The Engineers Collective

As the London’s iconic Shard skyscraper, which is the UK’s tallest building at 309.6m, gets ready to mark the 10th anniversary of its opening on 1 February, this episode catches up with Flan McNamara who led the construction project for Sellar Property Group.

As well as exploring the logistical challenges of bringing the architectural design of Renzo Piano and the engineering work of WSP to life, Flan and NCE editor Claire Smith talk about lessons learned during the life of the project.

Flan talks about how digital technology evolved during the lifespan of the Shard Quarter project, which transformed both the skyline around London Bridge station and was integral to the modernisation of the station itself. He talks about BIM being in its infancy when the Shard itself was conceived and the potential benefits such technology could bring to the project if it was starting today.

Flan also discusses the pace of change that saw a huge leap forward in the technology used to deliver the buildings surrounding the Shard that came later in the programme. However, he believes that the industry needs to go further and faster with adopting digital twin technology to really drive construction efficiency and productivity.

Flan and Claire conclude the conversation by considering what the tall buildings sector might look like in another 10 years when the Shard marks its 20th anniversary. Flan believes that it is only airport flight paths holding London back from another building taking the Shard’s record but whatever the height of future tall buildings, he thinks that mixed use developments are the key to success both for the climate and commercially.

The Engineers Collective is powered by Bentley Systems. Around the world, engineers and architects, constructors and owner-operators are using Bentley’s software solutions to accelerate project delivery and improve asset performance for transportation infrastructure that sustains our economy and our environment. Together, we are advancing infrastructure.

Find out more at www.bentley.com

NCE editor Claire Smith is joined by deputy editor Rob Horgan and acting news editor Catherine Moore, for the final episode of the year.

The trio cast their minds back over the past 12 months, recapping the biggest and most popular news stories of 2022.

Taking a look at the top five most read stories on NCE’s website, the trio start their recap by re-exploring the proposed switch to imperial measurements so heavily opposed by NCE readers and engineers earlier this year.

Other popular stories discussed on the podcast include a proposed £2bn tidal barrage, the collapse of a timber bridge in Norway and rising costs on HS2’s Euston station proposal.

The trio then recap their favourite site visits of the year with trips to Germany and Scotland to see major infrastructure projects fondly remembered as well as a trip to the Silvertown Tunnel site in London.

Before wrapping for the last time this year, the Engineers Collective team looks forward to 2023 and discusses the important milestones coming in the next year.

The Engineers Collective is powered by Bentley Systems. Around the world, engineers and architects, constructors and owner-operators are using Bentley’s software solutions to accelerate project delivery and improve asset performance for transportation infrastructure that sustains our economy and our environment. Together, we are advancing infrastructure.

Find out more at www.bentley.com

With the ink barely dried on the agreements drawn up at COP27 in Egypt, this episode looks at the need for civil engineers to work more closely with the financial industry to delivery on the commitments made at COP.

NCE editor Claire Smith is joined by Mott MacDonald decarbonisation discipline lead Mark Crouch to talk through the challenge and the drivers behind a report published by the Institution of Civil Engineers at COP27 on Financing Low Carbon Infrastructure.

After exploring what was agreed at COP27 and what it means for civil engineers, Mark and Claire talk about what civil engineers need to know about low-carbon financing models in order to get funding for their schemes. The pair look at the current relationship between the two sectors and the obstacles that exist to building better understanding, as well as the opportunities that exist if these barriers can be overcome.

Listen in to learn more about the report, the industry reaction to it and what Mark and his co-authors plan to do next in order to improve funding for low carbon, resilient infrastructure.

The Engineers Collective is powered by Bentley Systems. Around the world, engineers and architects, constructors and owner-operators are using Bentley’s software solutions to accelerate project delivery and improve asset performance for transportation infrastructure that sustains our economy and our environment. Together, we are advancing infrastructure.

Find out more at www.bentley.com

This episode of The Engineers Collective podcast explores the barriers to adopting digital technology in construction and how they can be overcome.

Joining NCE deputy editor Rob Horgan is Helen Samuels from EKFB and Alex Wraight from Allies and Morrison.

Helen is a chartered civil engineer with a masters in environmental management and a fellow of the ICE. She has served as industry advisor for Plymouth, Cardiff and UCL universities, and was working group chair and report author of a review of infrastructure governance, as part of a wider review of asset safety post Grenfell. She is currently Managing Director for EKFB, delivery an 80km stretch of the HS2 civils programme, with former roles including Managing Director at CH2M Hill (now part of Jacobs), and Engineering Director for United Utilities and Network Rail.

Meanwhile, Alex is an experienced architect. Alex has been at Allies and Morrison for 22 years and a Partner since 2015, leading on a variety of complex projects in the public eye. A champion for technical excellence, Alex is also an active member of the British Council of Offices (BCO) and sat on the Technical Affairs Committee that produced the 2009 Guide to Specification. He is also a board member for Better Bankside and sits on the St Albans and Watford Design Review Panels.

Alex and Helen were recently involved in judging the British Construction Industry Awards and during the podcast, they look at the common problems and issues that they saw during the judging process in terms of adoption and implementation of digital technology in construction.

While celebrating innovation within the industry, the pair highlight barriers around data sharing and explore how the industry can move away from working in siloes and towards a common set of goals.

The Engineers Collective is powered by Bentley Systems. Around the world, engineers and architects, constructors and owner-operators are using Bentley’s software solutions to accelerate project delivery and improve asset performance for transportation infrastructure that sustains our economy and our environment. Together, we are advancing infrastructure.

Find out more at www.bentley.com

Concept design of a timber high rise building in Oslo is attracting both awards and attention globally for its sustainable regeneration potential, even without firm plans to put the proposal into construction.

The masterminds behind the Regenerative Highrise scheme are Haptic Architects director Tomas Stokke and Ramboll director Ollie Wildman who join NCE editor Claire Smith to talk through the new approach and how other projects are looking to copy the idea.

Both Tomas and Ollie call for greater consideration of the ability of tall buildings – in the right place – as a means to meet urbanisation without creating urban sprawl. They both suggest that cities need to consider vertical masterplanning in the same way they create horizontal masterplans but they also believe new buildings need to more carefully plan for future use.

The Oslo project, which recently won the Tall Building category at NCE’s sister title Architectural Review’s Future Projects Awards, is a concept to regenerate a socially challenging site in central Oslo. Ollie describes it as a concept to create conversation. As well as addressing the site’s existing issues, the future-proofed design aims to create a building that can be adapted to meet future needs rather than being demolished and rebuilt after a few decades. The structure also features a range of materials, including major use of timber.

Tomas talks about the need to focus on the ground floor interaction with the surrounding area in order to deliver on regeneration, explaining that we can’t look at buildings in isolation and calls for them to be considered in context of the local environment. The Oslo design features three “ground floor levels” – one facing onto a road viaduct, another onto a river frontage and the third connects with public transport links.

Ollie then goes onto explain the structural design that allows for floor heights and layouts to be changed in the future to adapt to changing needs over the building’s lifespan. In doing so he calls for more focus on creating space and less on designing buildings. “Without a single end use in mind, it becomes about creating space,” he said.

Pandemic restrictions brought working from home to the lives of many, which worked well for office-based roles, but what about those on site? This episode of The Engineers Collective podcast explores a major industry trial of flexible working practices by leading contractors in the UK.

“During the first lockdown many sites shut down for a few weeks but workers soon returned with social distancing precautions in place,” said NCE editor Claire Smith, who hosts the latest episode. “That could have meant back to business as usual for contractors, however, there were a group of businesses – Bam, Skanska and Willmott Dixon – that used the situation as an opportunity to try to do things differently and worked To listen to the podcast click here and then read the Construction Pioneers Programme report to learn how you could bring the same benefits to your sites.

With the UK’s ‘levelling up’ agenda in full swing, the latest episode of The Engineers Collective looks at how one region is taking a different approach to regeneration.

Joining NCE head of content and engagement Rob Horgan on the episode is Krishanthi Carfrae, Arup’s lead Cities Advisory and Economics associate across the North West and Yorkshire.

The episode focusses on Opportunity Humber; a new cross-Humber private sector-led partnership established to drive greater investment in the region which benefits all areas along the Humber.

Krishanthi explains how Opportunity Humber was devised and runs listeners through the scheme’s objectives.

She gives an insight into the particular challenges and opportunities in the region and explains why other regions are looking closely at emulating the Opportunity Humber model.

Still in its early days, Krishanthi looks forward to the types of schemes that the Opportunity Humber backers will be looking to support, with energy identified as a key area of growth.

Fast paced development of electronics technology over the last decade has enable wireless sensors to go from being unproven but innovative solutions for monitoring complex engineering projects to become the go-to option for many schemes.

The benefits for project delivery and reduced risk that this evolution in sensor technology is explored in this episode, which is sponsored by Farnell Electronics.

NCE editor Claire Smith is joined by Bryn Smith, who is chief technical officer with wireless condition monitoring systems and technology firm Senceive, to discuss the change and look ahead to what technology advancements are expected in the future.

Bryn starts by using one of Senceive’s first projects, which involved work on Bond Steet tube station for Costain and Laing O’Rourke, to demonstrate how the technology has changed in the last 10 years. He explains how the limitations of the solutions used on that scheme have been overcome and the benefits the technology can now deliver on current projects.

While advances in electronics has enabled more rapid reporting and longer battery life to improve the quality of the data collected, Bryn said that there are still misconceptions about sensor technology.

As NCE marks it’s 50th anniversary this year, Claire asks Bryn to make some predictions about what sensor technology will look like in another 50 years from now. Listen to the podcast to find out what he thinks is in store for the industry and the opportunities this will present to major project delivery in 2072.

This episode is sponsored by Farnell.

Farnell is a global electronics and industrial solution provider, part of the Avnet group. We deliver products, services, and solutions to thousands of customers around the world who focus on electronic system design, manufacturing, industrial environments, as well as across maintenance and repair sectors. We offer a portfolio of close to 1 million products from thousands of world-leading supplier brands. Engineers come to us at any and every stage of their process, as we are well equipped to offer support with the products they need as well as adding value.

Farnell carry a vast product portfolio of around 80,000 industrial products to support customers in their Industrial Automation journey – all available for fast delivery. We are well placed to offer support across multiple leading supplier brands such as Omega, Schneider, Eaton, ABB, Omron, Siemens, Festo, Mitsubishi, and Phoenix Contact. Our Industrial Automation & Control Hub provides access to a wide range of technical resources to facilitate factory floor design and upgrade of existing systems.

Find out more at uk.farnell.com

Making more women aware of the opportunities a career in construction can offer is critical to attracting more people into the sector and resolving the ongoing skills crisis the industry faces.

In this episode of The Engineers Collective, NCE editor Claire Smith speaks to Willmott Dixon construction manager Lianne Lawson and Mott MacDonald development manager for energy Clare Rhodes James about their experiences coming into the sector as women as the industry prepared to mark International Women in Engineering Day last week.

The three start by discussing how they each came to study engineering and construction and the issues they experienced with people either being firmly behind them or trying to discourage them from that career path.

The group consider how the sector has changed for young women coming into it now compared to when they were early in their careers. They mostly see positive change but believe that more needs to be done to ensure school children understand the opportunities and have the chance to choose construction rather than being guided down other career paths.

Claire referenced her recent interview with Women’s Engineering Society CEO Elizabeth Donnelly on the need for more engineering role models in society. Elizabeth told Claire that the general public still don’t see engineers in the way they do doctors or lawyers. “Elizabeth said that you see doctors and lawyers portrayed on television and in fiction, but engineering only has visibility in documentary formats,” explained Claire. “As a result she says that most women who come into the engineering profession already have family or a family friend in the industry, which is why International Women in Engineering Day is so important.”

Clare and Lianne agreed that greater outreach was needed and that gender parity in the construction sector was possible, in time, particularly with an emphasis that working in construction does not always mean being on site and wearing PPE.

The Engineers Collective is powered by Bentley Systems. Around the world, engineers and architects, constructors and owner-operators are using Bentley’s software solutions to accelerate project delivery and improve asset performance for transportation infrastructure that sustains our economy and our environment. Together, we are advancing infrastructure.

Find out more at www.bentley.com

Growing use of 3D printing for concrete structures, metal bridges and composite forms by the construction industry is discussed in this episode, which is sponsored by Farnell Electronics.

NCE editor Claire Smith and senior reporter Catherine Kennedy are joined by Bam Nuttall head of innovation Colin Evison to chart how 3D printing first started to influence the civil engineering sector, where the industry is now and what opportunities lie ahead.

Colin shares his experience of working with 3D printed concrete structures on projects with clients like the Environment Agency and talks about the opportunity it presents for engineers to tap into their creative side as they work outside of existing design codes.

Claire and Catherine discuss the construction risks that come with using innovative technology with Colin, along with the potential 3D printing offers to reaching carbon net zero. Colin also shares some lessons learned around where 3D printing techniques work best and some considerations when planning to use such methods.

While Colin doesn’t believe 3D printing will solve every construction problem, he does expect its used to grow in the next decade.

This episode is sponsored by Farnell.

Farnell is a global electronics and industrial solution provider, part of the Avnet group. We deliver products, services, and solutions to thousands of customers around the world who focus on electronic system design, manufacturing, industrial environments, as well as across maintenance and repair sectors. We offer a portfolio of close to 1 million products from thousands of world-leading supplier brands. Engineers come to us at any and every stage of their process, as we are well equipped to offer support with the products they need as well as adding value.

Farnell carry a vast product portfolio of around 80,000 industrial products to support customers in their Industrial Automation journey – all available for fast delivery. We are well placed to offer support across multiple leading supplier brands such as Omega, Schneider, Eaton, ABB, Omron, Siemens, Festo, Mitsubishi, and Phoenix Contact. Our Industrial Automation & Control Hub provides access to a wide range of technical resources to facilitate factory floor design and upgrade of existing systems.

Find out more at uk.farnell.com