The Infrastructure Podcast

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 th...

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...

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 polit...

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 trul...

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 champion...

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 commun...

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 of...

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...

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 i...

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...

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 o...

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, i...

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 i...

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 solu...

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 re...

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...

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 he...

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 Inst...

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 s...

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...

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 mo...

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 deve...

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 y...

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 mag...

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 o...