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

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

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 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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