The world’s oceans are in crisis. Plastic pollution, rising sea levels, warmer waters and chemical changes are degrading ocean systems and the world is at a dangerous tipping point. A point so dangerous that the United Nations has made 2021 the start of a new decade for ocean science for sustainable development. In this episode...

The post #95 Saving Oceans with Science first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Construction has not always recognised the value of using data from past projects to deliver better results in the present. It often finds itself starting from scratch on new projects, when learning from earlier experiences could help solve its productivity problem. But the so-called data rich design is still sporadic, and the industry suffers for...

The post #94 Barriers to Data Rich Design first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Something remarkable is happening in East Anglia. Waste heat from sewage treatment is being pumped into two enormous greenhouses creating low carbon heat for growing tomatoes. A lot of tomatoes, more than 10% of UK production. This use of waste heat is just one of the ways that water companies are using waste as a...

The post #93 Tomatoes and the Road to Net Zero first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In this episode we partnered with WSP to tell the story of Looe, a fishing port in Cornwall. The small town has the dubious accolade of ‘most flooded place in England’, and without intervention, the situation will get much worse.  With sea levels rising by as much as a metre over the next century, and...

The post #92 The Most Flooded Town In England first appeared on Engineering Matters.

With the weight of the built environment exceeding that of the total biomass for the first time, the human impact on the planet has passed a symbolic but significant milestone. What we do matters, and such a society needs to be run as effectively as possible. Every year the World Economic Forum publishes its Global...

The post #91 Global Risks and Shapeshifting Infrastructure first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The data quality in the planning and development sector is appalling. Whether supplied in this form accidentally, negligently, or recklessly does not matter – much of it is wrong. Yet over the years, this data has been used to form some of our most important decisions for the built environment. Now a new system will...

The post #90 The New Way to Plan a City first appeared on Engineering Matters.

A revolution is happening in the UK, and it is happening quietly. Inspired by the Copenhagen Bicycle Account, Bike Life is the biggest assessment of cycling in cities and urban areas across the UK and Ireland. Started in Birmingham, but now in 12 cities across the country, Bike Life has informed policy decisions, justified investment...

The post #89 Blue Lanes in the Black Country first appeared on Engineering Matters.

It is tree planting season in the UK. With their amazing carbon storage ability, flood alleviation capacity and biodiversity boosting potential, trees are fast becoming a critical part of plans to reduce net carbon emissions and mitigate against global warming. But with only 13 percent tree cover the UK lags behind Europe when it comes...

The post #88 Engineering Trees first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Welcome to the very last Engineering Matters of 2020!  In this episode we go back to some of the biggest stories that we covered over the past year and find out what happened next.  We also give listeners a peak behind the curtain at how we put the episodes together and introduce you to some...

The post #87 So That Was 2020 first appeared on Engineering Matters.

With a £100bn capital spending plan, the biggest ever investment in new transport infrastructure and a ten-point plan for climate change, the UK is determined to build its way to post COVID19 economic recovery. The bad news is that major projects have a terrible track record for not being built on time and going over...

The post #86 Enterprise Delivery: A Model for Recovery first appeared on Engineering Matters.