In this episode we tackle the evolving challenges of managing infrastructure investment risk in a rapidly changing world.

As systemic threats like climate change, population growth and social inequality intensify, infrastructure funding models centred on individual assets, on clearly defined risks, and on relatively predictable climate conditions are reaching their limit. 

In short, if we are to continue to attract private sector cash to underpin investment in our vital public assets, we need new thinking.

My guest today is doing that thinking and helping to take the necessary action. 

Donna Lopata is senior manager for corporate engagement at the Sydney based Investor Group on Climate Change and has just been working with the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney on some ground-breaking research into Systems Stewardship, a radical new way for infrastructure investors to approach the management of risk in this changing world.

Donna’s work caught my attention at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Melbourne. In her presentation she pointed out that the Australian infrastructure investment industry is waking up to a stark reality: if the overarching economic and environmental systems fail, no individual portfolio is safe.

However, the IGCC’s report: Systems Stewardship: Managing Interconnected Climate Risks for Lasting Value suggest that a fundamental shift is already underway. Yet while some 85% of investment professionals now apply "systems thinking," a significant implementation gap remains, hampering the transition from high-level belief statements to concrete action.

Bridging this gap requires rethinking everything from procurement and carbon assessment to the very fundamental of assessing risk. 

Resources

• Investor Group on Climate Change
• The Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney
• Systems Stewardship: Managing Interconnected Climate Risks for Lasting Value 
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne 2026
• Donna Lopata Linked In

In this episode we are talking about water sector reform with Mark Thurston, chief executive of Anglian Water, arguably one of the most progressive and innovative water companies in the UK.

Not without its problems and critics of course, but Anglian is certainly one water company that has really taken on the challenge to work with its supply chain to boost infrastructure productivity and cut out carbon. 

Mark joined Anglian in July 2024 having previously spent nearly seven years at the helm of the challenging and controversial HS2 project – the subject of our last conversation for the Podcast when he joined me back in 2023 for Episode 5. 

No question, it’s a challenging time for the water sector. After years of public anger over sewage spills, service failures and rising bills, the water industry in England and Wales is facing a once-in-a-generation reckoning.

That moment crystallised last summer with the final report of the Independent Water Commission, chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe. This pulled no punches and in it 88 recommendations called for sweeping reform: replacing Ofwat with a single integrated regulator, creating regional water planning authorities, mandating water metering, and embedding a new “public benefit” duty into company licences.

At the same time, Ofwat’s latest price review has demanded a step-change in asset renewal, resilience to climate change, and service performance - all while keeping water affordable and the sector investable. The stakes could hardly be higher. 

Without action, the country faces a potential shortfall of around a third of today’s public water supply by 2050. Right now, Anglian is responding with plans to deliver new reservoirs in Lincolnshire and the Cambridgeshire Fens, and battling to unlock delivery without compromising environmental protection or public trust.

So Mark finds himself once again at the heart of the infrastructure challenge. But his background perhaps brings rare experience of leading mega-projects under intense public and political scrutiny - experience that I’d say the water sector urgently needs right now. 

So let’s explore those challenges.

Resources

• Anglian Water website
• Anglian Water annual performance report 2025
• Independent Water Commission - Cunliffe Review
• Ofwat's AMP8 final determination 
• Anglian Water's Business Plan for AMP8
• HS2 website

In this episode of the podcast we are explore the way the UK Armed Services has been radically upping its game in terms of the support, promotion and development of professional engineering careers. 

To do this, I'm joined today by Squadron Leader David Littlemore from the Royal Air Force, currently executive officer infrastructure at Cyber and Specialist Operations Command. 

David is also fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in fact, the only chartered civil engineer in the RAF, and I'd say that he is also a passionate advocate for merging the best of military and civilian engineering training to create complete and capable professional engineers fit for the future. 

David’s engineering career journey was unorthodox. He started straight from school, aged 16, working in a bridge design office, where he progressed through ONC and then HNC studies before gaining a degree in Civil Engineering at Durham University. He then switched to the military by being commissioning into the Royal Air Force in 2008. 

Since then his career has bridged the gap between civilian consultancy and high-stakes military infrastructure, tackling work across the UK and from the South Atlantic to the Middle East.

And today, as a Chartered Civil Engineer, he is certainly testament to the "long winding road" of modern professional engineering careers. 

Beyond his technical expertise in project management and infrastructure delivery, he mentors young technicians and engineers and is committed to helping the next generation understand the profound value of professional recognition, and what it takes to build a career.

Resources

• RAF Cyber and Specialist Operations Command
• RAF professional engineering careers
• David Littlemore Linked In
• ICE routes to membership
• ICE Council
• QUEST scholarships

In this episode we dive into the infrastructure sector’s journey towards digitisation, decarbonisation and modernisation – a journey which to be honest, seems like one that we have been on for some time.

To do this, my guest is Mark Coates, Vice President of Infrastructure Policy Advancement at software giant Bentley Systems and the guiding mind behind TIP, the Transforming Infrastructure Performance global Summit initiative, the latest iteration of which was held last month in Melbourne.

Full disclosure – from the earliest days TIP back in 2022, I have been working with Mark to deliver the summits – in London, Manchester, Singapore, Toronto, New York and, as I say, most recently Melbourne. And it’s fair to say that, throughout this global journey, we have seen many common failings across the delivery chain but also, thankfully, identified a huge number of positive lessons to be shared.

One thing that is clear is that “business as usual”,  the "old way" of delivering projects - siloed data, stagnant productivity, and resource-heavy construction – is broken.

Hence the need for a Transformation of Infrastructure Performance. Born from a UK government initiative and now championed by the National Infrastructure Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) alongside partners like Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers, TIP has evolved from a local policy framework into a worldwide movement aimed at repairing this broken model. It’s goal is to help governments around the world to find better ways to deliver the infrastructure needed to support their communities.

So let’s hear more – what does the roadmap look like for a future where infrastructure truly performs for people and the planet?

Resources

• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne
• UK government 10 year Infrastructure Strategy
• Mark Coates Linked In
• Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2025
• Australian Infrastructure Investment Monitor
• Bentley Systems website
• Construction Leadership Council

In this week's episode we take a deep dive into the global infrastructure investment market as I chat to Jon Phillips, chief executive of GIIA, the Global Infrastructure Investors Association.

The Association represents the world's foremost institutional investors who together manage over US$2.2 trillion in infrastructure assets across 68 countries. And as we stand in 2026, the landscape for private capital has never been more complex. 

The podcast is being recorded during the latest Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by software giant Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers in Melbourne so gives us an opportunity to also explore how the infrastructure market is fairing on this side of the world and the pressures, challenges and opportunities that clients and investors face in the Australian and South East Asian market.

While globally 2025 saw record-breaking fundraising, the industry is grappling with a fascinating paradox: a massive hunger for "bankable" projects set against a backdrop of geopolitical shifts, from the evolving impact of the Trump administration to the cooling of the AI-driven digital infrastructure boom.

Jon’s career spans the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to Heathrow, and nearly a decade at the helm of GIIA, where he now sits at the intersection of policy, delivery, and capital. 

Which makes him the perfect person to give us a quick update on the global infrastructure investment market. 

Resources

• The Global Infrastructure Investors Association
• GIIA’s latest Infrastructure Pulse survey 
• Jon Phillips Linked In
• Australian Infrastructure Investment Monitor
• Victoria State infrastructure strategy
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne

In this week's episode we return to the New Hospital Programme - still one of the most ambitious public infrastructure programmes the UK has seen in decades. 

The last time I was in NHP’s Waterloo office in London was for episode 143 just before Christmas. Then I spoke to Emily King and Doug Baldock about the scale and urgency of the challenge to replace ageing and unsafe hospital infrastructure, and the shift towards industrialised construction through the £37bn Hospital 2.0 programme.

Today, we’re going deeper into the “how”. 

Because £37 billion of ambition only becomes reality if the market can actually deliver it.

To do that I am joined by Emma Whigham, Alliance Director for the NHP Alliance, and Rick Lennard, Chief Operating Officer for the New Hospital Programme. Together, they’re at the sharp end of designing and procuring the Hospital 2.0 Alliance - the new commercial and delivery model intended to underpin the programme for the next 12 years.

This is about more than building hospitals. It’s about reshaping how the NHS works with industry, creating a stable pipeline that gives suppliers the confidence to invest in skills, manufacturing capacity and modern methods of construction. 

It’s about standardisation without stifling innovation. And it’s about learning from decades of fragmented delivery to create something more programmatic, predictable and collaborative.

So let’s crack on and explore how the Alliance is structured, what early market engagement has changed, where the market pushback really is - or is likely to be. 

Resources

• New Hospital Programme: Plan for Implementation
• Government hospital investment press release 
• Hospital 2.0 Alliance
• Supplier Guide.
• Egan review 1998
• Latham review 1994

This week's special 151st episode was recorded in front of a live audience at last year’s brilliant Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers in Toronto Canada.

In fact, right about the time this episode is published I will be in Melbourne helping the team to deliver the next event in this TIP series – so look out for podcast flowing out of that!

Back to this episode and my guest is Peter Weltman, Vice Chair of the Canada Infrastructure Council, Director at consultant Technomics and until 2023, Financial Accountability Officer for Ontario.

We discuss the critical issue of Housing-Enabling Infrastructure and its impact on the future of Canada’s Communities – and in particular the work being done to help Canada respond to its growing housing challenge,. 

Because Canada’s housing challenge is not just about bricks and mortar - it’s about the infrastructure that makes communities liveable, sustainable, and connected. Roads, transit, water systems, energy grids, digital networks, and social infrastructure all form the backbone that enables housing to be built, scaled, and supported over the long term. 

Without this foundation, new homes risk becoming isolated developments rather than thriving communities.

As population growth accelerates, climate shocks intensify, and affordability pressures mount, the question is not whether Canada needs more homes, but whether we can deliver the enabling infrastructure at the speed and scale required. 

That means moving beyond fragmented planning toward coordinated investment, smarter regulation, and nation-building programs that unlock land and create confidence for both communities and private investors. The creation of the new Major Projects Office (MPO) should help by creating a single point of contact to get projects built faster – the question is how - and what needs to change first.

The Council is at the heart of shaping Canada’s infrastructure ambitions – we’ll hear how later on – and has just produced its first National Infrastructure Assessment report which I reckon will provide essential reading for all.

So lots to chat through, and I kicked off by asking why is infrastructure so critical to solving Canada’s housing challenge. 

Resources

• Canadian Infrastructure Council
• CIC National Infrastructure Assessment report - Building Foundations for Tomorrow:
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Toronto Summit
• Technomics website

This week's podcast celebrates the 150th episode by delving into one of the most urgent and complex issues that continues to challenge the UK construction sector – namely the critical shortage of skilled workers.

As we know, government plans to invest public and private funds worth over £725 billion in infrastructure over the next decade or so. That will decarbonise and secure our energy systems, reboot the nation’s transport networks, protect the environment, build 1.5 million new homes and retrofit some five million more.

The scale of ambition is enormous. But none of it can happen without the people needed to deliver it. 

And that’s where the newly launched Construction Skills Mission Board comes in – bringing together senior industry leaders, educators, training bodies, government ministers and unions to ensure the sector can recruit, train and retain the workforce it needs to meet the demands of the decade ahead.

My guest today is Mark Reynolds, Chair of the Construction Leadership Council, Executive Chair of constriction giant Mace and also Chair of this new Construction Skills Mission Board. 

Mark helped CLC to establish the board as a way to support the Government’s commitment to invest an additional £625 million in construction skills. And its inaugural meeting late last year was described as a pivotal moment that signalled a new level of urgency, coordination and commitment to solving one of construction’s greatest long-term challenges.

The goal is clear: to develop and drive a national strategy capable of recruiting an extra 100,000 workers each year. The focus is on five key levers: boosting employer confidence to invest, building clear entry pathways, improving access to training, ensuring effective funding and creating reliable, rewarding career structures.

So big ambitions but what’s next? Let hear more…

Resources

• Construction Skills Mission Board
• Construction Leadership Council
• Mace website
• Mace Group announces majority investment in Mace Consult from Goldman Sachs Alternatives
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance

In this week's episode we are seeking a new year parliamentary progress update to discover how 18 months of government infrastructure ambition is actually being turned into real economic and social growth potential. 

To help me with this I am joined once again by Mike Reader, MP for Northampton South, the newly re-elected chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure and Construction. 

And, of course, as we heard in his first visit to the Infrastructure Podcast a year ago, before he was elected to parliament in July 2024, Mike was a director at construction giant Mace.

Well it is certainly an interesting moment for the sector. The UK entered the new year with infrastructure right at the centre of its growth strategy. Ministers are clear that better transport, energy, housing and digital networks are essential if we are to unlock regional productivity, raise living standards and support the transition to Net Zero. 

As we have heard in so many episodes of the podcast, large projects are already under way - from new nuclear capacity and grid upgrades to major transport links and hospital programmes. And the pipeline is real and ready.

But the real test now is whether long-promised ambition can be converted into delivery, economic value, and public confidence.

At the same time, familiar structural challenges persist. Slow planning, skills shortages, fragmented procurement, high costs and stubbornly low productivity continue to constrain output. The housing crisis remains acute, energy infrastructure is racing against time, and the UK’s ageing assets demand smarter stewardship, not just new concrete. 

Meanwhile technology, data and AI offer huge potential, but meaningful adoption depends on a stable pipeline and the right capability in the workforce.

So let’s get a progress update from the heart of power and explore whether government is actually now doing enough to provide long-term certainty, mobilise private investment, modernise delivery, and turn infrastructure ambition into real social and economic outcomes. 

Resources

• Mike Reader MP website
• All Party Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure 
• Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
• Construction Leadership Council
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance
• Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development Committee 

In this week's podcast we’re talking about the tricky challenge of safely managing and disposing of the UK’s expanding stock of nuclear waste. Creating a Geological Disposal Facility.

For more than 70 years, the UK has benefited from nuclear technology - generating low-carbon electricity, advancing medicine, supporting industry, and contributing to national defence. 

Alongside those benefits comes responsibility. 

Because the most hazardous radioactive wastes produced over those decades will remain radioactive for many thousands of years.

And while they are currently stored safely at a number of surface facilities across the country, - as we heard on the podcast in episode 126 last year – those stores require ongoing monitoring, management, and periodic rebuilding. They are secure for the short to medium term - but they are not permanent solutions.

My guests today are tackling that very issue. Malcolm Orford is Head of major permissions and Neil Hyatt, chief scientific advisor at Nuclear Waste Services who are leading the hugely ambitious and challenging project to develop a Geological Disposal Facility for long term disposal of this waste.. 

As we will hear, it is one of the largest environmental protection programmes in its history: a deep underground facility, between 200 and 1,000 metres below ground, designed to isolate higher-activity radioactive waste within engineered vaults and rock formations, using a multi-barrier system to keep it safely contained long after today’s institutions no longer exist.

Nuclear Waste Services is leading this programme on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Its dual challenge is to find a suitable geological site and identify a willing host community in which to embed the facility. 

Progress is being made with community partnerships established in Cumbria, alongside extensive scientific evaluation, engineering studies, and international collaboration. But it all comes at a huge cost over vast timescales and in often uncharted technical grounds.

Resources

• Nuclear Waste Services
• The Geological Disposal Facility
• Video explaining the challenge
• Community engagement
• GDF benefits