully in his opening address to the launch of the New Homes in New Ways, the fact that one in nine children is homeless in the London Borough of Newham is something that should cause us an industry and as a society to bow our heads with shame.

Because building affordable homes is doable – YES it requires financial resources and land and YES, it needs innovative thinking, new materials, new techniques and effective collaboration across the huge number of stakeholders that make housing possible.

But all of this is available and possible – so why is it so difficult - let’s hear more.

Resources
Housing Festival
Building Centre New Homes in New Ways Exhibition
Jez Sweetland Launch Speech for New Homes in New Ways
Playbook - Social Rent Housing at Pace - The MMC Playbook
Hope Rise – Innovation In Practice
Register Interest for Summit On Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th February we will host a two-day summit, bringing together local authorities, housing commissioners and the MMC housing supply ecosystem, to mobilise the delivery of social rent homes on small sites. Tickets available soon!

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Today’s podcast is a bit special - and I have to say it was a bit nerve-racking - as we talk about the challenges, barriers and opportunities for women in leadership with executive coach and strategy consultant Alex Oliver who – full disclosure – is also my wife.

Alex works with a range of people – women and men - across a multitude of sectors helping all these leaders to, as she puts it, “unleash your potential, power your growth and open up a fulfilling and purposeful life”.

It is powerful and really important stuff. Understanding what it takes to be a good and effective leader in business is not something that necessarily comes naturally and almost certainly improves with training and personal awareness.

To be honest, I have been looking for an excuse to interview Alex on the podcast for a while so the launch last week of She Leads; Step Into Your Value, her new women’s leadership programme seemed a fantastic opportunity to peer around the door of her office – not least as it coincided with the Association of Consultancy and Engineering’s own Female Leadership conference this week.

A recent Major Projects Association report on wellbeing highlighted the critical leadership challenges facing the modern infrastructure sector which traditionally has relied on a command and control, top down leadership styles. The reality is that boosting and promoting new, more empathetic leadership skills is an issue which the infrastructure sector is only really just starting to cotton onto.

But for women in particular, the challenges of leadership are acute, stemming from the continuing lack of gender diversity in the sector, exacerbated by traditional leadership cultures, and underpinned by a failure to appreciate a rake of specific blockers and barriers faced by women in infrastructure.

In short, for a sector which needs every ounce of talent, this failure to support and develop the next generation of female leaders remains a glaring missed opportunity.

So what to do? Well let’s find out and get some advice from the expert.

Resources
She Leads; Step into Your Value
Alex Oliver Consulting website
ACE - Engineering Futures: Removing the Barriers to Female Leadership
ICE Connect - Women in Fellowship

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A week after Labour's first budget in 14 years - its "big" budget - we talk on the podcast about how the UK turns all the infrastructure aspiration announced into the kind of life, economy and climate changing reality that is implied – perhaps promised.

Yes, infrastructure investment plays a key role in driving economic growth across the nation and across the regions of the UK – and according to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the budget’s £40bn budget spend will add some 1.4% to the economy – discuss! But only if these plans can be first turned into projects that actually succeed in creating the outcomes promised and demanded.

So infrastructure professionals simply have to get the delivery right. The economic pressures facing the nation, the social need in terms of housing, jobs and living standards, the absolute need to prioritise global net zero targets and a resilient future mean we cannot afford to get it wrong.

That means starting with an end in mind and then putting in place the steps that lead towards success - in the short term delivering to time and budget; in the longer term creating and maintaining the nation’s infrastructure to set us up for a sustainable future.

Easy to say but harder to deliver. So what can actually be done to put in place the kind of steps required to plan our infrastructure, access the financing and then deliver to expectation?

Well my guest to today is Hannah Vickers, Global Head of Advisory at construction and consulting giant Mace. In this role, as I understand it, Hannah is responsible for the creating the strategies, business cases and practical insights that increase delivery confidence, enhance productivity and create value for Mace’s clients and investors - so I reckon she should be well placed to help shed some light on this conundrum.

Resources
The Budget - October 2024
Mace website
Mace Consult
CLC website
Project 13
Construction Playbook
PAS 2080 - carbon management
CLC CO2nstruct Zero 8th Quarterly Performance Framework

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In today’s podcast we talk about the very latest digital twin visualisation technologies and find about a bit more about how and why these new immersive tools are truly set to transform the way we design construct, operate and maintain our infrastructure.

At the heart of today’s discussion will be infrastructure software developer Bentley Systems’ new iLab experience which gives hands-on experience with real-time digital twins and features the latest advances in project visualization to bring models to life literally in front of your eyes.

I was given a glimpse of this impressive tool recently by my guest today Greg Demchak, Vice President for Emerging Technologies at Bentley Systems at the Year in Infrastructure event in Vancouver where the latest iteration of the iLab experience was being rolled out to the press and to industry professionals.

It is quite something! The iLab is an experience which provides users with an immersive infrastructure experience that is capable of both educating and explaining infrastructure while also helping professionals to get hands on with a real-time digital twin visualization. This allows users to not only enter and experience designs in their real world settings but also provides a range of tools AI enhanced tools to explore options, make changes and visualise the impact of their decision making in real time.

To be quite honest, seeing is believing! It is quite an extraordinary experience and one which, I hope, the words in this conversation with Greg today will do justice to. Let’s find out!

Resources
Bentley Systems iLabThe Digital Twin HubBentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2024YII 2024 KeynotesCesium 3D TilesGoogle partnershipUnreal Engine

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Today's special episode is recorded live in Jamie Oliver's new restaurant in Covent Garden London as we return to the tricky, but absolutely crucial issue of skills and the need to lever more of the best talent from schools into the infrastructure, construction and building sector.

Now, anyone who has ever attended an industry conference recently and, I dare I say it, anyone that's ever listened to an industry podcaster lately, will be very aware that the deficit of skills in this sector is presenting a real risk to the ability to deliver our ambition for accelerating investment in the industry and boosting growth and improving the living standards across the UK.

And add to that, the reality that technology is set to transform the way we work, underlines the reality that we have to change to make sure that the brightest minds really do good into the sector.

It's a huge challenge. And so who better to talk to than Alison Watson, president of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors, and founder of the Class of Your Own initiative, which, as we heard in Episode Six, way back in March 2023 is a program that is successfully embedding its Design Engineer Construct agenda into the school curriculum and radically increasing the number of students actually making it into the industry.

But not fast enough. Which is why Alison joins me today in Jamie Oliver's lovely new restaurant in Covent Garden, London, as she prepares to launch a new initiative that she hopes could actually start to change the way the sector approaches its support for schools.

The episode also includes a chat with RIBA president-elect Chris Williamson (his design-a-restaurant advice – “listen your clients”) and past winners of the original Design a Restaurant competition John Haylett BSc (Hons) NECReg and Sam Boone who both underline the value of schools/industry competitions when it came to shaping and driving their own careers in the built environment.

Resources
Design a restaurant with Jamie Oliver
Class of Your Own website
Design Engineer Construct website

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In today’s podcast we return to the interesting, important and very often controversial topic of artificial intelligence – specifically the way that it is set – or not set - to transform the way we design construct, operate and maintain our infrastructure.

Now, no one will have escaped to ubiquitous emergence of AI tools now finding their way into virtually every aspect of our lives – driving our phones and computers to influence and guide our working patterns, social media feeds, entertainment choices, cars, our social activities, food and perhaps even our friends.

The infrastructure sector is not immune to this influence. As the use of data, digital technologies and software tools increases to help boost the efficiency and outcomes of design delivery and operation we are now seeing an inevitable rise in AI tools creeping in to smooth the flow of information.

That means, at the one end, helping out with the time-consuming number crunching tasks by making sence of the vast amounts of data now flowing out of the infrastructure life cycle. Think of it as a handy helper tackling the mundane tasks and freeing up head space and time for professionals to focus on the creative problem-solving tasks.

On the other hand, we are now also seeing the rise of AI tools capable of much more advanced decision making, using live data and complex rule sets to guide and influence the design, construction and operation and maintenance operations; easing the management of processes across all aspect of infrastructure.

Some might say creating a fantastic opportunity to boost efficiency; others fear a spiralling route to disaster.

Software companies are at the cutting edge of this AI revolution, creating new tools and platforms daily to transform the way professionals interact with data.

Bentley Systems is one such software business which, at its recent Year in Infrastructure conference in Vancouver, revealed the on-going ambition to “revolutionise infrastructure through AI”.

It is indeed an exciting and daunting moment for the sector so to hear more about these revolutionary ambitions it is my pleasure to chat today to Julien Moutte, Chief Technology Officer at Bentley Systems the man driving forward this revolution and rolling it out at dizzying pace for the infrastructure sector to grasp.

Resources
Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2024
YII 2024 Keynotes
Cesium 3D Tiles
Google partnership

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Today's podcast comes from Canada as I'm on a short North American trip, and our discussion is focused how technology is set to – perhaps is already – transforming the delivery and operation of public transport.

In particular, we ask what lessons can be learnt from around the world – specifically from Toronto - by welcoming Kirsten Watson, Vice President of Government Relations and Transit Market Sector Leader at AECOM to the podcast today

Kirsten is former Deputy CEO at Toronto Transit Commission and has just been chairing a fascinating series of conversations about the future of infrastructure at the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Toronto. This is the latest in a series of global summits hosted by infrastructure software business Bentley System, which, over the last couple of years I have had the pleasure of assisting in the delivery. (for a summary of the summit see this digital book)

So why Toronto? Well, of course the need for investment in infrastructure is a global challenge as we attempt to drive economies through the provision of better, more effective, lower carbon energy sources, housing, healthcare, water supplies and transport.

Toronto - and Ontario Province in which is sits - understands this well and has ambitious plans, led by Infrastructure Ontario, to invest over $185 billion Canadian dollars in the next 10 years to build new roads, transit and hospitals as using public cash through the Canadian Infrastructure Bank and the new Ontario Infrastructure Bank to support further private capital.

A pressing issue not least given the impact of a changing climate and the fact that the population of the Greater Toronto area is expected to grow by 2.5 million by 2041.

From the outset, Ontario has set out its ambition to harness the use of new technologies to both help deliver this ambitious agenda on time and on budget, but also to improve and transform the operation and maintenance of assets through the use of data digital twins and an array of artificial intelligence tools.

It is a bold plan and one that perhaps the world might learn from – and, indeed, it must be said, Toronto is equally keen to learn from others. So let’s hear more.

Resources
Toronto's infrastructure plans
Ontario Infrastructure
Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Toronto
Canadian Infrastructure Bank
AECOM Toronto
Bentley Systems TIP hub
The Future of Infrastructure Group Canada
Summit Digital Book

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In the podcast today we talk about the challenge of inclusive design and how to make the infrastructure sector more accessibility to a wider range of society.

It’s a huge issue and “not merely a problem to be solved, but a commitment to ensuring independence and dignity for all.”

Not my words but those of my guest today Meg Ginsberg, who describes herself as an assistant project manager at South West Water, charity founder and disabled mum.

As a wheelchair user who has forged a career infrastructure,Meg knows first-hand the challenge of both improving accessibility for disabled professionals in the industry but also the vital difference that her perspective brings to decision making.

According to Meg, while hiring diverse employees capable of adapting, upskilling, and delivering is key to success in construction, the employment rate of disabled people is 53%, compared to 82% of non-disabled people.

Perhaps, she adds, because one in five disabled individuals is unable to travel due to the lack of appropriate transport options, a reality that impacts the lives of the 16M disabled people in the UK.

For example, she says, a wheelchair user's commute can take up to five times longer than that of a non-disabled person in London. Therefore, closing the transport accessibility gap for disabled people in the UK, she says, could deliver economic benefits of over £70bn per year through improved well-being and access to education and employment.

Meg is tackling the challenge head on and has founded the Construct Ability charity which she hopes will refocus attitudes and provide the tools to create a society where infrastructure is not a barrier to, but a facilitator of equal opportunities for all.

Resources
Construct Ability
About Meg
ICE accessibility blog
About Meg's Bath & Bristol Railway Marathon challenge
Energy & Utility Skills 2024 Awards

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In today's podcast we tackle a vital but too often overlooked area of infrastructure delivery namely commissioning – the art and science of preparing and taking assets into service ready to deliver the outcomes required from the investment.

It is indeed a vital activity for every infrastructure professional to be aware of. For every asset owner and project sponsor for that matter. And while the results of getting commissioning right are so often unnoticed, the impact of getting it wrong can be commercially, socially, environmentally and politically disastrous.

So often fantastic infrastructure projects fall at the final hurdle by either opening late, having to close immediately after opening for retrofit and repair, fail to deliver outcomes to expectation, or see costs spiral as teams rally and race to meet the commercial promises of opening dates.

In the UK we might think about delays to the opening of the Jubilee Line Extension and Crossrail projects, West Coast Mainline, baggage handling problems on Heathrow Terminal Five, signalling and train power issues on the Channel Tunnel Rail link - the list goes on.

Usually the problem simply comes down to a lack of thought, time, investment and prioritisation for the commissioning process – those vital steps that make the assets ready for operation.

It doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, according to the Industrial Commissioning Association, a relatively new organisation devoted to improving the quality and performance of commissioning across infrastructure, industrial and process sectors, the more people working on projects understand the importance of commissioning and the value it provides, the more successful projects will be in meeting cost, schedule, and quality objectives.

So let’s here more about this very attractive proposition and find out about the opportunities and what’s holding us back by welcoming Paul Turner, chief executive of the Industrial Commissioning Association who is driving the new organisation forward after a career spent wrestling with commissioning around the world.

Resources
Industrial Commissioning Association website
Project Commissioning - Start With the End in Mind report
Global Commissioning Standard
How Big Things Get Done

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In today's podcast we reflect on last year’s HS2 north project cancellation and, one year one, explore what lessons might be learnt for future major project delivery as we move into the Starmer government era.

Now, I have been writing about infrastructure projects for 30 years and it seems that when you look back, one consistent theme constantly crops up – the delivery of major infrastructure projects is troublesome to say the least. As an industry we continuously over-promise when it comes to budgets and programme and under-deliver when it comes to social, economic and environmental outcomes.

I’m thinking Jubilee Line Extension, Heathrow T5, Channel Rail Link, Crossrail – all fantastic assets today, but the delivery process has left the industry’s reputation in the eyes of the public and politicians in tatters.

In fact, according to book “How Big Things Get Done” by Flyvbjerg and Gadner, 99.5% of major projects worldwide are over budget, over time and fail to deliver their expected benefits.

So when then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced to the Conservative Party Conference in October 2023 that phase 2 of the HS2 project beyond the West Midlands would be cancelled and replaced with “Network North”, a £36bn hastily thrown together hotch potch of transport projects, it was hardly a surprise.

HS2, said Sunak. “is a project whose costs have more than doubled, which has been repeatedly delayed and it is not scheduled to reach Manchester for almost two decades… … and for which the economic case has massively weakened with the changes to business travel post Covid.”

Much disappointment and derision followed. HS2 will now run only from London to Birmingham, with the Oak Common to Euston link on hold until a private sector backed solution can be found. The industry’s reputation for delivery sent once again into the bin.

I say again because this is not the first example of politically driven descoping as politicians run out of patience waiting for a ribbon to cut. Think the Channel Tunnel in the 1970s, the Crossrail project in the late 1980s, the Advanced Passenger Train in the 1990s, numerous tram projects in the noughties. Of course many of these projects eventually restarted and reaped benefits beyond expectation..

The question is why do they seem to have such troubled births? It warrants deeper discussion. It is therefore my pleasure to welcome Kay Hughes, former HS2 design director and Andy Murray, executive director at the Major Projects Association who have just jointly authored a new report looking specifically at what the major projects sector can learn from this recent HS2 cancellation experience.

Resources
-MPA report: "Cancellation of major projects: Perspectives on rethinking the approach to major projects inspired from HS2 Phase 2 lessons"
-MPA Prestige Lecture 2024: The Politics of Projects: Professor Ben Ansell
-HS2 North Cancellation announcement
-Network North
-How Big Things Get Done

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In today's podcast we talk about housing – specifically what needs to happen to ensure that the construction sector is set to meet the new government’s ambitious target of building 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.

There is no question that when we look back at the past performance of housebuilding in the UK, we have some way to go to meet this 300,000+ new homes a year target.

The reality is that new house building numbers have rarely nudged over 200,000 a year in the last 40 years. That was, of course the point in time that local authority housing investment really dried up, handing the task largely over to the private sector and market forces.

There are signs that the new government wants this to change. The recent announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner on planning and housing targets underlined a clear ambition to challenge and support local authorities.

But as many have already pointed out, there is no silver bullet to solving the housing crisis. When it comes to delivering on these housing targets, the nation and the construction industry still faces a rake of challenges beyond removing the planning obstacles that the government has initially – and probably rightly targeted.

With this week seeing publication of the long awaited Moore-Bick report into the 2017 Grenfell fire, which will be another sobering moment for construction.

It will, I am sure, reinforce the need to transform the sector away from low cost, low quality model highlighted by Dame Judith Hackett’s 2018 report into building standards that followed the fire.

Of course, we have been talking about these challenges for literally decades – not least the need to find and retain the right skills. But we now have a new government and a new imperative to finally turn the dial and transform the sector into a shape capable of meeting the ambitious but never-the-less vital targets set by Labour.

So let’s hear more. My guest today is Mark Farmer founder and chief executive of Cast Consultancy and a font of knowledge when it comes to accelerating constructions performance and specifically the challenges of kickstarting the nations lack-luster housebuilding performance.

Resources
Cast Consultancy
The Farmer Review - Modernise of Die
Independent Review of Building Safety - Dame Judith Hackett 2018
Government announces planning overhaul - 2024
Labour manifesto
Kings Speech background briefing

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In today's podcast we once again build on Labour’s first King’s Speech and dig into the UK’s ambitions for an energy transition.

The government has placed energy security and the rapid move away from fossil fuels high on its agenda for this parliament underlining its pre-election manifesto pledges to do just that.

This set out the route towards energy independence, stretching towards a clean energy future by 2030 with Great British Energy, its newly launched publicly-owned energy company driving investment into onshore wind, solar power and offshore wind power.

It’s certainly an ambitious plan. Some might say over ambitious. However, it is an ambition that will require the entire infrastructure sector to buy into as we move the dial towards a new era away from the dependence on imported energy.

Offshore wind sits at the heart of delivering this ambition as the most expensive but arguably least community disruptive source. Current plans set out by the last government aimed for an additional 50 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in the UK by 2030 – a tripling of the current 28GW installed.

Big numbers indeed. Which makes the UK’s port network critical to accessing this huge resource, providing the shipping capacity, the skills and expertise and of course the infrastructure required to bring the power back to the land.

It’s a huge challenge and a huge opportunity for the port sector, which, by the way, is also simultaneously at the heart of the UK’s efforts to drive growth and smooth the flow of post-Brexit trade and exports into mainland Europe.

Investing to improve this infrastructure is clearly going to be critical. So let’s hear more. My guest today is Francis Paonessa, Capital Projects and Engineering Director at Associated British Ports. With 21 ports under its management across England, Scotland and Wales, ABP is the UK’s largest port operator and as such is deeply involved in smoothing the flow of UK freight but also in providing the infrastructure and expertise that will become the backbone for the UK’s plans for energy transition.

Resources
Associated British Ports website
King's Speech
What are Freeports?
Great British Energy
Offshore wind strategy

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In today's podcast we discuss the way artificial intelligence is set to transform infrastructure performance.

In the short time since generative AI tools such ChatGPT and array of AI driven apps have emerged and become mainstream, our daily interactions with data has changed dramatically.
There should therefore, be absolutely no doubt in anyone’s minds that AI has the power to truly transform the way we live, work and play.

Notwithstanding the clear – and potentially well founded – fears around the unintended consequences of accelerating the use of AI technology, few can rule out the potential for change that is around the corner.

So what does the technology hold for infrastructure design construction and management sector? A sector which, after all has been synonymous with slow digital uptake and poor productivity and performance for decades?

Well it is clear that the use of digitisation and data across the planning, design, delivery and deployment of major infrastructure programmes is already becoming key to improving outcomes as we move beyond the use of Building Information Modelling towards greater use and exploitation of data and digital systems across the sector.

My guest today truly understands this potential. Rene Morkos, is chief executive of ALICE Technologies – which has developed the World’s first Generative Construction Simulator - we’ll come back to that!

He’s also a professor at Stanford University where he gained a PhD in amongst other things applied Artificial Intelligence techniques and is a true champion for technological change across the entire infrastructure delivery process.

Resources
ALICE Technologies website
About ALICE
Industrial Strategy: Construction Sector Deal
UK government BIM mandate 2016
Building magazine profile of Rene

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We're back from a short summer week off and with today's podcast we are going to talk about how the engineering sector can support the new Labour government’s ambition to roll out infrastructure investment at pace and drive growth back into the UK economy.

There can be no doubt about the new government’s infrastructure ambitions following the recent King’s Speech which unequivocally placed investment in the nation’s energy, transport, water and communication infrastructure at the heart of economic growth

But how will this ambition be translated into reality? How will the industry need to change to ensure that we maximise the outcomes from every hard-earned pound of public and private cash? Cash that is far from abundant.

Without question the industry has to change and in particular the traditional role of design focused businesses must evolve to meet the new demands of infrastructure clients – and of the businesses and public that they serve – to focus on boosting the outcomes that they deliver.

To help me with this challenge, my guest today is Alex Gilbert, managing director of Amey Consulting, the design and problem solving wing of infrastructure service provider Amey, which, now freed from the shackles of its long term own Ferrovial, is now reshaping its strategy and its culture under new private equity ownership.

Alex has his hands full as he attempts to leverage the firm’s traditional engineering and design skills and add in a raft of new talents, ideas and technologies to help generate not just greater efficiency from their infrastructure investment, but meet this new challenge of fundamentally shifting the quality and value of the outcomes that this investment achieves.

All of which is, of course, crucial to delivering the ambitions demanded by his public and private sector clients but also to meeting the growth and value uplift demanded by the team at Buckthorn Partners, Amey’s new private equity owners.

Let’s find out more.

Resources
The Kings Speech 2024
Amey website
Buckthorn Partners website
Amey apprenticeships

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In today's podcast we build on last week’s Kings Speech and dig into the new government’s ambitions to reform the much-criticised water sector and drive investment into this vital part of the UK’s infrastructure.

And it’s just a week or so after the delayed release of Ofwat’s long-awaited draft determination setting out how much water companies will be allowed to charge customers over the next five years. And it looks like an interesting and challenging time for everyone working in the sector.

As my guest last week Alasdair Reisner, chief executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association explained, for all the political, financial and environmental pressures piling up on the sector, there is no question that water is set to be one of the big growth markets over the next decade or so, as water companies battle to guarantee supplies, manage flooding, protect against drought and reduce the number of pollution incidents.

So how will this all map out for the supply chain? Where are the real opportunities? Well let’s ask someone with their finger on the pulse of the water industry.

My guest today is **Tom Williams, non-executive director of British Water, the body representing the water sector supply chain and ceo of water technology and innovation consultancy Enebio.

Resources**
Ofwat's draft determination July 2024
British Water response of Ofwat's draft determination
Water UK response of Ofwat's draft determination
The King's Speech
National Water Safety Forum guide to open water swimming

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In the podcast today we spend a few moments digging behind the headlines from last week’s Kings Speech and try to understand what the implications of the new government’s ambitious first legislative programme will mean for the civil engineering and infrastructure sector.

In my Kings Speech preview last week I perhaps adopted a somewhat optimistic tone regarding the potential prospect of a rake of new infrastructure investment flowing rapidly from this new government.

Well listening to King Charles as he addressed parliament, I reckon that this optimism was justified! “My Ministers will get Britain building,” he said. “Including through planning reform, as they seek to accelerate the delivery of high quality infrastructure and housing. They will also pursue sustainable growth by encouraging investment in industry, skills and new technologies.”

I reckon that of the 39 bills introduced in this parliamentary session at least a dozen will have a direct impact on the infrastructure sector, But of course talk is just talk; promises to enact legislation do not necessarily translate into immediate boom time for the industry supply chain. So in reality what does all this promise of change actually mean in terms of boosting activity in the critical UK construction sector?

Well who better to do that analysis for us than Alasdair Reisner, chief executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association and the man very much with his finger on the pulse of the sector.

Resources
The King's Speech 2024
Civil Engineering Contractors Association King's Speech response
Construction Leadership Council ‘Building A Safer, Healthier and More Sustainable Future for All’

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This podcast is a bit different. In short, due to various reasons, you just have me.

But that’s fine as it’s a great opportunity to have a quick catch up post General Election and a gaze into the crystal ball to see what the new and very shiny Starmer government has in store for infrastructure as we head towards the Kings Speech and opening of a new Parliamentary session this Wednesday.

And without getting unnecessarily nostalgic, it’s a great moment to point out - and to mark the fact - that it is 30 years this week since, having sat and passed my professional exams to become a chartered civil engineer, I packed my bags from Sir Owen Williams and Partners and made the bold decision to join New Civil Engineer magazine and start a new career in journalism.

A quick shout out to my old colleague and buddy Diarmaid Fleming, who reminded me of this milestone. Diarmaid and I joined NCE on the same day and from similar backgrounds and were famously both late for our first Monday morning news meeting with then editor Mike Winney.

Well last week’s landslide sweep to power by Labour was, of course, reminiscent of the 1997 win under Tony Blair. That prompted an unprecedently renaissance in infrastructure spending, urged on by the fledgling private finance initiative and underpinned by large dollops of public spending and public debt.

They were heady times that saw huge changes in the UK approach to public transport, to energy policy and to investment in schools, hospitals, prisons and in national and local highways.

The reality is that today, hardly a new ministerial speech goes by without reference to infrastructure investment as the key to driving economic growth and kickstarting the transformation of UK living standards.

As Sir Kier Starmer puts it in the pre-Election manifesto, we are presented with “an opportunity to begin the work of national renewal." OK, so that was the ambition. What about the reality of delivery when the rubber hits the road.

It’s a tough brief given the perilous state of the public finances so let’s take a quick look at six key issues that jump out to me as interesting factors that might shape the next five to ten years of infrastructure and try to get a sense of where we are heading.

1. Giving teeth to the NIC
2. Planning reform
3. Focus on Local Authorities
4. Great British Energy
5. Transport strategy
6. Creating an infrastructure investment fund

Resources
Labour Party manifesto
National Infrastructure CommissionMinistry of Housing, Communities & Local GovernmentLord Hendy appointed Minister of State

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In today' podcast we talk about new thinking to create a new era for infrastructure delivery

By the time you hear this podcast the dust will have settled on the General Election and we will know the rough direction in which the UK is set to take for the next five years.

But as it stands right now, all we can really say for certain is that whoever is in Downing Street, they will have investment in infrastructure high on their list of key levers to drive the future economy. [spoiler alert - it's Kier Starmer!]

And given the state of the public finances, they will also be looking to the construction planning design and delivery sectors to come up with some pretty radical new ways to start to turn the tide of poor productivity; and to embrace new thinking to boost economic, social and environmental outcomes created from every penny of public cash spent.

Which means that now, perhaps more than at any time in the last 30 years, as an industry, construction and infrastructure has to change. Yes we have made great progress in terms of safety but we have to be more effective, more productive and frankly, more modern.

So what does that mean in reality. How does a hugely traditional and culturally slow to change industry transform itself by embracing ideas such as digital solutions, modern methods of construction and systems thinking?

How does the sector convince the next administration that every public pound spent with it will be rewarded in terms of driving the much sought after economic and social growth.

Tricky questions so let’s ask an expert by welcoming Andy Beard, the new managing director for infrastructure at global consultancy and construction firm Mace to the podcast today.

Resources
Mace website
Latham review
Egan Review
Labour Party manifesto
Construction Leadership Council website

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It's General Election week and so in today's podcast we talk about creating sustainable growth - and how we ensure that professional engineers remain at the top table when it comes to influencing the vital infrastructure investment decisions needed to deliver it.

Given that we are choosing out next government this week, it seems a great moment to find out how an organisation like the ACE, the Association for Consultancy and Engineering - which for over a century has been the voice of engineering consultancy - can ensure that any new administration makes the right decisions when it comes to the long-term planning for UK infrastructure.

Not least given that the ACE has just published a post-Election manifesto setting out the priorities for the next UK Government to achieve sustainable growth.

Of course, over the last decade or so we have seen the world of engineering consultancy change dramatically. The market has consolidated to create a small number of super large, globally focused, multi-disciplinary consultancies while new technologies and tools have begun to transform the entire design and asset management process.

Clients perhaps benefit from lower costs and a single point of contact but what has been the impact on innovation and agility?

Has the sector been squashed by falling fee levels and crushed by unbalanced risk allocation?

Or is the sector in fact a thriving hotbed of new ideas driven by these new technologies and new young thinking?

Without question every political party talks about the need to boost our investment in infrastructure and accelerate its delivery as core to driving growth. But the constant question is how to turn this enthusiasm into actual outcomes when the robber hits the road and public spending realities inevitably dawn.

Now is certainly a moment for change. So let’s find out by welcoming Kate Jennings, chief executive of the ACE to the podcast today. Kate is three months into her role so let’s find out what her manifesto says and what she has planned.

Resources
ACE manifesto - Sustainable Growth and Prosperity
ACE website
Kate Jennings joins ACE press release
Griffiths & Armour PI advice

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In this podcast we talk about the vital role of small businesses in driving growth into the UK economy as they invest in skills and technology to lead innovation and new thinking across the infrastructure sector.

And as we approach the General Election and all parties talk about the need to drive growth, it is a great moment to talk about how government can stimulate this massive engine.

While the big projects and large global consultant and contractors tend to steal the headlines and occupy the seats of power and influence across the sector, the reality is that it is the army of small and medium size enterprises that really keep the entire sector going;

According to Build UK, the construction sector employs 3.1 million people, which is 1 in 10 of the UK workforce, and it has the largest share of self- employed people across the economy at 19%.

And across its members, it adds, he average size of the workforce of was 2,621, with 82% of those directly employed.

But we need a whole lot more talent, In fact, according to a recent report by the Construction Industry Training Board, it is estimated that for the sector to maintain its required output, it needs to recruit over 45,000 new people every year for the next five years.

It’s a massive challenge and a vital challenge if we are to truly leverage the power of these small businesses that sit at the heart of the industry and make it all happen.

So who better to discuss this with than, Julie White, managing director of specialist contractor D-Drill and chair of Build UK, the body representing the UK contractors. Julie is an entrepreneur and until the election was called, a member of the Prime Minister’s Small Business Council in the Department for Business and Trade.

Resources
Build UK website
D-Drill website
CITB website latest skills research
Prime Minister’s Small Business Council

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In the podcast today we talk about the opportunities and challenges of retrofitting our built environment to make our homes, offices, industrial buildings and infrastructure more energy efficient but also more resilient to a changing climate.

To meet our vitally important and hugely challenging target to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2050, we urgently need to decarbonise the UK’s real estate. Our homes, our offices, our commercial buildings, our schools hospitals and public buildings.

And given that some 40% of our carbon emissions come from the built environment, from heating, powering and operating these buildings - we need to prioritise retrofitting.

Retrofitting is known to be one of the best ways to address this challenge, as around 80% of the buildings that we will be using in 2050 already exist today. We just need to make them perform better.

But right now we are not on track – retrofitting our existing building stock is certainly still sitting in the too difficult basket when it comes to meeting the UK’s ambitious net zero targets.

Yet there are so many examples of how easily it could change.

So to discuss this hugely important topic, and the routes to success, my guest today is Sara Edmonds, who wears many hats but one is as co director of the National Retrofit Hub so should be able to give us plenty of though provoking detail.

Resources
Built Environment – Smarter Transformation
Retrofit Balsall Heath
HEAL - Home Energy Action Lab
We Can Make
People Powered Retrofit
Loco Home Retrofit
Architects Climate Action Network
Building Centre Retrofit 24

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In today's podcast we talk about the power of professional engineering and explore why a largely unseen and unsung profession increasingly has the power to change all our lives.

If you think about the major issues and challenges facing the whole of society today, they all seem to come back to infrastructure and engineering.

While the headlines may be being grabbed by pre-Election party politics, it is the need to tackle climate change and meet our net zero targets, the cost of energy, the challenge of mobility and public transport, that really stand in the way of our future well being.

And the list goes on. The health and well-being implications of water and air pollution, the demand for decent affordable housing, the need to rebuild the nation’s biodiversity. All are key issues that simply will not be solved without the input from and, critically, the leadership by professional engineers.

Yet as we see right now as the General Election moves into full swing, when it comes to discussing the big issues facing the UK - and the world for that matter - those professional engineers are largely in the shadows. Working hard and brimming with solutions but nevertheless resigned to taking instruction rather than leading.

To discuss whether this is fair - or even whether it matters, my guest today is Sir Jim McDonald, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the fellowship organisation dedicated to and focused on championing excellence in all fields of engineering.

As one of the UK’s most accomplished engineers, Sir Jim co-chairs the Scottish Government’s Energy Advisory Board with the First Minister, is Chair of the Independent Glasgow Economic Leadership Board and holds senior business appointments with the Weir Group, Scottish Power, the UK Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, and the National Physical Laboratory.

So in short, Sir Jim is an authority on professional engineering and its power to make change – particularly when it comes to energy transition.

Resources
Royal Academy of Engineering website
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
Scottish Government’s Energy Advisory Board
UK Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
National Physical Laboratory

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In today's podcast we focus on public transport - and specifically how investment in innovation, and in data and digital technologies can underpin a new era of passenger centric services.

Certainly, technology is already transforming the way that we plan our travel and the way that we use public and private transport services. But the goal goes wider and deeper.

The goal is to create a truly interconnected transport experience; to provide greater access to transport; to deliver more reliable, more effective end-to-end transport solutions for all. And to make those services a total delight to use.

Creating a public transport system so good that it makes any decision to use the car seem utter madness, as my recent podcast guest Rory Sutherland put it.

Whether it is through enabling truly integrated ticketing, providing better service information, boosting the efficiency of maintenance or underpinning a new breed of micro-mobility solutions, data and digital systems will be at the heart of our future transport services.

However, it remains unclear how all this tech will shape the passenger experiences of the future, not least as transport evolves and funding becomes tighter. But we do know that the opportunities are both exciting and daunting and will be central to creating services that the public actively choose to use.

To help us to understand more about these challenges, it is my pleasure to welcome Thomas Ableman, Director of Strategy & Innovation at Transport for London, to the podcast - the person who is literally driving innovation and change across the biggest public transport system in the UK, and one of the biggest in the world.

Well, he is until next month when he steps away from TfL after three years to pursue a new start up business idea – more of that later I’m sure.

Resources
Transport for London site
TfL open innovation
TfL Innovation Collaboration Framework
Freewheeling

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In today's podcast we talk about the role that architecture can - and must - play in delivering better design outcomes from our infrastructure investment.

It is a subject that we have discussed before on the podcast, notably with architect Harbinder Birdi who is currently leading work with the Institution of Civil Engineers to promote, and in many ways “re-birth” the role of design champions as central figures in the delivery of major infrastructure projects.

It is a role set out by the 2020 National Infrastructure Strategy and reinforced by the National Infrastructure Commission which said board-level design champions were crucial to gaining better outcomes from our public investment. And without doubt it is a subject which is gaining traction.

In short, good design matters. With huge pressure to turn limited funds into better economic, social and environmental outcomes, every infrastructure professional must now do more than simply play lip-service to the notion that good design matters.

It has to be the fundamental driver behind every investment decision and be linked implicitly to creating those vital better social, economic and environment outcomes that flow.

So let’s find out what that’s is really like at the sharp end. My guest today is Clare Donnelly, director at architecture practice Fereday Pollard and notably, the architect driving better design on major infrastructure programs such as the Tideway project and the Lower Thames Crossing. Clare is also a member of the National Infrastructure Commission Design Group, so I think will be very well placed to shed some light on what’s going right in our approach to design and where we could do better.

Resources
National Infrastructure Commission Design Group
NIC Project Level Design Principles
Institution of Civil Engineers design champions
Thames Tideway design impact
Lower Thames Crossing
Fereday Pollard website

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Today’s podcast is slightly different and rather special as we talk about CRASH, the charity set up in 1996 to focus the philanthropic power of construction.\

Since November 2007, CRASH has been run by chief executive Francesca Roberts, and over that time has grown in terms of its influence and impact and truly brought the construction sector on board to help changes lives across so many UK communities.

But at the end of this month, after 16.5 years in the job, she is retiring and handing over the role – and her legacy - to new chief executive Trisha Pickersgill.

Today, with support from industry, CRASH works with communities across the UK by helping homelessness charities and hospices with the specialist skills, equipment and materials needed for their vital construction projects.

That means working to help transform hostels, day centres, night shelters and move on accommodation for homeless people across the UK;

….it means working to create caring hospice environments where children and adults can spend precious time together;

….and it means helping to deliver meaningful social impact between companies and charities with long-lasting benefits to communities across the UK, whilst creating a more caring society.

Changing chief executive is a big moment for CRASH and a big moment for Francesca. So I thought now was a fantastic and special moment to hear more about CRASH and hear her highs and lows of the last few decades.

Resources
CRASH website
How to get involved with CRASH
CRASH projects
The CRASH team

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In today’s podcast we talk about fixing the broken model for delivering major infrastructure projects in the UK.

Why do we need to fix this model?

Well, as we know, Britain needs high performing infrastructure if we are to improve the productivity of our economy and boost living standards for communities.

“Yet the model we use to deliver and operate much of this infrastructure is broken.

“Too often it produces assets and networks that are expensive, perform poorly and fail to exploit the advances in technology that are transforming other industries.

Too often the supply chain that delivers our infrastructure seems locked into a cycle of low margins, low investment and dysfunctional relationships.”

Not my word but those of the 2017 Infrastructure Client Group report “From Transactions to Enterprises” which unpacked the challenge.

And recent project outcomes bear this out if we consider projects such as Crossrail, Jubilee Line Extension, West Coast Mainline upgrade, Hinkley Point C, HS2 – the list goes on. And there are of course many more examples of smaller infrastructure projects failing to deliver.

So back in 2017, following this ICG report, Project 13 was born to tackle the problem - an industry-led response to delivery models that fail not just clients and their suppliers, but also the operators and users of our infrastructure systems and networks.

Seven years on and the project is going from strength to strength, with support from the World Economic Forum and the Institution of Civil Engineers plus a rake of influential businesses, people and projects.

So to find out a bit more, my guest today is Dale Evans, Chair of the Project 13 Strategy Group and partner at Allora Infrastructure. Dale has been intimately involved in the evolution of Project 13 from his time chairing the ICG and while driving industry change as he led the influential @onealliance for Anglian Water.

Resources
Project 13
Infrastructure Client Group
From Transactions to Enterprises
Project 13 Pillars
Transforming Infrastructure Performance
The Construction Playbook

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In today's podcast we talk about public transport – why it works, what stops it from working and what policy levers government should be pulling to ease the path to greater investment and better outcomes.

And in particular, we discuss the role of the nation’s rail network in transforming the entire public transport system; why rail reform is important and perhaps what that might look like in theory and in practice.

Of course, rail is just one piece of a huge and complex jigsaw that makes up the public transport puzzle; one that involves a range of different and evolving modes from buses to trams to bikes to taxis and mini-buses - and increasingly now to micro mobility such as e-bikes and e-scooters.

It’s a puzzle that has challenged the UK government – and many around the world - for decades and delivered regular policy papers and initiatives each designed to transform our lives. The question of course, is whether any of these are ever worth the paper they are printed on; is an efficient, effective and affordable public transport system ever a realistic proposition for the UK?

To discuss this knotty issue, it is my pleasure to welcome Colette Carroll, Managing Director for Transportation at consultant AtkinsRéalis to the podcast today. Colette’s brief oversees the firm’s work in railways, highways, and local transport markets and having spent much of her earlier career working in government driving transport and rail policy, Colette should know more than most about the public transport challenge.

Resources
AtkinsRealis website
Great British Railways Transition Team
Shapps-Williams review
Draft Rail Reform Bill
Transforming Infrastructure Performance

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In today's podcast we ask how designing better infrastructure can help to really grow the UK economy.

Now we hear constantly about the vital role that investment in infrastructure projects must play in driving economic growth across the nation and across the regions of the UK – be that investment in transport; in energy systems; in water treatment and supply; and in communications.

And it is clear that without this investment the nation simply will not remain globally competitive; our living standards are likely to fall; and we will struggle to meet the decarbonisation challenge and to ensure we are resilient to climate change.

But what can actually be done by infrastructure professionals to accelerate this investment. How do we navigate the constantly shifting national and local government policy shifts; overcome the hold ups in planning; the delays in delivery and the delivery cost over runs ?.

And once constructed, how do we avoid failing to create the kind of social, economic and environmental outcomes that were promised at the outset.

It’s a tough conundrum but one that an army of infrastructure design and planning professionals stand ready to solve – ready to leverage their collective skills and experience to design and deliver better infrastructure – infrastructure capable of truly kickstarting and sustaining the economy and of fundamentally making lives better.

So what stopping them?!

To discuss this issue, my guest today is Charlie Hodgson, Executive Managing Director, Transport & Infrastructure, WSP, one of the largest consultancies in the UK. While Charlie is now responsible for the strategic direction and delivery of WSP’s infrastructure and engineering teams, he started his career as an economist so perhaps more than most really understands the links between investment and outcomes and what can be done strengthen them.

Resources
WSP website
National Infrastructure Commission 2023 Assessment
Transforming Infrastructure Performance

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In today's podcast we are talking about digital twins and the challenge of digitalising the infrastructure sector in our bid to increase efficiency and boost outcomes from every pound of investment.

There is certainly no shortage of talk nowadays about transforming productivity and the way that the use of digital technology and data can help improve the sector. And to date, the the focus has been largely on improving our design and delivery functions – using tools to draw, design, plan analyse, collaborate and share information more effectively.

But in truth, and ever since we embraced the mandared use of Building Information Modelling on public projects in 2016, we have known deep down, that the bigger prize lies in digitising and boosting performance of the whole infrastructure system while in operation.

Which is where the use of digital twins comes in. Enabling us to connect the physical world with the digital world; generating insights that drive decisions and interventions to help improve performance in the real world.

And creating a National Digital Twin could enable better management and integration across the entire - and varied - built and natural environment ecosystem – reducing cost, carbon and improving those vital outcomes for citizens.

This bold concept was core to the work of the Cambridge University supported Centre for Digital Built Britain in 2017, which morphed into various other programmes when it closed its doors after 5 years in 2022.

One of those initiatives is now known as the National Digital Twin Programmeand run under the Department for Business and Trade.

It is therefore my pleasure to be joined on the podcast today by Alex Luck, Head of the National Digital Twin Programme to update us on progress.

Alex has been riding the digital wave throughout this time and so, I reckon will be well placed to explain where we have been, where we have got to and more importantly where she sees us heading in the future of infrastructure digitalisation.

Resources
The National Digital Twin Programme
Centre for Digital Built Britain legacy site
Data for Public Good
Transforming Infrastructure Performance
Building Information Modelling explained

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In today's podcast we delve into the complex world or railway ticketing.

I say complex but what I really mean is complicated, confusing, and frustrating. Who hasn’t spent time pondering over the multitude of options thrust upon us when buying a rail ticket and mulled over the permutations and consequences of advanced, off peak, super off peak day return, open return….

Who hasn’t spent time on their journey wondering “is my ticket actually valid?”

Who hasn’t then wondered “why is buying a rail ticket so blooming difficult!?

Well, thankfully, the Railway Industry Association certainly has. In fact, its new report Destination: Revenue Growth highlights research finding that “complexity proved to be the biggest issue in train travel, with a fifth of travellers (20%) unable to find the cheapest ticket for their journey and 58% believing there are simply too many ticket options.”

It is an issue that the rail sector has to tackle if it is going to both entice more customers onto the railway and collect the revenue along the way.

Not least given that the future – the present actually - is one of digital no-ticketing. The digital world is already transforming ticketing in every part of the transport and service sector and frankly, rail has to get on board. Fast.

But how? Well joining me on the podcast today is Milda Manomaityte, Innovation Director at the Railway Industry Association and the co-author of this report. So I suppose, having been immersed in this knotty issue for quite some time, she should know the answer! Let’s hear!

Resources
Railway Industry Association website
RIA - Destination: Revenue Growth report
RIA - Data and Digital Technologies in Rail
Great British Railways Transition Team
Shapps-Williams review
Draft Rail Reform Bill

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In this podcast we ask what, if anything, UK construction can learn from the automotive sector.

A quarter of a century ago, Sir John Egan’s Review of the industry drew on the successes and lessons from car manufacturing as a guide for how the construction sector might be transformed.

Rethinking Construction highlighted the use of standardisation, computer aided design, lean production methods, investment in innovation and technology, a focus on productivity, training and quality outcomes. All were designed to take the industry away from the era of bespoke one-off projects towards one of systemised improvement and better products.

And while there have certainly been some significant changes over the last 25 years - for example, the mandated use of the Building Information Modelling on public project since 2016, or the much greater focus on training and safety across the sector,-

But the reality is that we haven’t seen the kind of advances that were perhaps predicted and demanded as core to getting more and better outcomes for the vast amounts of public an private money invested each year.

Why not? Well many reasons but one argument is always that, unlike car manufacturing, construction always deals with bespoke unique products. Attempting to follow automotive’s example, we are told, is just not possible, practical or desirable.

So what’s the myth and what the reality. Can infrastructure still learn from automotive.?

Well to find out it is a huge pleasure to welcome Chetan Kotur to the podcast today. Chetun is Head of Technology and Innovation for Europe at Laing O’Rourke, arguably the most forward thinking contractor at work today.

It’s a role that he has held for the last 18 months or so having spent the first 10 years of his already distinguished engineering career in the automotive sector with Volvo and most recently with the electric vehicle brand Polestar. So I suppose he should know!

Resources
Laing O'Rourke website
Hinkley Point C
Everton Stadium
Constructing the Team - Latham Review
Rethinking Construction - Egan Review
Polestar

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In today’s podcast we will be finding out just how much we still have to do as nation and as a planet to hit our net zero carbon emission targets and really start to reverse the clearly catastrophic impacts of a changing climate.

My guest today is the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore, former MP for Kingswood in South Gloucestershire and the man who, as interim Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth in 2019, signed into law the UK’s legally binding target of hitting net zero emissions by 2050.

He has held a number of government roles in his parliamentary career – notably Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation and then for Health under Boris Johnson, but returned to the backbenches in 2020.

It was from there that he authored the well-thumbed Mission Zero review of government's net-zero strategy – a hard hitting tome that it’s fair to say wasn’t entirely well received by those in charge of the strategy.

Chris resigned as an MP earlier this year in protest at the government’s stance on new offshore petroleum licensing.

Nowadays he’s very busy championing the net-zero cause and missing few opportunities to get that vital message across

Resources
Mission Zero report
Better Earth’ initiative launched in Edie
Mission Zero Coalition
Building the Future, Lessons for a Buildings Breakthrough report

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Today we are talking once again about building circular economies and in particular the role and challenge facing the infrastructure sector as it tackles this issue as part of the journey towards a net zero carbon emission future.

My guest today has just been nominated for the prestigious Earthshot Prize – a prize launched by Prince William in 2020 to search for and scale the most innovative solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges.

John Twitchen is the founder of Stuff4Life, and has been nominated for his innovative work to tackle and reuse the vast amounts of waste polyester clothing that is typically burnt, landfilled or abandoned each year all around the world………..

Which is interesting but what’s that got to do with infrastructure?

Well regular listeners will know that last July I talked to sustainability champion Mark Enzer on the podcast about many of the core concepts that inform the built environment’s transition to a circular economy. Do check that out.

And as we discussed then, there are many definitions of circularity but one is about enabling people and nature to live and grow within our planet’s capacity to provide resources and handle waste.

That means getting the greatest possible value from materials, products, assets and systems already in use in the built environment.

Which is a definition that certainly works for me today. Stuff4Lifehas developed a new technique to deconstruct and recycle existing polyester clothes - such as those typically used to make the ubiquitous hi-viz workwear issued and discarded in construction sites – and he is now working to create a new range of work wear that is designed with reuse in mind - and is already being seen on railways and construction sites across the UK.

As his business mantra puts it, John is certainly living in a world of circular action not just words.

Resources
The Earthshot Prize
Stuff4Life
Env23 consultancy
Arco clothing
Team Mind BMX
Association for Consultation and Engagement Professionals

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In this podcast we are talk about road transport and take a quick look into the crystal ball to see what lies around the corner for this vital mode of transport.

Despite the volume and frequency of discussion about the UK’s approach to public transport – and specifically rail travel which continues to absorb huge amounts of public cash – the reality is that, rightly or wrongly, travel by road remains the overwhelmingly most relied upon mode of transport.

I say rightly or wrongly, because there is a view that, for all the convenience of road travel and the improvements made in design and usage, our cars, vans and lorries still remain excessively polluting, congesting, expensive and dangerous as a mode of transport.

Or is that changing? The move towards electric vehicles is certainly creating perhaps the biggest revolution in motoring’s century old history, rethinking the way we approach car travel and prompting a simultaneous revolution in the infrastructure that supports it.

Add to this the huge improvements we are seeing in engine efficiency, vehicle safety and congestion and pollution busting technology and we have a transport mode which is certainly investing in the future.

Yet much of this investment relies on the largely state-owned highway networks to operate effectively – networks which remains under funded and heavily neglected in comparison to many other sectors and parts of the world.

So where are we headed with road transport – a new era of personal travel or the highway to hell?

To find out, and to guide us through the UK’s road transport challenges, my guest today is Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, a long-time observer and driver of UK highways policy and practice, and, in my experience, not someone who normally sits in the hard shoulder of current debate.

Resources:
RAC Foundation website
RAC Foundation data on TVs
DfT's RIS2
National Highways pipeline of possible future schemes
Ashalt Industry Alliance ALARM survey results 2024
EV charging stats

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In today’s podcast we will delve into the knotty and, it seems, unending challenge of controlling and reducing the cost and the time spent delivering our major infrastructure projects.

As we a constantly reminded by politicians, the public and our colleagues, the track record of global major project delivery is not good. I have referenced the findings of Oxford University professor Bent Flyvbjerg’s book How Big Things Get Done many times on this podcast before – specifically his findings that globally over the last 30 years, just 8.5% of projects met cost and schedule targets while just 0.5% satisfied all benefit goals.

It's a pretty shocking set of findings. And we don’t have to look far in the UK to see evidence – I give you HS2, Hinkley Point C, Crossrail, etc etc. But given that the UK government just published its £800bn pipeline of infrastructure aspiration in the face of an increasing public finance black hole, the pressure is growing to turn this around.

So what is going wrong? Well my guest today is Ali Mafi, an engineer who has spent a career, largely in the shadows, trying to drive change across the sector. In fact he is currently collaborating with Bent Flyvbjerg and Alex Budzier of the Oxford Saïd Business school under their Oxford Global Projects consultancy to try to bring some new thinking to the sector.

And the focus for this work, is the Timist programme, which he founded last year and, as he will explain now I hope, he defines as a next generation project delivery system – a new approach major projects that he reckons could see teams deliver better outcomes in a shorter time and at lower cost than any other systems available.

He believes – as the name of his approach suggests – that most problems really stem from our inability to focus on time. As a result projects lose on average 2.5 days per week which means that the output and productivity is half of what it should be. That’s the diagnosis – so what’s the cure?

Resources
Timist website
The Latham Review - Constructing the Team
The Egan Review - Rethinking Construction
Association for Project Management article on ward rounds

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In today's podcast we spend a delightful 30 minutes or so discussing what drives successful careers in engineering and infrastructure.

I say delightful because my guest today is Dervilla Mitchell CBE, deputy chair at world renowned design practice Arup, someone who, over the last few decades, I have never tired of talking to!

As she prepares to step down from the Arup board - a post she’s held for the last ten years - I’m keen to get her take on what drives - and what defines - career success. And perhaps find out what comes next in her own career!

So some background, Dervilla grew up in Dublin. And although her father was an architect, her grandfather and three uncles were engineers so she took their lead and headed into engineering. Having gained a degree in Civil Engineering from University College Dublin in 1980 she started her structural engineering career with Arup in Dublin soon after graduating and later a was awarded a Diploma in Project Management from Trinity College.

Since then, Devilla’s career as a structural engineer and project manager has accelerated and seen her work on an extraordinary number of high profile projects including major airport designs at Heathrow, Dublin and Abu Dhabi, the 2012 Olympics and Portcullis House in Westminster.

It has seen her travel the world and rise up the ranks over the last 44 years to become Deputy Chair on Arup’s main board and the most senior woman in one of the world’s most respected engineering businesses.

And today she is certainly one of the most influential – and I have to say one of the nicest – people working in infrastructure.

So let’s find out – what does it take to build a successful career in engineering

Resources
Arup website - designing for a better future
Bio and projects
Royal Academy of Engineering
RAE National Engineering Policy Centre
Womens Engineering Society
Engineering Heathrow T5

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In today's podcast we talk about design – specifically the need to embed good design at the heart of infrastructure investment.

To help us to unpack and explore this issue my guest today is Harbinder Birdi, architect and founder of the Birdi and Partners practice.

Loyal listeners may well remember that Harbinder was a guest on the podcast last April, just after he took on a task for the Institution of Civil Engineers to explore the role of infrastructure design champions – a role set out by the 2020 National Infrastructure Strategy and reinforced by the National Infrastructure Commission which said board-level design champions were crucial to gaining better outcomes from our public investment.

So today we can get an update on this work.

Last time we spoke we discussed the power of infrastructure to change lives and reflected on projects such as Crossrail, which has delivered infrastructure that delights and improves the lives of the public.

Harbinder’s view then was very clear – that every infrastructure professional has to do more than simply play lip-service to the notion that good design matters. It has to be a fundamental driver for every investment decision and be linked implicitly to creating the better social, economic and environment outcomes that flow from investment.

His design champions work has moved on and culminated with a report called “Defining and developing the design champion role” producedfor the ICE in October which, amongst other things, states that the creation of legally responsible design champions across all projects is critical to achieving a step change in infrastructure delivery.

So let’s find out more as we welcome Harbinder back to the Infrastructure Podcast.

Resources
Defining and developing the design champion role
National Infrastructure Strategy 2020
National Infrastructure Assessment
Design Principle for National Infrastructure
ICE - What Makes Good Design paper
Transforming Infrastructure Performance - Roadmap to 2030

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It's the first anniversary episode of the Infrastructure Podcast and today we are going to talk about nuclear power!

When I first jumped ship from civil engineering to a new life as a journalist with New Civil Engineer 30 years ago, the magazine was gearing up to celebrate the Sizewell B project which was being commissioned as the first of a new breed of UK nuclear power stations - albeit somewhat over-budget.

So my eye was drawn to last month’s announcement by French power firm EdF that the new Hinkley Point C reactor in Somerset – set to be the UK’s only new nuclear power station since 1995 - will now not open before 2029 – possibly not until 2031 - and could see costs climb to perhaps £46bn against an £18bn original budget.

It certainly puts Sizewell B’s project delivery achievements into context, which 30 years ago saw costs inflate by 135% but is now producing around 3% of the UK power needs, having taken a mere seven years to build.

The good news is that after decades of dithering, the UK government is now firmly behind nuclear power as a key element in our transition away from fossil fuels, with the Energy White Paper of 2020 demanding at least one large-scale nuclear project to reach Final Investment Decision during this Parliament.

Since then public money has been committed to the Sizewell C project, the government’s 2020 10 point plan included a £385 million Advanced Nuclear Fund, its 2021 Net Zero White Paper committed to a new £120m Future Nuclear Enabling Fund; and in July last year we saw the rebirth of Great British Nuclear, a government owned body designed to coordinate the UK nuclear industry renaissance and drive the development of the small modular reactor market.

But as is always with UK nuclear, it all seems to move at a glacial, hugely expensive pace and continues to beg the question – what on earth is going on with our nuclear and energy transition policy?

Fortunately, I have with me today one the UK’s authorities on the subject, Tim Stone, chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association and more recently a non-exec director on the new Great British Nuclear team, who I am hoping will shed some light.

Tim is speaking with his NIA chairman’s hat on today.

Resources
Great British Nuclear
Nuclear Industry Association
Energy White Paper 2020
The Ten Point Plan 2020
Net Zero Strategy 2021

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In today's podcast we talk about the challenge of global decarbonisation – specifically looking at what actions industrial sectors can take today to ensure we have a sustainable future.

Clearly infrastructure professionals have a massive role to play when it comes to tackling global carbon emissions and climate change; in ensuring that the UK and all nations stay on track to meet the agreed net zero emissions targets by 2050. Construction and operation of our built environment, after all, accounts for something like 80% of all emissions.

But transforming the design and operation of our public and private infrastructure assets requires a systems approach. It is not something that any single part of the infrastructure sector can tackle alone, rather it has to be to culmination of many parts – perhaps, some might argue all parts – of the built environment and industrial supply chain that support our modern lifestyles.

The most recent COP28 meeting in Abu Dhabi highlighted clearly that achieving consensus is not an easy task – an impossible mission some might say.

Not so my guest today. As chief executive of the Mission Possible Partnership, Faustine Delasalle no doubt argues that driving industrial decarbonisation across the entire value chain of the world’s highest-emitting heavy industry and transport sectors, is not only possible, it is absolutely fundamental to securing our future business, social and economic lives.

It is my pleasure therefore, to welcome Faustine to the Infrastructure Podcast today to explain how this transformation is possible and what needs to happen to ensure a net zero carbon emissions future is a reality by 2050.

Mission Possible Partnership is a movement of climate leaders in business and civil society driving industrial decarbonisation across the entire value chain of the world’s highest-emitting sectors: aluminium, cement, chemicals, steel; aviation, shipping, and trucking. We’re charting the inventive steps and radical collaboration to enable commercial-scale deep decarbonisation projects in this decisive decade.

ResourcesThe Mission Possible Partnership website
Mission Possible Partnership on Twitter
Mission Possible Partnership on LinkedIn
MPP Projects
MPP sector strategies

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In today's podcast we are talking about prisons – specifically the challenge and huge opportunity surrounding the Ministry of Justice’s on-going £4bn plus investment in the UK prison estate.

I say opportunity because the MOJ’s ambition goes beyond simply adding 20,000 new prison places to the estate and intends to use this investment to deliver far wider social outcomes by creating decent modern environments that help rehabilitate prisoners and reduce reoffending.

It's a big challenge. But in line with the government’s Transforming Infrastructure Performance programme, the MOJ has set out to use this programme to change the way it delivers construction investment – placing Modern Methods of Construction and platform designs, sustainability and digital technology at the heart of the strategy over the next three or more years.

That means deep and early engagement with the entire supply chain and a fundamental shift away from traditional confrontational contracting towards a more collaborative environment. This prioritises longer term outcomes over short term outputs and should focus every mind on how this investment will help create a better prison service – and a better construction industry.

Sounds like the infrastructure nirvana! It is my pleasure therefore, to welcome Sue McElroy, commercial director for the New Prison Capacity programme at the MOJ where she is seconded from Cabinet Office to lead the team delivering this transformation.

[Note: In all reference to 20,000 additional prison places this does not include any work within the Category A estate]

Resources
Construction starts on UK’s first all-electric prison
The Construction Playbook
Early Supply Chain Involvement Guidance Note
Longer Term Contracting Programmes Guidance Note
Autumn Budget SR21
Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030

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In this, the 50th episode of the Infrastructure Podcast, we talk about cities – specifically how we should be designing our urban landscapes to be both fit for the future and fit for the people of the future.

It’s a huge and growing issue. The UN reckons that around 57% of the world’s population currently lives in an urban environment – and that this number is perhaps as high as 80% in many developed nations. It’s a number that is growing fast, both as a percentage but also as an absolute number, as the global population increases and our lives become more intertwined and interdependent.

And with this change comes a number of challenges - and a number of opportunities around creating equity, liveability, sustainability and prosperity for inhabitants. And creating safe places to live. The 2017 Grenfell Fire in London certainly highlighted the tragic consequences of failure.

Of course, we must also now add to that list resilience to climate change. Protection from flood; from drought; from heat; from storms and from pollution has never been so important.
All of which puts our built environment designers – those creating the buildings, the infrastructure and the spaces in between – absolutely in the driving seat - and the spotlight.

Fundamentally, better cities create better lives. Which is why barely a week goes by without a new report or paper into why and how we should transform our urban landscapes. The latest of which being the New London Agenda by the team at New London Architecture.

I mention this because amongst many other things, my guest today was involved in producing this Agenda and so I hope will be well placed to guide us through the issues.

So let’s discuss this issue with Stephen O’Malley, founder and chief executive of Civic Engineers, a firm with the mission “to create inspirational structures and places that have a positive impact on the environment and enable people to lead happier and healthier lives”.

Resources
Civic Engineers website
Thinking beyond boundaries article - Stephen O'Malley
New London Agenda - NLA
C40 Thriving Cities Initiative

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In today's podcast we are going to talk about “building modern railway” and discuss why we seem to find it so difficult in the UK to plan, design and construct decent, affordable rail connections.

To discuss this issue, let’s turn to some French thinking. After all, according to many, they seem to know what they are doing when it comes to the Chemin de Fer. Perhaps?

Over the last couple of years or so we have been celebrating the opening of the late, over-budget yet ultimately delightful Elizabeth Line while simultaneously wrestling with the challenge of building HS2, a grand new north-south high speed rail line, and the Northern Powerhouse Rail project which is designed to transform east west journey across the north.

It is fair to say that with first, delays, then cancellations, then a rake of cost increases and now a rethink and rerelease of a batch of new / old projects under the Network North banner, we are in something of a muddle when it comes UK rail evolution.

Oh and then there’s the Great British Railways transition, designed to make everything clear and efficient across the rail, train, passenger interface. We’ll see…

Well let’s find out. My guest today is Mike Muldoon, Business Development Director, SYSTRA UK & Ireland. Mike has been at Systra for just over a year but before that he spent 13 years at French train manufacturer Alstom and prior to that as contractor managed projects for Alstom on the Docklands Light Railways and London Underground.

So he should know what to do Let’s discuss.

Resources
Systra-UK website
Mike Muldoon LinkedIn
Old Oak Common HS2

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In today's podcast we will build on last week’s episode by taking another quick look into the crystal ball and exploring some more of the big issues for 2024.

To help me with this exercise my guest this week is Simon Rawlinson, Head of Strategic Research and Insight at Arcadis. Simon is a long-time agitator and commentator across the sector and of course a monthly columnist in Building magazine. Does that make a journalist?

Simon’s career has spanned many different parts of the sector from building to infrastructure, planning and finance, and seen him playing a number of key company and industry roles to identify the trends and form the strategy needed to meet the emerging challenges.

Over the last decade of so Simon has also been immersed in the Construction Leadership Council, where he is currently a strategic advisor. In this role he has helped to set up and drive the body as it emerged into the sunlight as a voice for the sector and major influence on government policy.

In particular he has helped the industry to understand and embrace data, new digital technologies and Building Information Modelling, and most recently to chart a path towards a new world of net zero of infrastructure.

So it’s fair to say he has fingers in many pies so well placed to foresee the future.

Resources
Arcadis Knowledge Hub
Building magazine - articles by Simon Rawlinson
Construction Leadership Council website
National Infrastructure Planning
RICS Knowledge and Practice Committee
NAO report on Levelling Up spending - Nov 23

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In this the first of 2024 we take a quick look into the crystal ball, asking what we might expect in 2024.

To help me with this my guest today is Gill Plimmer, infrastructure correspondent at the Financial Times and long-time observer of what makes this sector tick.

Gill has spent several decades immersed in the business, finances and politics of infrastructure, writing about a range of issues over the years including the rise and fall of the PFI, the merits of water privatisation, outsourced services including the collapse of Carillion and Interserve, rail franchising and the challenge of meeting house-building targets.

And much of this list will, I’m sure, return to the headlines over the next 12 months, alongside the inevitable rows and promises that accompany a General Election.

Resources
Financial Times website
Gill Plimmer Linked In
National Infrastructure Commission
National Grid energy dashboard
National Infrastructure Planning Association

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In this podcast …. well it’s just me.

Just me doing a very quick recap of 2023 and the first 45 episodes of The Infrastructure Podcast - and a brief trail for what lies ahead in 2024.

When I set out on this podcasting adventure back in February, I billed it as being a new, regular podcast series featuring conversations with some of the key leaders and influencers from across UK infrastructure sector. Conversations creating change.

Big ambitions of course. But I hope that over those last 45 episodes I have managed to hit the brief and cover a really wide range of issues – the names you know and hopefully also some that perhaps you didn’t.

Now…apparently, most podcasts die after 3 episodes so I’ll call that a success there – and according to my podcast host, your listenership has pushed me into the top 25% of podcasts which sounds good to me. Upwards and onwards! I’ll carry on!

But looking back, a huge thanks must go, of course, to all the people that have given their time to chat to me. When I started this little audio adventure it was something of a personal mission and so required a leap of faith from those on the other side of the microphone - could I produce something worth listening to? Every day is a learning day so thanks for your support. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I do!

The Infrastructure Podcast remains a personal mission – something I do in in my time for you – and to be honest it is rather nice not having corporate or commercial overlords bearing down on every decision! I think it makes a difference!

So a quick recap of my highlights. And, of course, if I was half competent, - or if I was backed by Gary Linaker or the BBC - I’d now be adding in short clips from across the year – Pick of the Year style. Sadly, as it’s just me in the production team, you’ll have to make do with this week’s verbal recap as I try to remind of what you might have missed! Or what you might have enjoyed! In which case do tell your friends and colleagues. (and family if you like!). Enjoy!

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In this podcast we will be examining energy transition and asking what the UK has to do to deliver on its ambition to electrify the future economy.

The National Infrastructure Commission’s latest five yearly Assessment highlights a number of strategic priorities for the UK, not least the need to accelerate the energy sector’s move away from fossil fuels to ensure we reach our net zero emissions targets by 2050 – targets underlined by the latest COP28 global gathering in Dubai.

This energy transition – the journey towards a future of new decarbonised, renewable energy sources to power our transport systems, drive our industries and heat our homes - will require massive investment in electrification.

In fact, an expected 50% increase in electrification by 2035, according to the NIC, to support growth in heat pump use, electric car ownership and to power industry.

That means not only having to decarbonise our electricity generation by investing in wind, solar, biomass and nuclear power, but also means bolstering and expanding the way that this power is distributed and stored, and to ensure that our national grid has sufficient capacity and flexibility to meet the new ambition.

In fact, NIC has set a target of completing 17 additional electricity transmission projects by 2030.

Now, some progress is being made. Renewables already account for around 40% of the UK energy mix with over 55GW of installed capacity in offshore and onshore wind, solar biomass and hydro – up 6% in the year. And government has set a target to develop up to 50GW of new offshore wind by 2030 and to take solar capacity to around 70GW by 2035 - which is largely in line with the NIC’s modelling.

The reality is that there is no shortage of potential sites and no shortage of potential investors. But there is a huge problem bringing forward these projects and in particular, navigating the planning process to enable investment to flow into projects and connections to be made into the existing grid.

It’s a huge and very important topic so it is my pleasure to welcome Julia Prescot, deputy chair of the National Infrastructure Commission to the podcast today.Julia is also co-founder of investment fund Meridiam, and, amongst many other things, is currently driving the £2.4bn NeuConnect energy interconnector between Germany and the UK while also helping to guiding leading EV charging company Allego.

Resources
National Infrastructure Commission Second National Assessment 2023
National Grid live power data
Meridiam website
Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction
Allego EV charging
NeuConnect interconnector project
Port of Tyne
Wilton Park

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In this podcast we talk once again about EVs – Electric Vehicles - this time about how to get power into them safely and securely.

Almost exactly two years ago my guest today Kate Tyrrell launched a brand new business in response to her constant fears and frustrations over the variability of quality and lack of information about the increasing number of EV charging stations popping up all over the UK.

In comparison to the UK’s petrol and diesel fuelling network, with its standardised pumps and fuel grades and covered forecourts, the EV charging network is the wild west.

And for many new and vulnerable EV users, it is an unnerving experience and in many cases a significant barrier to switching from fossil fuel power. Will the charger work with my car? ----

Will there be somewhere to get a coffee? Is there a loo? Will I feel safe?

Certainly, there are excellent charging stations being built. But equally there are many chargers popping up in dark windswept car parks off the beaten track, in locations that, frankly, few would feel comfortable hanging out for the 30-60 minutes required to charge up.

Kate Tyrell solution was ChargeSafe, a new business that inspects charging sites and so helps EV drivers to identify which are suitable for your vehicle and provide accurate information on their condition.

As of 1 April 2023, there were 40,150 public electric vehicle charging devices installed in the UK – up 8% since the end of 2022 – up 33% in a year. The National Infrastructure Commission latest recommendation is for an extra 300,000 charging stations to be online by 2030.

ChargeSafe’s goal is to ensure that, as this number grows, safe and reliable charging is available for everyone. It seems to be working because this week they picked up a coveted Evie - Electric Vehicle Innovation & Excellence special recognition award for their efforts! Let’s hear how.

Resources
ChargeSafe website
ChargeSafe on Linkedin

ChargeSafe on Twitter

ChargeSafe on Facebook

ChargeSafe on Instagram

ChargeSafe on Threads

Kate Tyrrell on LinkedIn

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In this podcast we take a quick tour of Liverpool’s latest landmark, the new Everton Football Club Stadium which is taking shape in an old dock on the banks of the River Mersey.

And having played at their current Goodison Park home ground since it opened in 1892, there will be significant expectation that this new £500M, 52,888 seater stadium will be up to the job - and a venue capable of inspiring the Toffees out of the doldrums and back up the Premier League.

So what does £500M buy you nowadays when it comes to football stadiums. Well for a start, Everton reckons its new glass, brick and steel stadium is going to be the most sustainable in the Premier League and set what it describes as “exciting benchmark for stadium architecture.” Whatever that is!

Certainly it is going to be a catalyst for investment in the local area and in particular in the local public transport system as the club works hard to ensure the majority of supporter can find their way there via public transport.

And a huge effort has been put into ensuring that the design minimises energy use and that 95% of materials on site are recycled during construction and that the historic dockside setting is respected and celebrated in the choice of materials.

But clearly one of the major elements of the project helping to accelerate and improve the construction process, – and set the stadium up for lower operation and maintenance costs over the stadium’s lifespan – is the use of 4D digital design from day one.

This has allowed contractor Laing O’Rourke to truly embrace modular and off-site construction techniques. And, they say, helped save time, energy and carbon.

To be honest, it is an approach that across the global infrastructure sector has, to date, been something of a pipe dream.

So what’s made it possible on this project? Well to find out and hear more about the stadium’s progress, it is my pleasure to welcome Simon Beards, Principal Planner at Laing O’Rourke, the contractor responsible to constructing this new landmark in the Liverpool skyline.

Resources
Project update by Laing O'Rourke
Latest video update from Everton FC

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For today’s discussion I suggest that you buckle up as we take a freewheeling dive into the world of behavioural science to find out how a focus on human psychology might radically transform our infrastructure and transportation planning.

My guest today is globally renowned behavioural scientist and leading disruptive thinker Rory Sutherland who, frankly blew my mind when I heard him speak at the Interchange conference earlier in the year.

There he effectively put a rocket under our current transport planning system and urged a radical rethink towards what he describes as a more human centred approach. Ensuring that travel is more than just a means of getting from A to B.

Rory is vice chairman of advertising giant Ogilvy UK and in his latest book Transport for Humans – which I highly recommend every person in transport and infrastructure should read - he points out, that the way that engineers design and measure the success of their transport solutions is, in short, just plain wrong.

The current focus on speed, journey times and efficiency, he reckons, are aimed at Homo Transporticus, an idealised, naturally selected transport user who possesses an encyclopaedic knowledge of our transport networks and ticketing systems.

Yet real human beings are very different - we actually value more; we value experiences based on a different set of more emotionally driven measures such as comfort, being in control or even just having a fold down tray-table on our train seat.

So designers need to bin our current siloed thinking and avoid what he describes as a “quantification trap” of cost benefit analysis, to embrace a systems human centre approach that values end to end journey time, places greater value on the quality of time spent traveling and that rethinks our notion that the only way to increase capacity is to build more.

Resources
Transport for Humans - are we nearly there yet?
Review by the Behavioural Scientist
TED Talk - life lessons from an ad man

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Today’s podcast is all a bit different as it is recorded in the heart of the massive Old Oak Common Station which is under construction in West London as part of the HS2 rail project.

Given the amount of discussion and hand wringing across the political and infrastructure sector since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak abruptly cancelled the northern section of the project back in October, I thought I’d better come and find out what is actually still happening on phase 1 of the project. And see the progress.

Well standing in the Old Oak Common station, it is fair to say that quite a lot is happening to construct what will be the biggest railway station in the UK and capable of handling 250,000 passengers a day when its running at full tilt. That will also make it the busiest hub in the UK with every train in or out of Paddington currently planned to stop there.

The 900m long station will eventually have fourteen platforms, catering for a mix of six high-speed 20m below ground and eight conventional service platforms in the station above.

This will enable passengers to catch high-speed rail services to the Midlands, Scotland and the North plus services to Wales and the South-West. And, of course, there will be access to central London and Heathrow via the Elizabeth line.

And maybe one day those HS2 trains will even make it, as originally planned, to a new station at Euston – for which the tunnel boring machines will have to be launched soon from the eastern end of this station box to make the vital 8km journey.

More of that later no doubt as I chat through the project’s triumphs to date - and challenges to come with the man in charge, Huw Edwards, HS2 Project Client Director for Old Oak Common Station.

Resources
HS2 Old Oak Common station explained
The HS2 project
HS2 view on government announcement to cancel HS2 north
Network North - transforming British transport

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In this latest podcast we explore the role that investment in infrastructure can play to accelerate the global journey to net zero.

So, where to start? Well, the UK National Infrastructure Commission recently highlighted the huge challenge that we face globally to decarbonise our economies – essentially pointing out that our path towards creating a truly sustainable future has only just begun.

One clear challenge is that, despite a huge investment in renewable energy generation and efforts to manage demand, around 80% of the UK’s energy needs are still now met by fossil fuels.

However, the NIC added that decarbonising our economies - the way electricity is generated, our homes are heated, our vehicles are fuelled and that industry is powered - is highly achievable. Provided we act now and act fast.

It’s a massive global challenge for sure.

But it’s a challenge that, I hope, my guest will be able to shed some light on. He has just published a report titled “Closing the sustainable infrastructure gap to achieve net zero” which highlights a $64 trillion dollar global shortfall between current investment policies and those required by governments around the world to meet the $139 trillion dollar investment needed to achieve net zero by 2050.

And the UK, he points out, is one of the countries that needs to raise its game. So let’s hear some more. It’s my pleasure to welcome Chris Lewis, Global Head of Infrastructure at consultant EY to the Infrastructure Podcast**.

Resources*Closing the sustainable infrastructure gap to achieve net zeroNational Infrastructure Commission 2023 AssessmentEY global government and public infrastructureAbout Chris Lewis*

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In this podcast we discuss the challenge of Transforming Infrastructure Performance through accelerating our use of data and the Internet of Things (IOT). It’s a concept which having been tabled by the UK Government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority, is now, without question, top of mind for every cash-strapped public and private asset owner and operator looking to close the gap between outcome aspiration and resource reality.

As I have reflected before, the future of our built environment depends on doing more with less but also on achieving better economic and social outcomes. The pressure to create more sustainable solutions is growing as legally binding net zero emissions target bear down, and the need to protect our natural environment grows.
To achieve these goals it is clear that the global infrastructure sector must radically shift its thinking and in particular ramp investment in digitalisation to embrace the power of new data analysis technologies an artificial intelligence and IOT to accelerate towards the vital change.

To discuss this complex challenge, I am joined today by Meredith Hodgman, Policy Lead, for the Internet of Things Alliance in Australia. Meredith joined me recently in Singapore at the 2023 Transforming Infrastructure Performance summit hosted by Bentley Systems where she chaired the event and provided great insight and wisdom into the power of digitalisation.

Resources:
Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit 2023
Infrastructure and Projects Authority TIP Roadmap to 2030
Internet of Things Alliance in Australia

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In this podcast we look in some detail at the National Infrastructure Commission’s recently released Second National Infrastructure Assessment.

As I’m sure you will know, the National Infrastructure Commission’s role is to provide the UK Government with impartial, expert advice on major long term infrastructure challenges. It’s first five yearly National Infrastructure Assessment was published in 2018 and was a something of a seminal moment, signalling for the first time a new long term approach to planning the UK’s approach.

Five years on and this year’s NIA focus on a number of strategic priorities for the UK’s national infrastructure not least the need to reaching net zero by 2050 – and be on track to decarbonise electricity, transport, industry and the way we heat our homes by the Sixth Carbon Budget in 2035.

It also prioritises the need to reducing environmental impacts from our infrastructure and ensure that we are ready to adapt to a changing climate – particular a drier climate with more pressure on our water supplies.

And of course it puts focus on supporting the on-going agenda to level up the UK economy and creating sustainable economic growth across all regions of the UK by investing in national and local transport, power supplies and the high speed telecommunications needed to support communities.

As Sir John Armitt, chair of the Commission says “The hardest part is of course turning policy into delivery on the ground. People often talk about infrastructure as the backbone of our economy: what our infrastructure needs now is the collective mettle to turn commitments into action that will reap rewards for decades to come”. Something certainly to discuss, not least in light of the recent snap decision by the Prime Minsiter to cancel the norther leg of the HS2 project.

Lots to talk about so it is my pleasure to welcome James Heath, chief executive, National Infrastructure Commission. As the person who has navigated some very difficult ground over the last few years to pull together this report, his view on the priorities arrived at by the commissions will be insightful.

ResourcesThe NIC Second National Infrastructure Assessment in fullRead a summary of the NIA hereThe NIC website

The first National Infrastructure Assessment 2018

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In today’s podcast we will be expanding our minds to hear some of the very latest thinking around how the infrastructure sector is set to continue accelerating its towards digitisation, embracing the use of data and building expanding its so-called “infrastructure intelligence”.

The podcast is recorded in Singapore at the 2023 Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure event in the very impressive Marina Bay Sands hotel. It is indeed a great place to be inspired and energised by the opportunities and achievements that technology has to offer this built environment sector.

And, given Singapore’s 50 year infrastructure strategy, it’s a great place to be inspired about how to plan and deliver nationally significant investment.

The future of our built environment depends on doing more with less and on achieving better economic and social outcomes for communities. That means creating new, sustainable solutions that will both protect our natural environment and meet global target for cutting carbon emissions.

It is clear that to achieve these goals the architecture engineering and construction sector needs digitalisation. It needs to use the power of AI and data analysis tools to make better decisions and deliver the vital outcomes needed today to change the world for the better tomorrow.

That means helping public and private client to create the vital market confidence required for the supply chain to accelerate this vital investment in digital transformation.

It is a massive challenge. It is therefore my pleasure to welcome Greg Bentley, chief executive officer at Bentley Systems, the man who, for the last three decades or more, has truly been on a mission to, as he might put it, help the infrastructure sector to “go digital” and transform the outcomes delivered to communities around the world.

Resources
Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2023
Bentley Systems website
Bentley leadership team

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In this latest podcast we attempt to shed some light on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s latest Network North proposal.

This new package of rail and road improvements was outlined at the recent Conservative Party Conference and trumpeted as a better value alternative to the simultaneously cancelled northern section of the HS2 project which had been scheduled to link Birmingham with Manchester.

We have read many words over the last couple of weeks explaining why halting an over budget, over inflated HS2 extension project was the difficult but brave political decision.

Yet we have also heard and read a huge amount about why cancelling such a large and strategically significant national infrastructure project will terminally undermine efforts to level up the national economy and destroy market confidence in the UK’s ability to plan major projects.

But the decision has been made. And the Department for Transport has rushed out its press releases, maps and plans to explain the detail around precisely what this new Network North is all about. And to attempt to explain the timescales over which any of it will actually be delivered.

It warrants deeper explanation. It is therefore my pleasure to welcome Alasdair Reisner, chief executive, Civil Engineering Contractors Association. Of course, while he certainly represents many of the businesses impacted by the HS2 cancellation, he also represent those likely to gain from this new plan – so I hope knows more than most about the reality of what’s been plucked from the Prime Minister’s conference hat.

Resources
"What can we expect from Network North?"
Network North DfT explanation
Government cancellation of HS2 northern sections
Read more of Alasdair Reisner's LinkedIn posts
CECA website
Transport for the North response to Network North

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In this episode we return to a discussion about the UK’s vital mobile telecommunications network.
Having dipped a toe into this critical sector of the infrastructure market in Episode 19 with Belinda Fawcett of Cornerstone - do check it out - we are back on the subject by what can only be described as popular demand.
As I discussed in May, having highspeed internet connectivity beaming into our devices at all times is now considered something close to a human right. Any darkness of service ranges from being hugely annoying to business critical.
So, alongside out physical transport systems, ensuring that we have comprehensive 4G - and increasingly now 5G coverage is without a doubt key to creating the connectivity needed to accelerate growth and boost our quality of life across the UK.
There is good news. The National Infrastructure Commission has already praised the progress being made by the sector over the last five years. 4G coverage now extends to around 92% of the UK landmass and the Shared Rural Network agreement should increase this to 95% by the end of 2025, with further investment set to connect harder to reach areas by 2027.
And progress is being made on the faster 5G roll out with coverage now at around 70% and growing. But we are by no means there yet. Dark areas still exist. Coverage on trains is between haphazard and non-existent. Many rural areas simply have no connection at all.
Yet as the Government’s latest Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, explains, hooking up the UK’s 5G network could deliver productivity benefits of £159 billion by 2035. But the commercial viability of full 5G coverage beyond cities and urban centres is still in doubt.
To talk about the challenges – and the successes – it is therefore my pleasure to welcome Gareth Elliott, Director of Policy and Communications at Mobile UK theorganisation representing the major telephone companies behind the mobile services that hold all our lives together.

Resources
Mobile UK website
Live Better Connected landing page
How Connected Are You Challenge
Interactive Landscape
Live Better Connected Podcast Series

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Today is a rather special episode in which were are going to look back over half a century of an engineering career - and no doubt leap forward, sideways, upwards and wherever else to predict the future.

Back in November 2001 when I was editor of New Civil Engineer magazine, I interviewed today’s guest Mark Whitby. He was just about to take on the role of President of the Institution of Civil Engineers - one of the oldest and most prestigious engineering institutions in the world.

After two hours in his company, asking questions and taking notes, I wrote” “his mind has raced through a thousand issues, the conversation leaping with his thoughts through the subjects of bridges, solar powered aircraft, local associations, knowledge sharing, steam engines, power cells, sustainability, urban design, modern art and the culture of engineering.”

We were both exhausted!

In those days we described Mark Whitby as the “enfant terrible” of the profession – a hugely creative, enthusiastic and passionate engineer, with a love of design, architecture, art and objects of beauty and a talent for building successful businesses - and for rubbing people up the wrong way.

“I do wind people up and I am abrupt,” he said. “But my heart is on my sleeve so that everyone knows exactly where I am on issues.” Perfect material for a journalist!

Some career indeed. It is 50 years since Mark left London University with a degree in Civil Engineering and after toying with the idea of becoming an architect or landscape architect, set about making his mark as an engineer with firms including Harris & Sutherland, Sir John Fairclough, Buro Happold and Anthony Hunt & Associates.

But in 1982 he was ready to take on the world alone, and with colleague Bryn Bird and later Mike Crane, Mark set up what became the hugely successful Whitby, Bird and Partners – a business that he would eventually sell to Danish giant Ramboll in 2007.

Not ready to sit back and rest, other businesses followed, including Whitby & Mohajer Engineers (WME) in the UAE, and Whitby Wood in the UK, where he still works today with Seb Wood.

ResourcesWhitby Wood website

The National grid live - where does our power come from?

Ordsall Chord - Vandalism or progress - Rail Engineer magazine

Engineering with a passion: Interview with Mark Whitby President of the ICE - NCE

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This latest podcast was recorded in Oslo, Norway at the 2023 buildingSmart International Standards Summit, the annual gathering for all those leading the development and adoption of open data and digital systems across the global infrastructure sector.

Clearly the built environment sector faces many challenges such as the need to raise productivity, drive towards net zero and boost the economic and social value gained from the vast public spend being committed by governments around the world.

The use of data and digital systems, underpinned by new tools such as artificial intelligence and a new ecosystem of digital twins are set to become critical in the race to deliver the more effective, efficient, useful and sustainable infrastructure assets needed to secure the future.

Open data is data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone, unencumbered by the constraints of software vendors of assets owner requirement is central to making this happen. OpenBIM underpinned by the IFC data standard are some of the buildingSmart concepts being used to try to redefine the world of digital engineering to ensure that data can be shared effortless and without cost up and down the supply chain.

To discuss this issue, my guest is Patrick MacLeamy, former chairman and founder of buildingSMART International, and former chief executive of global architecture practice HOK and the man who for the last 30 plus years has been devoted to the principal of open data - and to not only persuading the infrastructure sector to embrace the concept but to also providing the tools to enable it to happen.

ResourcesbuildingSMART international website

Industry Foundation Classes (IFCSs) explained

UK Government guide to BIM

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In this podcast we talk about the future of transport with Iain Stewart MP, chair of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee.

In January 2023 the Transport Select Committee kicked off its Our Future Transport campaign, in which the public was invited to pitch ideas on what the Committee should investigate.

Over 220 ideas were submitted on a range of topics leading to the shortlisting of 12 applicants who were then invited to pitch to the MPs in a Dragon’s Den-style process.

Two ideas made it through the grilling and in June 2023 the Transport Committee launched two major new inquiries – first was into the Future of Transport Data, based on a suggestion by the Railway Industry Association and the company Matatika to investigate the future uses of data in the transport sector to innovate and improve services.

The second was the Strategic Transport Objectives inquiry to examine how Government develops strategic objectives for its future transport policy, prompted by Martin Tugwell, chief executive of Transport for the North and Malcolm Brown of Angel Trains.

Both inquiries intend to help government form its future transport policy. Both should help guide the way the UK plans and invests in the transport systems that will be key to underpinning the nation’s vital future economic growth, social wellbeing and of course the journey towards a net zero future.

The consultation period for the inquiries finished last month in which the committee called for evidence and examples that should help MPs form future policy. In effect the hard yards start now as members of the Committee examine this evidence and put together a set of recommendations to underpin our Future Transport.

It is therefore my pleasure to welcome my guest today Iain Stewart MP, chair of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee. Iain has been deeply involved in the Our Transport Future campaign all year so I hope will give us a steer as to how he sees these two inquiries shaping the future of the UK’s transport policy

Resources
Our Future Transport campaign
Transport Committee launches two new inquiries
The Future of Transport Data inquiry
Strategic Transport Objectives Inquiry

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In this podcast we discuss the tricky issue of engaging and winning over communities when planning and delivering new infrastructure projects and policies.

Someone once said that a lie can be half way around the world before the truth has even got its boots on. Well in today’s social media driven 24 hour news cycle I would say that the truth is likely to be even further behind nowadays.

When it comes to engaging with the public to explain the rationale behind infrastructure investment, design and delivery professionals need to be very aware of this reality. As should politicians.

Three recent example spring to mind. The first, of course, is the HS2 project. Hugely controversial from the start but once named High Speed 2, no amount of public relations effort is ever going to convince detractors that this project is about capacity.

Second is the equally controversial plan to extend London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone scheme. Designed to improve air quality impacting children’s health – this policy is now spearheading the anti green taxation, anti-Extinction Rebellion, anti-Just Stop Oil lobby and looks set to scupper the UK’s effort to achieve its net zero targets.

Finally comes the debate over planning after the government vowed to give local communities choice and the power to veto projects they don’t like – such as onshore wind turbines, about which we are hearing political noise this week that this may well be changed to accelerate the delivery of renewable power.

But this debate also covers many other projects such as the vital new power distribution lines needed to power up the electric cars and heat pumps that government is simultaneously mandating. Is that really a choice local communities should make – or be able to make?

Navigating this complex, highly emotional and usually very unlevel playing field is difficult. As is getting to the truth behind policies then explaining it to often polarise communities. And de-politicising decisions around infrastructure investment is simply impossible.

But navigating the route is a vital part of our infrastructure future which has to be faced if we are to prosper sustainably as a nation.

To discuss this conundrum, my guest today is Martin McCrink, managing partner of communications and public engagement specialist Copper Consultancy. Martin has spent a career wading into battles and seeking the vital consensus and compromise require to progress so ideally placed to discuss this knotty issue.

ResourcesCopper Consulting website

UK government neighbourhood planning guidance

TfL London Low Emission Zone guidance

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Today we delve into the world of communication and examine the challenges faced by infrastructure professionals when it comes to winning buy-in for new ideas, policies and projects. That’s buy in from the public and from politicians.

I have described this process as creating the Stories to communicate change. Well let’s discuss this!

It is a stark reality that the experts charged with planning, designing, constructing and operating our infrastructure assets are not necessarily always AS focused or AS skilled as they need to be when it comes to translating brilliant and sensible ideas into popular or even supportable solutions.

Typically, problems can occur from a lack of focus on the impact that a particular idea or project might have on specific people, or insufficient understanding of the needs and fears of local communities. This failure to properly analyse the benefits – or disadvantages – can quickly render change practically difficult or politically impossible.

Getting this analysis and approach wrong can stop progress in its tracks; getting it right usually ensures that the benefits of infrastructure investment are reaped across communities – communities who understand and believe in that change and who subsequently have the confidence to demand more.

It’s a huge and important challenge, so to help me I have two guests today, Teresa Jolley and Sir Nic Carey, founders of transport communication specialist DEFT153. Teresa and Nic both of have career spanning experience in helping experts across the sector to successfully navigate this tricky process - and in building the vital trust required to shepherd individuals and teams through difficult processes of change.

Teresa’s background is in communications and in the design and delivery of events, networking and community engagement across the transport sector. Nic has spent a career working largely in central government to help accelerate the uptake and use of data as tool to better design policy interventions – most recently as head of data an digital transformation at the DfT.

Together, according to the internet, they “simplify the communication of technical subjects” and “help technical staff deliver engaging insights that inspire change”.

Resources
DEFT153 website
Bournville Clarinet Choir - Teresa's creative outlet!

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In this podcast we talk about the need to modernise UK construction.

I have been writing about this sector for close to three decades and this subject has been a consistent and infuriatingly repetitive issue.

A bit of background to set the scene around three decades of reports an initiatives.

In 1994, the Latham Review kicked things off and set out the need for collaboration and single teams, to boost quality, reduce disputes and improve margins.

It was quickly followed by the Egan Review in 1998 which also highlighted the need to rethink construction with stronger client leadership and more collaboration.

This led to the Movement for Innovation, and the 2001 Strategic Forum for Construction who’s 2002 report Accelerating Change set a path towards greater use of digital technology in the industry eventually leading to the mandating of the use of BIM on public project a decade later.

Then came the Wolstenholme Review urging us in 2009 to “Never Waste a Good Crisis”.

And the establishment of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) in 2013 to oversee Construction 2025, a new industry strategy targeted with reducing cost and carbon, accelerating delivery and increasing exports.

In 2016 we had the Farmer Review, aptly titled Modernise or Die which set out ten recommendations for fundamental change.

And in 2017 the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s Transforming Infrastructure Performance report again urged change through use of off-site fabrication and digital technology.

The perilous state of the industry was laid bar in 2018 by the Hackett report into the 2017 Grenfell Fire. This underlined the systemic, ethical and professional failures which sat at the heart of tragedy in west London.

Then came Covid, the drive towards a net zero future, and the battle to cope with rampant inflation across the building and construction material sector and the chronic lack of skills needed to drive the sector – not helped of course by the impact of Brexit.

It is fair to say that the industry lurches from crisis to crisis. So to discuss the challenges that lie ahead, my guest today is **Mark Reynolds, co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council and, in his spare time, also Group Chairman and Chief Executive of global consultancy and construction firm Mace.

Resources**Construction Leadership Council

Latham Review – Constructing the Team

Egan Review – Rethinking Construction

Wolstenholme Review – Never Waste a Good Crisis

Farmer Review – Modernise or Die

Mace Group website

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In this podcast we talk about the challenge and opportunities of reforming the UK rail network and specifically ask how this vast and complex national asset can be effectively and successfully transitioned back under public sector control and management.

A bit of background: In May 2021 the Williams/Shapps Plan for Rail set out the government's plan for transformation. In short, the plan will see control of the rail network, trains and operations passed from the current fragmented and largely private sector run ownership to a new, public body, known as Great British Railways.

This will own the infrastructure, receive the fare revenue, run and plan the network and set most fares and timetables. Network Rail, the current infrastructure owner, will be absorbed into this new organisation, as will many functions from the Rail Delivery Group and Department for Transport.

It has been described as one of the most ambitious changes to our railways in a generation. While no longer in control, the private sector will remain critical to asset management and operations and incentivised to “run safe, high-quality, punctual services, manage costs, attract more passengers and innovate”.

The Great British Railways Transition Team, is now preparing the ground, and working with government to change the culture and approach to rail investment from the centre and, as they put it “getting the whole railway thinking commercially through reform”. The challenge is to embrace this new way of working and bring Great British Railways into being by autumn 2024.

It's a huge task. And to discuss challenges that lie ahead, my guest today is Anit Chandarana, Lead Director at the GBR Transition Team, the man very much in the hot seat when it comes to leading those vital changes.

Resources
Williams/Shapps Plan for Rail
Great British Rail Transition Team website
Department for Transport
Office for Rail and Road
Network Rail

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This podcast is about about “the power of employee ownership” and discusses why so many firms are moving towards this model as a means to attract and retain talent and to help focus minds and resources on the value of investing in skills and innovation.

Clearly, other ownership models are available. For example, the engineering consulting sector has seen huge change of late with the emergence of a small number of super-large, globally focused, businesses. And while they argue that this model does not stop them from being great employers or indeed from investing in new ideas, there is also a school of thought that suggests employee ownership remains the true path to equity for all.

To discuss this issue, my guest today is Simon Light, Chief executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa at consultant GHD. Now, GHD is a business which is, indeed, owned by its11,000 staff around the world and is a model which the firm says “is a powerful point of differentiation that helps drives passion and accountability in how it serves clients, delivers projects, and pursues new opportunities.”

Let's discuss.....

Resources
GHD website
Harvard Business Review - the Big Benefits of Employee Ownership
Solving the PFAS puzzle
Digital experience

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In this podcast we talk about the challenge of creating a circular economy in the built environment as key to working towards a sustainable, net zero carbon emission future.

Last month a new movement was launched across infrastructure at the World Circular Economy Forum with a vision for a built environment whose purpose is, and I quote: “to enable people and nature to flourish together for generations.”

I call it a movement because it involved a range of people, organisations and businesses who came together to publish a document called Our Shared Understanding - a summary of core concepts that inform the transition to a circular economy.

So what is the circular economy in respect to the built environment? Well according to this report its “about enabling people and nature to live and grow within our planet’s capacity to provide resources and handle waste”.

That means getting the greatest possible value from the use of materials, products, assets and systems in the built environment - value as defined by the social, environmental and economic outcomes gained from that investment. More on that later.

This document also highlights why circularity is so important and of course sets out a number of key objectives and challenges to help the sector to finally embrace the concept.

In short, it calls for collective action to first choose to make change happen and second, for radical collaboration accelerate the move towards circularity.

To guide us through the challenges, my guest today is Mark Enzer, Strategic Adviser, Mott MacDonald and visiting professor, University of Cambridge, who has been driving this movement and continues to agitate for change across the sector.

Resources
Our Shared Understanding
Digital Twin Hub
UK government circular economy package policy
Centre for Digital Built Britain Digital Twin legacy site

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In this podcast we are going global and focusing the conversation around the findings of a new report published recently by Economist Impact called Infrastructure for Good – Building for a better world.

The report has been produced in association with Duke University in the US and is supported by global consultancy Deloitte. There's a link to the report in the resources section below.

Essentially the report points out that while infrastructure is a transformational investment for supporting growth and social development and touches nearly all of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), around the world this investment delivers widely divergent outcomes.

In short, without proper planning and a clear understanding of the factors behind this divergence, infrastructure can actually increase rather than reduce global inequality.

To guide us through this report, the conclusions and its recommendations, and of course to explain how it has been possible to properly understand how infrastructure investment value can be benchmarked, I am joined today from New York by Pratima Singh, Principal in Policy & Insights at Economist Impact, one of the report authors and an expert in the economic and social drivers from infrastructure investment.

Resources
Infrastructure for Good report
Infrastructure for Good website
Case studies
The Barometer data
Infrastructure for good - the methodology

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In today's podcast we are talking about EVs – Electric Vehicles. Specifically, we are going to look at what has to happen to ensure that the process or refuelling an electric or hybrid vehicle is as painless as popping petrol or diesel into a conventional fuel tank.

The conundrum of how and where to charge up the vast number of new EVs now flooding onto the UK’s streets is being wrestled with up and down the country. Not just by owners and potential owners, but also by the highway authorities and property managers who are increasingly under pressure to make more charging facilities available.

So where are we now? `Well according to the latest government statistics in January 2023, there were 37,000 public electric vehicle charging devices installed in the UK.

Of these 19% were rated “rapid” devices or above while 57% were fast charging devices. – whatever that means?

In terms of charger location, 32% are on street while 49% are known as “destination” chargers – places to charge on arrival at a destination such as car parks. The mystery deepens!

What is clear is that there is an uneven geographical distribution of charging devices within the UK. While the UK average is 56 per 100,000 people – in London that number is 131.

However, the number of charging stations is up 7% since last October.

But, given that the UK government is banning the sale of new petrol and diesel engine vehicle in 2030, the question of course, is whether the roll out of charging stations – and of course the increased grid capacity required to sit behind those station – is fast enough?

To find out, and to guide us through the UK’s EV challenges, my guest today is Asif Ghafoor, chief executive, Be.EV, which, backed by Octopus Energy Generation, is currently working with communities around the Manchester region and across the UK to roll out new charging infrastructure.

Resources
Be.EV website
January government stats on EV charging infrastructure
April government stats on EV charging infrastructure
Manchester Charging into the Future

Types of EV charger explained:
- Slow: typically for home charging or lamppost charging
- Fast: typically for destination charging or all day dwell charging
- Rapid: on forecourts where you pull in to charge for 40 minutes.
- Ultra rapid: on forecourt where you pull in to charge for 10-15 minutes.

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This podcast gets stuck into the art of brilliant infrastructure client behaviour.

Well what’s that - and why does it matter? Surely the client’s the client and whatever they say goes – the supply chains task is to deliver.

Well absolutely yes – and absolutely no.

Getting projects set up for success from the start is the fundamental job of the client. Brilliant client behaviour allows the project success that flows to be shared by all stakeholders in the project.

But just how often are they brilliant? And if not why not?

To find out, my guest today is Nirmal Kotecha, Director of Capital Programmes at UK Power Networks and past-chair of the Infrastructure Client Group management board. Nirmal is also a board member of the Major Projects Association so has been thoroughly embedded in the challenge of understanding what works and what doesn’t work for clients when it comes to major project delivery.

Nirmal said recently that “Defining clear outcomes from infrastructure investment is going to become a key competence for clients in future.”

He added: “This will form the basis for driving significant change in the way we procure and commercially incentivise organisations to ensure they are fully aligned in the pursuit of the desired outcomes."

So what does that mean in reality? What has to change and who has to lead?

ResourceUK Power Networks website

The Major Projects Association

The Infrastructure Client Group

The Construction Leadership Council

Anglian @One Alliance

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Let me start with a story. Last year I completed an epic nine-day, 1000 mile cycle adventure from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for my local hospice, St Christophers in Sydenham South London (there’s a link below – please do support their latest What Matters Most campaign).

It was an interesting and rather challenging few days. We used well planned routes that kept us off the main roads and largely away from the madness of the Strategic Road Network

But what it did highlight was the variability and often shockingly terrible condition of the road surfaces and cycle ways available to those battling the elements on two wheels.

Yes, there were some lovely stretches of smooth, deserted backroad to travel along, But there were also many appalling road surfaces to navigate, and some really poorly thought out and maintained dedicated cycle ways - which, frankly, were more dangerous that the main carriageway.

Nothing new of course to the average commuter cyclist or Sunday tourer. But it does get you thinking. With the rising demand for active travel - which is being supercharged through ubiquitous electric hire bikes and scooters across every major UK city, surely this problem has to be solved?

Which brings me back to today… fortunately on my cycle adventure someone else carried my bags. All I had on my bike was water bottles, a puncture kit, my Wahoo bike computer, iPhone

And my wonderful high tech internet enabled See.Sense safety lights - which not only kept me safe with their excellent bright and reactive lighting, but that also monitored the road conditions and my cycling decisions every pedal stroke and pothole along the way.

It is therefore my pleasure to welcome Irene and Philip McAleese to the podcast today, the couple from Northern Ireland who invented my lights and this technology - it’s a fascinating story.

Resources
See.Sence website
The new See.Sence Commuter Platform
St Christophers Hospice What Matters Most campaign

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This podcast discusses the power of public infrastructure - examining how investment in new and renewed assets can radically change lives and create huge additional social value to improve communities.

The phrase levelling up has become something of a catch-all when it comes to UK public infrastructure investment – a way to spread the nation’s wealth beyond London and the South East; a way to redistribute opportunity towards long forgotten communities; or perhaps a means to access the skills and hidden talent currently overlooked across the nation.

Describe the benefits how you will. But essentially it is all about creating focus on the social outcomes. It’s about thinking beyond the usual obsession around economic benefit to actually judge the value of interventions on the way they impact real people’s lives. Here we are talking about benefits such as better health and learning outcomes, greater access to housing and transport, reducing carbon emissions and increasing community cohesion.

Achieving this so-called social dividend is now increasingly critical. For any organisation or business hoping to succeed in the public infrastructure arena – in planning, in delivery, in operation and in maintenance – social outcomes must be both top of mind and, more importantly, a genuine ambition.

So to help us to understand more about this vital issue and the power of public infrastructure to deliver social value, it is my pleasure to welcome Michelle de Franca, managing director UK & Ireland at Bechtel Infrastructure. Michelle spends her time helping clients to plan and deliver infrastructure investment so is well placed to assist today.

ResourcesBechtel websiteLevelling Up - UK government website

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This podcast focuses on the importance of understanding risk as a vital step towards being able to effectively manage projects while also protecting your business and its reputation.

Anyone working in infrastructure is familiar with the need to identify, quantify and manage risk, be that around performance, safety, programme or perhaps budget. And they will be wel aware that good risk management enables better decision making – and that better decisions almost certainly return better outcomes.

But to what extent do modern professionals really fully understand the risks that they are assessing – and really fully understand the consequences for their project or their business of getting that assessment right - or wrong?

Infrastructure is a complex business. And the world we are in is an increasingly complex place right now. It is therefore vital for modern leaders to really understand the risks that surround them - and to be aware of the potential reputational consequences of the decisions that they make.

Get it right and business thrives; get it wrong and crisis is usually just around the corner.

So to help us to understand more about this vital issue, it is my pleasure to welcome George Hutchinson, chief executive and founder of reputational risk and crisis management consultancy River Effra. George spends his time helping a range of clients across multiple industry sectors to really understand the threats they face and the steps that they can take to protect their reputations.

Resources
River Effra website
Under Pressure report

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This podcast focuses on the challenge of building, maintaining and upgrading the UK’s vital mobile telecommunications network.

It is a bizarre reality that we are now used to having highspeed internet connectivity beaming into our devices at all times. To the extent that any loss of connectivity ranges from being hugely annoying to business critical.

The good news is that, having identified the need to provide universal coverage as a key priority in its 2018 Needs Assessment, the National Infrastructure Commission now describes this sector as one its success stories int terms of positive investment activity five years later.

According to its latest progress update, the UK’s 4G coverage now extends to around 92% of the landmass. The Shared Rural Network agreement should increase this to 95% by the end of 2025, and it adds, “further coverage improvements in the harder to reach areas continuing until the start of 2027”.

Great progress indeed. Not least given that 5G networks are also being extended across the UK, and coverage now stands at around 70%. As the government puts it in their recently published Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, “the ambition for the majority of the population to have access to a 5G signal by 2027, has been achieved five years early.”

So we are not out of the 5G connectivity dark woods quite yet. According it its research the NIC reports that “challenges remain on upgrading mobile coverage on the rail network and securing investment for deploying new 5G networks”.

As the Government’s Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, explains, the long term commercial and strategic value of 5G is yet to be fully understood. In short, the commercial viability of full 5G coverage beyond cities and urban centres will be determined by whether it becomes more than just a faster version of 4G, and whether it provides solutions to pressing problems – enabling 5G to deliver the promised productivity benefits of £159 billion by 2035.

So what is going on. Is 5G and a high speed mobile future likely to be universal across the UK limited to those in cities who are able and willing to pay. Well to find out, it is my pleasure to welcome Belinda Fawcett, Director of Property & Estates and General Counsel at Cornerstone, one of the businesses now wrestling with the challenge of rolling out the UK’s communications networks and simultaneous making the commercial case for investment.

Resources
Cornerstone Networks website
Wireless Infrastructure Strategy
The Shared Rural Network agreement
NIC 2018 Needs Assessment
NIC 2023 Progress report
Digital Economy Act 2017

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This podcast sets out to bust the myths and expose the realities around our hydrogen future – explaining how this fuel can really fit in the UK’s net zero carbon energy future and understanding the infrastructure challenges of making the ambition a reality.

There is no dispute that when it comes to energy sources, hydrogen is one of the cleanest around. No carbon emissions are released when it’s burned as a domestic of industrial replacement for fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal. And when used in at fuel cell to power vehicles, it is reckoned that the fuel cell is around two to three times more efficient than a conventional internal combustion engine.

So given that in 2019 the UK emitted 351.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the use of fossil fuels, representing over 80% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions, it is clear that harnessing the power of a clean fuel such as hydrogen must be part of our net zero carbon future.

If the UK is to meet its legally binding targets to be a net-zero emitter by 2050, we have to radically rethink the way we heat our homes, run our vehicles and power our industry. Hydrogen is part of this radical rethink, alongside the switch to renewable electricity generation and the drive towards using less by insulating homes and redesigning industrial processes.

In addition, hydrogen has huge potential as an efficient and cost effective means to store and transport energy – particularly useful when smoothing the power output from intermittent renewable generation.

The challenge – and the reason so often quoted as to why hydrogen can never be a serious part of the UK’s energy mix – is how to create the vast qualities of hydrogen required to replace the current global fossil fuel demand. Problems of cost and complexity continue to make the gas difficult to produce commercially.

So what is the truth about hydrogen. It is the solution to our energy transition needs or simply a technical dead-end. Well to find out, it is my pleasure to welcome Dr Angie Needle, Director of Strategy at Cadent Gas and Vice President of Hydrogen UK who is without question one of the UK’s leading hydrogen and net-zero energy minds and so well capable of exploding the myths around the UK’s hydrogen future.

Resources
Cadent future of gas website
Hydrogen Village - Whitby
HyNet project
National Infrastructure Commission Progress Update 2023
Energy Networks Association Gas Goes Green video
Womens Utilities Network

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This podcast focuses on what can be done to help major infrastructure project teams actually deliver the outcomes that are promised – and specifically whether engaging minds early will drive project success .

As any casual observer of infrastructure will be aware, the track record of major project delivery is not good. In fact a new book by Oxford University professor Bent Flyvbjerg highlights that globally from his list of 16,000 projects in 136 countries over the last 30 years, just 8.5% met cost and schedule targets while just 0.5% satisfied all benefit goals.

OK, I haven’t audited his numbers, but they are, on the face of it, a pretty shocking set of findings – findings that seem to bear out and ring true if you consider the UK’s recent project outcomes from projects such as Crossrail, Jubilee Line Extension, West Coast Mainline upgrade, Hinkley Point – the list goes on. And there are of course many more examples of smaller infrastructure projects failing to deliver.

So what is going wrong? Prof Flyvbjerg highlights many, many reasons from long durations causing scope and budget creep to failure to understand technology and a propensity towards ‘optimism bias’ urging professionals down the wrong paths.

But primarily his conclusion – and one shared by many others in the industry given the number of industry papers and report on the subject – is poor project initiation or failure in the commissioning stage as the wrong people are left to make the wrong decisions at the wrong moment.

So is that true? And if so how do we change it?

Well to find out, it is my pleasure to welcome Simon Kirby, managing partner at well-known and respected trouble shooting, project delivery consultancy The Nichols Group to the Infrastructure Podcast. Simon has a several decades of experience wrestling with the challenge of delivering major projects and programmes.

Resources
The Nichols Group
Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg
Major Project Association

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In this latest podcast we talk about the challenge of building and training the skilled workforce fit for a modern railway.

In the five years to March 2024, some £50.6bn will have been invested to run, maintain and enhance the UK national rail network. The current expectation is that some £44bn will be committed for the next CP7 period to March 2029, made up from £27.5bn from government funding and the rest from commercial income.

These are, in anyone’s book, vast sums of money. And if you add into this the commitment to funding other rail projects such as HS2, East West Rail, Northern Powerhouse Rail and Transport for London’s on-going expenditure, it clear that the UK’s rail infrastructure takes a lot of looking after.

That requires a skilled and experienced workforce, not only to keep the system running effectively, efficiently and safely, but also to continually embrace new ways to managing the assets so as to do more with the available funding – and do it more safely.

And it will require new technologies, new techniques and much learning from other industries.

To do this means training a new generation of rail worker and upskilling the existing cohort. It means attracting and training a raft of new apprentices and graduate trainees to lead the industry towards a new digitally enhanced, customer focused railway industry, capable of placing the UK rail network at the heart of an integrated modern transport system.

To discuss how this will happen it is my pleasure therefore to welcome Neil Robertson, chief executive, National Skills Academy for Rail to the Infrastructure Podcast, unquestionably the man with the passion and experience to meet this challenge.

Resources
National Skills Academy for Rail
Routes into Rail website
TIES Living Lab

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In this podcast we try to understand a bit more about Sub-National Transport Bodies– what are they, what do they do and why do we need them.

STBs were created by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act in 2016, and there are now seven Sub National Transport Bodies covering different regions of the UK. The intension is to provide strategic transport policy leadership at a larger scale than is possible by the existing local transport authorities or local authorities individually.

Of the seven currently in existence, only one - Transport for the North - has been given statutory powers – and as such, from 2018 TfN has been a statutory partner to the Department for Transport, National Highways, and Network Rail to ensure that the North's pan-Northern strategic transport priorities are developed and delivered.

The rest, bodies such as Transport for the South East, Transport for the East, England’s Economic Heartland, Western Gateway and Peninsular Transport and Midlands Connect operate in shadow form, advising and cajoling but without formal powers to act.

That said, they do hold influence and, by bringing together local authorities, businesses, communities and asset owners, they should able to make significant cross border difference in terms of where sone vast sums of devolved and centralised public cash is focussed.

But do they in reality? Well to discuss this it is my pleasure to welcome Martin Tugwell to the Infrastructure Podcast. Martin is chief executive of Transport for the North and the former leader of England Economic Heartland so probably knows more about STBs than anyone in the UK!

STB Conference - 5th June
Transport for the North website
TfN strategic transport plan

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In this podcast we talk about transforming UK transport by “adopting an integrated systems approach”.

So what does that mean in practice? Well despite multiple local and national investment programmes over decades, the UK still seems to lack transport infrastructure that is capable of providing reliable and predictable journey times.

We certainly have a multitude of available modes – cars, trains, aircraft, buses, trams, taxis, bikes etc. But we consistently seem to lack the ability to join these up to create seemly, efficient, cost effective door to door journeys.

As a result the car dominates our transport – providing a personalised service for those that can afford it but at a growing social and environmental cost to us all.

It is my pleasure therefore, to welcome Sue Kershaw, to the Infrastructure Podcast today to discuss the concept of a new integrated system approach to transport.

Sue is managing director for transportation at contractor Costain and has spent a career working to create better transport systems. More importantly, she recently, as a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and President of the Association for Project Management, she has been championing the concept of an integrated systems approach to transport strategy.

Resources
A Systems Approach to Infrastructure Delivery
Institution of Civil Engineers
Association for Project Management
Crossrail Learning Legacy

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As the dust settles on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’ latest budget statement in March, many were perhaps slightly disappointed that it didn’t make more reference to - or provide more direct support for - investment in UK infrastructure

Not least after his announcement of a raft of delays to the investment plans for a number for key projects including HS2 and the Lower Thames Crossing.

OK there was commitment to new nuclear and to investment in a new era of carbon capture and storage. But fundamentally, questions have been raised over just how committed the current government is to delivering the current £600bn pipeline.

Regardless of government’s repeated reassurance that investment delays are simply technical measures required to balance ethe books, is the infrastructure sector guilty of failing to reinforce the absolute priority of maintaining investment momentum and highlighting the simple truth that the longer projects take the more they ultimately cost?

In short, in this political climate, does the infrastructure sector have to step up a gear.

To answer this question and discuss how we can continue to keep infrastructure at the heart of UK economic recovery it is my pleasure to welcome Marie Claude Hemming, Director of Operations at the Civil Engineering Contractors Association to the Infrastructure Podcast as someone who has spent decades making the case for investment.

Resources
CECA website
CECA Sector groups
Infrastructure Future Group
NIC Infrastructure Progress Review 2023
HM Government Spring Budget 2023
IPA Transforming Infrastructure Performance – Roadmap to 2030

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In this podcast we talk about the challenge of “designing infrastructure for people” – clearly a vital outcome from investment but too often overlooked.

In particular, we are going focus on the architectural challenge of the Crossrail project, a multibillion pound scheme which after decades of planning and construction has given London the new Elizabeth Line beneath the capital - in fact providing 100km service linking Heathrow Airport and Reading in the west across to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

Everyone will be familiar with the criticisms of the project and the fact that it was delivered several years late and considerably over budget when it opened in May last year. A lot of lessons will of course be learned.

But crucially, anyone that has travelled on the new Elizabeth Line will also appreciate – and in most cases eulogise about – the step change that the new service provides in terms of scale, comfort and sheer user delight from a public transport facility.

In short, much of that delight is down to good design – of the trains but more importantly of the stations which are, without exception, designed with the users in mind. In fact, the new underground station beneath the heart of London have been described as modern cathedrals to public transport – expensive and complex to deliver certainly, but now key hubs and drivers for a wholesale uplift in the public realm for decades to come.

Behind this success is good design and a clear architectural vision for public need. It is my pleasure therefore, to welcome Harbinder Birdi to the Infrastructure Podcast today, who, as a partner at architectural practice Hawkins Brown, was the architect that, over many years and for many masters, drove and clung onto that vision for Crossrail.

Resources
Crossrail Learning Legacy
Birdi and Partners architects
Defining and developing the Design Champion role

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The infrastructure profession has a massive role to play in helping the UK to tackle climate change and ensure that the nation stays on track to meeting its net zero emissions targets by 2050.

Transforming the design and operation of our public and private transport system is one of the most important areas to tackle; to decarbonise existing modes but also to accelerate the development and introduction of new and evolving transport modes - enabling society to move towards new, cleaner, healthier more efficient ways to travel.

This podcast discussed the challenge of decarbonising transport with Rachel Skinner, executive director for ESG & Government Relations at consultant WSP and a very well known advocate for embracing low carbon futures – something that she championed during her year as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2020/21.

Rachel is also leading the new Interchange event which is being held in Birmingham on 18th and 19th April. As chair of the advisory panel, she is helping the supply chain to accelerate towards sustainable and resilient transport solutions.

Resources
ICE Presidential Address 2020 PAS 2080: Carbon management in buildings and infrastructure guidanceInterchange - the hub for mobility infrastructure
ICE Fellowship routes

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In this podcast we talk about the challenge of “creating infrastructure fit for the future”.

While the UK government continues to warn of “significant headwinds” holding back the economy, and despite recent delays to the investment plans for a number for key projects including HS2 and the Lower Thames Crossing, it remains clear that investment in new infrastructure is still a fundamental par to the so-called “plan for growth”.

But critically, it is now clear that investment in infrastructure has to deliver more than just economic benefits; to be fit for the future and investable for the public and private sector, today’s projects must also deliver social benefits in the form of reduced carbon emissions, greater social inclusion and equity and of course employment and community cohesion.

Beth West is chief executive of the new East West Rail project between Oxford and Cambridge which combines a number of inter-related elements designed to maximise the use of existing infrastructure, reinstate disused corridors and introducing new assets to create new links.

As the leader of a project setting out to create a transport system fit for the future she is ideally placed to discuss the challenge of modern delivery and to give us an update on how the project is getting on.

Resources:The East West Rail website

EWR project overview

The case for East West Rail, Western Section Phase 2

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In this podcast we talk about the challenge of “recruiting and retaining construction’s future talent” – without question one of the biggest issues holding back growth in the sector.

In fact, according to a recent report by the Construction Industry Training Board, it is estimated that for the sector to maintain its required output, it needs to recruit over 45,000 new people every year for the next five years. 

And this is set against the backdrop of a record number of job vacancies in construction, thought to be as high as 44,000 and growing. 

It’s a massive challenge and so who better to discuss this with than, Suzannah Nichol, chief executive of Build UK the body representing the UK contractorswho are trying to fill these gaps.

Resources
Build UK website
CITB Construction Skills Network report
Build UK Roadmap to Recovery
Levy In – Skills Out proposalOpen doors 

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Successive UK governments have continued to highlight investment in both building new infrastructure and maintaining existing networks as a key to driving growth into the economy and underpinning the nation’s prosperity.

Yet given the current perilous state of the UK’s finances, the impact of inflation, energy prices and pressure from Russia’s war in Ukraine, there is a clear need to priorities that investment, focusing on the investments that create impact and deprioritising those that don’t.

It’s a huge challenge and in many ways a political quagmire. So who better to discuss this with than, Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission and the manin the hot seat when it comes to influencing these priorities.

Resources
The National Infrastructure Commission website2nd National Infrastructure assessment backgroundNIA 2 Baseline report 2021First National Infrastructure Assessment 2018

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In this podcast we talk about the challenge of “delivery beyond time and budget and specifically the role of the trusted adviser”. 

Not so long ago, when it came to delivery, project managers were wedded to the classic iron triangle of cost, time, and scope - from which you could achieve one, or two but not all three.

Today’s modern clients want more. Meeting or beating the cost budget and time schedule is a given – their new demand, and the challenge for those working for them, is for greater economic and social return from their investment.

To understand and discuss this issue and how it might be achieved, my guest today is Patricia Moore, Managing Director UK at global consultancy Turner & Townsend. Given that she runs a team of over 4000 expert professionals who work with clients to improve project delivery across and range of markets, she will be well placed to offer us a viewpoint.

Resources
Turner & Townsend website

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Guest: Alison Watson, founder and chief executive, Class of your ownIn this  podcast we talk about the need for “new talents to meet new infrastructure challenges”. Without doubt the entire sector is suffering from not only a fundamental shortage of skills needed to tackle today’s challenges but also a major lack of the new skills needed for the future.

To discuss this issue, my guest is Alison Watson, chief executive of Class of your Own, the social business that she founded in 2009 to provide the Design Engineer Construct! Curriculum, a design based, Ofqual accredited study programme supporting STEM, creativity and applied learning across the curriculum.

With support from industry this programme works with schools to integrate the technical areas of sustainability, architecture, engineering and construction into a fun “learn anytime, anywhere” approach. 

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In this podcast we talk about “managing complexity and risk” on major projects with Mark Thurston, chief executive of the vast HS2 project.

The UK design and construction sector has for too long been dogged by failure to properly understand and manage risk and complexity, leading to a poor track record of projects completing late and over budget - a point emphasised recently by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt who told a gathering of MPs and engineering professionals that the UK had “lost our way in our ability to deliver big projects at pace”.

Yet experience from many past project successes suggests that it doesn’t have to be that way. We have the talent, resources and experience to do better. So what is going wrong - what has to change to ensure that public money is spent effectively to deliver value outcomes

To discuss this issue, my guest today is Mark Thurston, chief executive, HS2, and asthe man in charge of the multi-billion pound investment programme to increase rail capacity between London and Birmingham and then on to Manchester and the North he is well placed to give a view. It is fair to say that he is in charge of one of the most complex projects ever attempted.

Resources

HS2 website
Transforming Infrastructure Performance - Route to 2030NAO London 2012: post-Games reviewHS2 - the route

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Guest: Richard Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, UK & Europe, AtkinsIn this podcast we talk about “The role of the modern engineering consultancy”. Over the last decade or so we have seen the world of engineering consultancy change dramatically as the market has consolidated to create a small number of super large globally focused multi-discipline consultancies backed by a large number of very small number of specialists. Clients perhaps benefit from a single point of contact but what has been the impact on innovation and agility?

To discuss this issue, my guest is Richard Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, UK & Europe at Atkins, which, as part of the Canadian SNC Lavalin group since 2017, and with 20,000 staff across the UK and around the world, is certainly one of the largest consultancies in the UK. 

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For decades infrastructure sector clients have waged a battle to improve the supply chain’s woeful design and construction productivity, driving down costs and accelerating delivery times. 

But In reality, more effort should be focused instead on the drive towards better overall asset performance and achieving better overall economic and social outcomes. How can this focus be switched?

To discuss this issue, my guest is Andy Mitchell, chief executive of Tideway, in charge ofbuildingthe £4.3bn 25km super-sewer beneath London, one of the UK’s largest current infrastructure projects. Andy was also, until recently, co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, playing a key role in helping the sector to work with government to improve. 

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In this podcast we are going to talk about “Setting up major projects for success”. When it comes to project delivery, the UK’s track record is poor. Too often projects are delivered late, cost more than expected and crucially, they do not always delver the promised outcomes or sufficient value for public investment.

To discuss this problem, the many reasons for it and perhaps some solutions, let me introduce my guest today, Michele Dix. Michele is well placed to offer a view, having spent many years spearheading projects for Transport for London, most recently leading plans for the now shelved Crossrail 2 scheme.

Today Michele is a director of the Major Projects Association, an Non-exec at Crossrail International, a visiting professor at UCL and an ICE Policy Fellow so very much interested in setting up major projects for success.

Resources:

The Major Projects AssociationCrossrail 2ICE Fellowship routesMajor Projects Association annual conference highlights - escaping the echo chamberUCL Bartlett School of Planning

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Guest: Nick Smallwood, Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure and Projects Authority

In this podcast we go right back to the start to talk about “project delivery - getting the basics right”. Given the UK infrastructure sector’s poor track record when it comes to productivity, performance and outcomes, it seems an appropriate place to start.

To discuss this issue, my guest is Nick Smallwood, Chief Executive Officer at the government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority and Head of Government’s Project Delivery Function. Essentially, he’s the man in charge of helping UK to not only deliver its current £600bn plus pipeline of infrastructure projects but also to radically improve the outcomes from that massive investment. 

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The Infrastructure Podcast – well no prizes for guessing what that’s about! 

Infrastructure journalist and commentator Antony Oliver will host this new weekly series of conversations with key leaders and influencers from across the vast UK infrastructure sector.

We go live from 20th February 2023.  The aim is to give every infrastructure and built environment professional a few insights into the people behind the sector’s most interesting projects, businesses and organisations. Each short conversation will catch a glimpse of the work that they are doing, what drives their decisions and find out a bit more about what makes them tick.

Subscribe to The Infrastructure Podcast on your favourite podcast provider. It will certainly be fun, and should also inspire positive change and learning across the industry as we shed light on the challenges and highlight the opportunities.

The Infrastructure Podcast - www.infrastructure-podcast.com – the Infrastructure conversations creating change.