Across every sector, from manufacturing to transportation, energy to construction, the race toward a net zero future is reshaping how we work, produce, and consume. These industries have powered global growth for decades, but now, they must also lead the way in securing a sustainable future.

The scale of the challenge is immense. Achieving a greener future will require more than incremental changes—it demands bold, transformative ideas. In this second episode of four looking at shortlisted entries to the Engineering Matters Awards, we’re looking at ways to make industry cleaner and more efficient. Whether that’s in construction, transport, materials or even valves, these entries are all helping deliver a net zero world.

Guests

Matt Lamb, Senior Design Engineer, Hiperenergy, Aureos (formerly Keltbray)

Dan Summerbell, Chief Solutions Officer, CarbonRe

Christoph Birkl, CEO, Brill Power

Melissa Giusti, Principal Innovation Advisor, National Highways

Peter Toxopeus, Fleet Development Manager, Fugro

David Tindall, Global Product Owner, Land Equipment, Fugro

Mohammed Khan, CEO, Immaterial

George Hunter, Head of Sale, Carnot

Anne Franzas, Global Product Manager, Circularity, Drives Division, ABB

Dave Hawley, Global Head of Sales, Low Voltage Motors, ABB

Heikki Vepsäläinen, President, Large Motors and Generators, ABB

Brendan Hegerty, Director of Marketing and Sustainability, Oxford Flow

Joachim Knapp, CEO, Anker Tech

The post #310 Manufacturing a Brighter Future – Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist first appeared on Engineering Matters.

What links draught excluders and nuclear reactors? Or carbon capture and methane monitoring? As we enter a generation of change, these and other ideas will be key to developing efficient, decarbonised energy, and to how we use this energy in our homes.

This week, we introduce the shortlisted entries for the 2025 Engineering Matters Awards. The awards aim to celebrate the impact that engineers have on people, and on the planet. In this first episode of four, we look at how shortlisted entries in the Net Zero, Environment, and Sustainability categories are changing energy generation, and domestic energy use.

Guests

Patrick Möller, CEO, CorPower

Jaymish Patel, CEO, BioFuel Evolution

Thomas Fudge, CEO, WASE

Andreas Aepli, CFO, Climeworks

Maxime Tornier, VP, R&D, Climeworks

Jasper Wong, CTO, Airhive

Clément Gourrierec, Director, CrystalTrade

Michelle Brechtelsbauer, VP, Strategy, Last Energy

James Montgomery, Chief Design Engineer, Novel Nuclear, Rolls-Royce

John Mason, Systems Design & Integration Specialist, Novel Nuclear, Rolls-Royce

Mateja Lampe, CEO, Red Pitaya

Derek Egan, Chartered Engineer, EirGrid

Dunstan Power, MD, Versinetic

Jess Prevost, Marketing Director, Switchee

Mauro Fazion, CTO, SuSy

Sam Cryer, CEO, Thermulon

Sally Philips, Founder, Chimney Sheep

The post #309 A Generation of Change – Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, Planet Part 1 first appeared on Engineering Matters.

We live in a world where data and connectivity are essential to almost everything we do. Cable and satellite connections add value to business through trade and collaboration, and enrich our personal lives with the ability to engage with friends and family around the world. Maintaining these connections is a central aim of engineers in the 21st century.

Little has changed in a hundred years. In the early years of the 20th Century, London was the backbone router of a communications network that was revolutionising the business and social lives of Britons. Information was transferred by letters and parcels, rather than data packets, but the need to ensure efficient data transmission was the same.

In 1913, work commenced on a project that would smooth this transmission: the General Post Office’s underground railway. This allowed information to flow freely, minimising bandwidth constraints and enabling efficient handling. In March, attendees at the Engineering Matters Awards will have the opportunity to ride on the railway. In this episode, we tell the story of how it was planned, built and operated.

Guests

Chris Taft, head of collections, The Postal Museum

Ray Middlesworth, maintenance engineer (retired), the Post Office Underground Railway

The post #308 Building Bandwidth in the 1920s first appeared on Engineering Matters.

For many of us, now is a season of giving. A well chosen gift can bring lasting joy. But it’s easy to get wrong. One of the finest gifts anyone can give, is the gift of engineering. But how can engineers and designers ensure that when they share their gifts, they really meet the needs of users? 

This November, Engineers Without Borders UK brought together a diverse panel of experts to discuss the ‘Voices That Matter’ in engineering. In a conversation moderated by Jonathan Truslove, the panellists—Kamran Mallick, Marsha Ramroop, and Natalia Vasnier—discussed how engineers, and particularly those new to the industry, can work to ensure their work responds to the needs of all users.

In this episode, featuring excerpts from the discussion, we offer a guide to the gift that keeps on giving—inclusive engineering, inspired from the start by the voices of users.

This is our last episode of 2024. We’re taking a two week break for Christmas and the New Year. We’ll be back in January, with a mini-series on the shortlisted entries in this year’s Engineering Matters Awards.

Featuring

Jonathan Truslove, education and skills lead, EWB UK

Kamran Mallick, chief executive, Disability Rights UK

Marsha Ramroop, author, Building Inclusion: Practical Guide to EDI in Architecture & the Built Environment

Natalia Vasnier, founder, editor-in-chief, The Conference Corner

The post #307 Giving the Gift of Engineering first appeared on Engineering Matters.

This week, we are returning to Rothera, in the Antarctic, where, in 2021 the British Antarctic Survey had just completed work on a project it has called ‘the world’s most extreme construction site’. Pour yourself a warming drink, and enjoy the episode. We’ll be back with a new episode next week.

Since the end of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, humanity has focused its activities in the southern continent on science and research. To do this effectively, logistics are critical.

To prepare for the arrival of its new ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, the wharf at Rothera Research Station needed to be replaced. The new wharf needed to be built in the extreme conditions of Antarctica, and able to withstand impacts from 15,000 tonne icebergs. 

In this episode we speak to the people who made it happen, and find out what it’s like to work in the most desolate environment known.

Guests

Bruce Wulff, Project Manager, Ramboll

David Seaton, Head of Construction, British Antarctic Survey

Martha McGowan, Project Manager, Bam Nuttall

Stewart Craigie, Technical Director, Sweco

The post #306 Revisited: Building Rothera Wharf first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Nature-based solutions are emerging as vital tools to tackle the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss by leveraging nature’s inherent resilience to protect and restore ecosystems. This episode explores how innovative approaches can make these solutions mainstream and economically viable while addressing complex challenges like urban flooding, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable investment opportunities.

As species vanish at unprecedented rates, ecosystems lose their resilience, diminishing their ability to mitigate climate impacts such as floods and heatwaves. Traditional grey engineering solutions, like concrete sea walls, often address a specific issue but can create long-term challenges. In contrast, nature-based solutions leverage the inherent adaptability and efficiency of natural systems, offering multifunctional benefits like enhanced biodiversity, flood management, and improved urban living conditions. Nature-based solutions integrate ecological processes into infrastructure and land management, delivering diverse benefits to urban and rural settings. However, scaling these methods requires overcoming challenges in measuring their long-term benefits, articulating their value, and shifting industry focus from short-term cost efficiencies to long-term systemic resilience. 

Economic viability is crucial for the widespread adoption of nature-based solutions. Companies like Nattergal are pioneering models that make nature restoration an investable asset, transforming public goods like carbon sequestration and clean water into marketable ecosystem services. Incentives like biodiversity net gain credits in the UK show how policy can direct funding toward environmental recovery. By demonstrating tangible financial returns alongside environmental benefits, these initiatives aim to align corporate interests with sustainable practices, ensuring businesses can protect their futures while contributing to global climate resilience.

Guests

Philip Hoare, Chief Operating Officer, AtkinsRéalis

Stuart McLaren, Global Director for net zero innovation, AtkinsRéalis

Claire Wansbury, Fellow and technical director for ecology, AtkinsRéalis

Zoe Metcalfe, Client director for local and central government, AtkinsRéalis

Francis Heil, Associate director for climate change and resilience, AtkinsRéalis

Ben Hart, head of operations, Nattergal 

Ivan de Clay, head of natural capital, Nattergal

The post #305 Making the Case for Nature-Based Solutions first appeared on Engineering Matters.

During the last Ice Age, glaciers scored huge trenches through the land beneath the Irish Sea. Today, those valleys are filled with softer material and sit between tracts of hard rock, creating a diverse landscape that wind farm developer Codling Wind Park has had to research in painstaking detail before it can begin installing its turbine foundations into the seabed.

This challenge is explained by Ed Sly from Codling Wind Park, and Matthew Chappell, Melanie Zacheis, and Ross Frazer from Geo-data experts Fugro. They explain the innovative technologies deployed to combat the hazardous offshore conditions, while making the process as quick and efficient as possible when designing what is set to be Ireland’s biggest offshore wind farm, projected to produce 1,300 megawatts of power for homes in Dublin and beyond.

With the wind power industry booming, the necessary ground investigation and construction equipment is in short supply, and financial stakes are high. Safety is always a priority when working offshore as well. Fugro made modifications to the jack-up platform from which it conducted its testing for the Codling project, cutting downtime, reducing overall time at sea, and enabling more tests to be run, giving a more accurate picture of the seabed.

Guests

Matthew Chappell, regional service line director nearshore, Fugro

Ross Frazer, principal analysis engineer, Fugro

Ed Sly, engineering manager, Codling Wind Park

Melanie Zacheis, principal engineer – geotechnical team leader, Fugro

Partner

Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from Geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.

The post #304 Grounded in Knowledge – Ireland’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Monitoring and maintaining an entire rail network can be costly, slow and, for those working on the track, very dangerous. Specialised trains were developed that could be mounted with sensors for collecting data on track gauging and track condition, however these couldn’t be mounted together. In this episode we look into the development of RILA or Rail Infrastructure Alignment Acquisition, which has been used on multiple rail networks to make data collection faster and safer.

In 2006 Jos Berkers had the idea to combine all the existing technology for rail data collection and put them in a box small enough to fit on passenger trains. After years of working to develop the idea in his living room he was able to test the system that became known as RILA on the Dutch rail network.

Since then RILA has continued to develop, with more sensors being added and more countries using it to monitor their networks. In 2021 RILA was used across the entire 2,000 miles of Scotland’s Rail network.  It reduced the time taken from 27,500 hours to under 1,000 hours, and Network Rail estimates that RILA prevented 72 minor and three major injuries from ever occurring.

Guests

Jos Berker, rail consultant, Fugro

Adam Carlin, former business developer for rail maintenance, Fugro 

The post #303 Gathering data at the speed of a train: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Health & Safety Gold Champion – Fugro RILA first appeared on Engineering Matters.

From habitat destruction, to use of pesticides, the arrival of invasive species and the growing impact of climate change, life, in all shapes and sizes, is fighting to survive. To protect the world’s biodiversity, first we have a better understanding of what and where that biodiversity is. In this episode we delve into iNaturalist, the 2024 Engineering Matters Community Gold Champion. iNaturalist is a citizen science community with thousands of active members sharing the wildlife around them with experts.

Alongside the experts giving support to users, iNaturalist have developed an AI that can identify rare species and even alert experts when it detects something unusual, like a species in an unexpected location. iNaturalist’s database is being used by scientific studies and by conservationists looking for a better understanding of their local biodiversity.

Understanding the wildlife around us gives us a better chance of protecting it. iNaturalist is creating a global community of nature lovers that can be at the centre of helping protect their own local biodiversity.

Guests

Scott Loarie, Executive Director, iNaturalist

The post #302 Conservation, Community and AI: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Community Gold Champion — iNaturalist first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In the early 1900s Sydney was transformed by its first electric lighting system, which was so bright compared to gas lamps it was hailed as “turning night into day”. The network did much more than just light up the streets. It democratised power, electrifying communities, homes and businesses for the first time. The system, designed by London based engineering consultants Preece & Cardew, became the basis for today’s electricity grid and ushered in a century of electrical evolution as the system rapidly expanded to meet soaring demand.

Today society is facing a new kind of energy transformation: to decarbonise systems based on fossil fuels and build in climate resilience. This episode explores the opportunities and challenges from connecting in new renewable generation and supporting radical operational changes, to delivering social value and ensuring a just and equitable transition.

Guests

Paul Currie, energy leader Asia Pacific, New Zealand and Australia, Mott MacDonald

David Hawkins, Solar and BESS market sector leader, Australia, Mott MacDonald

Dr Simon Harrison, group head of strategy, Mott MacDonald

Clare Wildfire, global cities leader, Mott MacDonald

Someswar Chakravorty, technical specialist, HVDC, Mott MacDonald

Resources

Pioneering Pumped Storage

City of Sydney Archive

Transferability of engineering skills for the clean energy transition, by Engineers Australia and Mott MacDonald

Partner

Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy focussed on improving society by considering social outcome and relentlessly focussing on excellence and digital innovation. Preece & Cardew is a predecessor company of Mott MacDonald founded in 1899.

The post #301 Electrifying Sydney: Transformational Energy Systems  first appeared on Engineering Matters.