In today's podcast we are talking about digital twins and the challenge of digitalising the infrastructure sector in our bid to increase efficiency and boost outcomes from every pound of investment. 

There is certainly no shortage of talk nowadays about transforming productivity and the way that the use of digital technology and data can help improve the sector. And to date, the the focus has been largely on improving our design and delivery functions – using tools to draw, design, plan analyse, collaborate and share information more effectively.

But in truth, and ever since we embraced the mandared use of Building Information Modelling on public projects in 2016, we have known deep down, that the bigger prize lies in digitising and boosting performance of the whole infrastructure system while in operation. 

Which is where the use of digital twins comes in. Enabling us to connect the physical world with the digital world; generating insights that drive decisions and interventions to help improve performance in the real world. 

And creating a National Digital Twin could enable better management and integration across the entire - and varied - built and natural environment ecosystem – reducing cost, carbon and improving those vital outcomes for citizens. 

This bold concept was core to the work of the Cambridge University supported Centre for Digital Built Britain in 2017, which morphed into various other programmes when it closed its doors after 5 years in 2022. 

One of those initiatives is now known as the National Digital Twin Programmeand run under the Department for Business and Trade.

It is therefore my pleasure to be joined on the podcast today by Alex Luck, Head of the National Digital Twin Programme to update us on progress. 

Alex has been riding the digital wave throughout this time and so, I reckon will be well placed to explain where we have been, where we have got to and more importantly where she sees us heading in the future of infrastructure digitalisation.

Resources
The National Digital Twin Programme
Centre for Digital Built Britain legacy site
Data for Public Good
Transforming Infrastructure Performance
Building Information Modelling explained

In today's podcast we delve into the complex world or railway ticketing.

I say complex but what I really mean is complicated, confusing, and frustrating. Who hasn’t spent time pondering over the multitude of options thrust upon us when buying a rail ticket and mulled over the permutations and consequences of advanced, off peak, super off peak day return, open return…. 

Who hasn’t spent time on their journey wondering “is my ticket actually valid?”

Who hasn’t then wondered “why is buying a rail ticket so blooming difficult!?

Well, thankfully, the Railway Industry Association certainly has. In fact, its new report Destination: Revenue Growth highlights research finding that “complexity proved to be the biggest issue in train travel, with a fifth of travellers (20%) unable to find the cheapest ticket for their journey and 58% believing there are simply too many ticket options.”

It is an issue that the rail sector has to tackle if it is going to both entice more customers onto the railway and collect the revenue along the way.

Not least given that the future – the present actually - is one of digital no-ticketing. The digital world is already transforming ticketing in every part of the transport and service sector and frankly, rail has to get on board. Fast.

But how? Well joining me on the podcast today is Milda Manomaityte, Innovation Director at the Railway Industry Association and the co-author of this report. So I suppose, having been immersed in this knotty issue for quite some time, she should know the answer! Let’s hear!

Resources
Railway Industry Association website
RIA - Destination: Revenue Growth report
RIA - Data and Digital Technologies in Rail
Great British Railways Transition Team
Shapps-Williams review
Draft Rail Reform Bill

In this podcast  we ask what, if anything, UK construction can learn from the automotive sector.

A quarter of a century ago, Sir John Egan’s Review of the industry drew on the successes and lessons from car manufacturing as a guide for how the construction sector might be transformed. 

Rethinking Construction highlighted the use of standardisation, computer aided design, lean production methods, investment in innovation and technology, a focus on productivity, training and quality outcomes. All were designed to take the industry away from the era of bespoke one-off projects towards one of systemised improvement and better products.

And while there have certainly been some significant changes over the last 25 years -  for example, the mandated use of the Building Information Modelling on public project since 2016, or the much greater focus on training and safety across the sector,- 

But the reality is that we haven’t seen the kind of advances that were perhaps predicted and demanded as core to getting more and better outcomes for the vast amounts of public an private money invested each year.

Why not? Well many reasons but one argument is always that, unlike car manufacturing, construction always deals with bespoke unique products. Attempting to follow automotive’s example, we are told, is just not possible, practical or desirable.

So what’s the myth and what the reality. Can infrastructure still learn from automotive.?

Well to find out it is a huge pleasure to welcome Chetan Kotur to the podcast today. Chetun is Head of Technology and Innovation for Europe at Laing O’Rourke, arguably the most forward thinking contractor at work today. 

It’s a role that he has held for the last 18 months or so having spent the first 10 years of his already distinguished engineering career in the automotive sector with Volvo and most recently with the electric vehicle brand Polestar. So I suppose he should know!

Resources
Laing O'Rourke website
Hinkley Point C
Everton Stadium
Constructing the Team - Latham Review
Rethinking Construction - Egan Review
Polestar

In today’s podcast we will be finding out just how much we still have to do as nation and as a planet to hit our net zero carbon emission targets and really start to reverse the clearly catastrophic impacts of a changing climate.

My guest today is the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore, former MP for Kingswood in South Gloucestershire and the man who, as interim Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth in 2019, signed into law the UK’s legally binding target of hitting net zero emissions by 2050. 

He has held a number of government roles in his parliamentary career – notably Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation and then for Health under Boris Johnson, but returned to the backbenches in 2020.

It was from there that he authored the well-thumbed Mission Zero review of government's net-zero strategy – a hard hitting tome that it’s fair to say wasn’t entirely well received by those in charge of the strategy.

Chris resigned as an MP earlier this year in protest at the government’s stance on new offshore petroleum licensing. 

Nowadays he’s very busy championing the net-zero cause and missing few opportunities to get that vital message across

Resources
Mission Zero report
Better Earth’ initiative launched in Edie
Mission Zero Coalition
Building the Future, Lessons for a Buildings Breakthrough report

Today we are talking once again about building circular economies and in particular the role and challenge facing the infrastructure sector as it tackles this issue as part of the journey towards a net zero carbon emission future. 

My guest today has just been nominated for the prestigious Earthshot Prize – a prize launched by Prince William in 2020 to search for and scale the most innovative solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges.

John Twitchen is the founder of Stuff4Life, and has been nominated for his innovative work to tackle and reuse the vast amounts of waste polyester clothing that is typically burnt, landfilled or abandoned each year all around the world………..

Which is interesting but what’s that got to do with infrastructure? 

Well regular listeners will know that last July I talked to sustainability champion Mark Enzer on the podcast about many of the core concepts that inform the built environment’s transition to a circular economy.  Do check that out.

And as we discussed then, there are many definitions of circularity but one is about enabling people and nature to live and grow within our planet’s capacity to provide resources and handle waste.

That means getting the greatest possible value from materials, products, assets and systems already in use in the built environment. 

Which is a definition that certainly works for me today.   Stuff4Lifehas developed a new technique to deconstruct and recycle existing polyester clothes - such as those typically used to make the ubiquitous hi-viz workwear issued and discarded in construction sites – and he is now working to create a new range of work wear that is designed with reuse in mind - and is already being seen on railways and construction sites across the UK.

As his business mantra puts it, John is certainly living in a world of circular action not just words.

Resources
The Earthshot Prize
Stuff4Life
Env23 consultancy
Arco clothing
Team Mind BMX
Association for Consultation and Engagement Professionals

In this podcast  we are talk about road transport and take a quick look into the crystal ball to see what lies around the corner for this vital mode of transport. 

Despite the volume and frequency of discussion about the UK’s approach to public transport – and specifically rail travel which continues to absorb huge amounts of public cash – the reality is that, rightly or wrongly, travel by road remains the overwhelmingly most relied upon mode of transport.

I say rightly or wrongly, because there is a view that, for all the convenience of road travel and the improvements made in design and usage,   our cars, vans and lorries still remain excessively polluting, congesting, expensive and dangerous as a mode of transport. 

Or is that changing? The move towards electric vehicles is certainly creating perhaps the biggest revolution in motoring’s century old history, rethinking the way we approach car travel and prompting a simultaneous revolution in the infrastructure that supports it. 

Add to this the huge improvements we are seeing in engine efficiency, vehicle safety and congestion and pollution busting technology and we have a transport mode which is certainly investing in the future.

Yet much of this investment relies on the largely state-owned highway networks to operate effectively – networks which remains under funded and heavily neglected in comparison to many other sectors and parts of the world. 

So where are we headed with road transport – a new era of personal travel or the highway to hell? 

To find out, and to guide us through the UK’s road transport challenges, my guest today is Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, a long-time observer and driver of UK highways policy and practice, and, in my experience, not someone who normally sits in the hard shoulder of current debate.

Resources:
RAC Foundation website
RAC Foundation data on TVs
DfT's RIS2
National Highways  pipeline of possible future schemes
Ashalt Industry Alliance ALARM survey results 2024
EV charging stats

In today’s podcast we will delve into the knotty and, it seems, unending challenge of controlling and reducing the cost and the time spent delivering our major infrastructure projects. 

As we a constantly reminded by politicians, the public and our colleagues, the track record of global major project delivery is not good. I have referenced the findings of Oxford University professor Bent Flyvbjerg’s book How Big Things Get Done many times on this podcast before – specifically his findings that globally over the last 30 years, just 8.5% of projects met cost and schedule targets while just 0.5% satisfied all benefit goals.

It's a pretty shocking set of findings. And we don’t have to look far in the UK to see evidence – I give you HS2, Hinkley Point C, Crossrail, etc etc. But given that the UK government just published its £800bn pipeline of infrastructure aspiration in the face of an increasing public finance black hole, the pressure is growing to turn this around.

So what is going wrong? Well my guest today is Ali Mafi, an engineer who has spent a career, largely in the shadows, trying to drive change across the sector. In fact he is currently collaborating with Bent Flyvbjerg and Alex Budzier of the Oxford Saïd Business school under their Oxford Global Projects consultancy to try to bring some new thinking to the sector.

And the focus for this work, is the Timist programme, which he founded last year and, as he will explain now I hope, he defines as a next generation project delivery system – a new approach major projects that he reckons could see teams deliver better outcomes in a shorter time and at lower cost than any other systems available.

He believes – as the name of his approach suggests – that most problems really stem from our inability to focus on time. As a result projects lose on average 2.5 days per week which means that the output and productivity is half of what it should be. That’s the diagnosis – so what’s the cure?

Resources
Timist website
The Latham Review - Constructing the Team
The Egan Review - Rethinking Construction
Association for Project Management article on ward rounds

In today's podcast we spend a delightful 30 minutes or so discussing what drives successful careers in engineering and infrastructure.

I say delightful because my guest today is Dervilla Mitchell CBE, deputy chair at world renowned design practice Arup, someone who, over the last few decades, I have never tired of talking to!

As she prepares to step down from the Arup board - a post she’s held for the last ten years - I’m keen to get her take on what drives - and what defines - career success. And perhaps find out what comes next in her own career!

So some background, Dervilla grew up in Dublin. And although her father was an architect, her grandfather and three uncles were engineers so she took their lead and headed into engineering. Having gained a degree in Civil Engineering from University College Dublin in 1980 she started her structural engineering career with Arup in Dublin soon after graduating and later a was awarded a Diploma in Project Management from Trinity College.

Since then, Devilla’s career as a structural engineer and project manager has accelerated and seen her work on an extraordinary number of high profile projects including major airport designs at Heathrow, Dublin and Abu Dhabi, the 2012 Olympics and Portcullis House in Westminster.

It has seen her travel the world and rise up the ranks over the last 44 years to become Deputy Chair on Arup’s main board and the most senior woman in one of the world’s most respected engineering businesses. 

And today she is certainly one of the most influential – and I have to say one of the nicest – people working in infrastructure.

So let’s find out – what does it take to build a successful career in engineering

Resources
Arup website - designing for a better future
Bio and projects
Royal Academy of Engineering
RAE National Engineering Policy Centre
Womens Engineering Society
Engineering Heathrow T5

In today's podcast we talk about design – specifically the need to embed good design at the heart of infrastructure investment.

To help us to unpack and explore this issue my guest today is Harbinder Birdi, architect and founder of the Birdi and Partners practice. 

Loyal listeners may well remember that Harbinder was a guest on the podcast last April, just after he took on a task for the Institution of Civil Engineers to explore the role of infrastructure design champions – a role set out by the 2020 National Infrastructure Strategy and reinforced by the National Infrastructure Commission which said board-level design champions were crucial to gaining better outcomes from our public investment.

So today we can get an update on this work.

Last time we spoke we discussed the power of infrastructure to change lives and reflected on projects such as Crossrail, which has delivered infrastructure that delights and improves the lives of the public. 

Harbinder’s view then was very clear – that every infrastructure professional has to do more than simply play lip-service to the notion that good design matters. It has to be a fundamental driver for every investment decision and be linked implicitly to creating the better social, economic and environment outcomes that flow from investment.

His design champions work has moved on and culminated with a report called “Defining and developing the design champion role” produced for the ICE in October which, amongst other things, states that the creation of legally responsible design champions across all projects is critical to achieving a step change in infrastructure delivery.

So let’s find out more as we welcome Harbinder back to the Infrastructure Podcast.

Resources
Defining and developing the design champion role
National Infrastructure Strategy 2020
National Infrastructure Assessment
Design Principle for National Infrastructure
ICE - What Makes Good Design paper
Transforming Infrastructure Performance -  Roadmap to 2030

It's the first anniversary episode of the Infrastructure Podcast and today we are going to talk about  nuclear power! 

When I first jumped ship from civil engineering to a new life as a journalist with New Civil Engineer 30 years ago, the magazine was gearing up to celebrate the Sizewell B project which was being commissioned as the first of a new breed of UK nuclear power stations - albeit somewhat over-budget.

So my eye was drawn to last month’s announcement by French power firm EdF that the new Hinkley Point C reactor in Somerset – set to be the UK’s only new nuclear power station since 1995 - will now not open before 2029 – possibly not until 2031 - and could see costs climb to perhaps £46bn against an £18bn original budget.

It certainly puts Sizewell B’s project delivery achievements into context, which 30 years ago saw costs inflate by 135% but is now producing around 3% of the UK power needs, having taken a mere seven years to build. 

The good news is that after decades of dithering, the UK government is now firmly behind nuclear power as a key element in our transition away from fossil fuels, with the Energy White Paper of 2020 demanding at least one large-scale nuclear project to reach Final Investment Decision during this Parliament.

Since then public money has been committed to the Sizewell C project, the government’s 2020 10 point plan included a £385 million Advanced Nuclear Fund, its 2021 Net Zero White Paper committed to a new £120m Future Nuclear Enabling Fund; and in July last year we saw the rebirth of Great British Nuclear, a government owned body designed to coordinate the UK nuclear industry renaissance and drive the development of the small modular reactor market.

But as is always with UK nuclear, it all seems to move at a glacial, hugely expensive pace and continues to beg the question – what on earth is going on with our nuclear and energy transition policy? 

Fortunately, I have with me today one the UK’s authorities on the subject, Tim Stone, chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association and more recently a non-exec director on the new Great British Nuclear team, who I am hoping will shed some light.

Tim is speaking with his NIA chairman’s hat on today.

Resources
Great British Nuclear
Nuclear Industry Association
Energy White Paper 2020
The Ten Point Plan 2020
Net Zero Strategy 2021