This week's special episode is a live recording in front of an audience in the newly revamped main gallery at the Building Centre in London. My guest is Baroness Hilary Armstrong of Hill Top, Chair of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods and life-long advocate for communities and regeneration and the conversation explores one of the most important – yet often overlooked – questions in public policy: “how do we reestablish the concept of decent neighbourhoods as a means to renew ...

In this week's episode we focus on New Towns and specifically the government’s on-going ambitions to tackle the UK’s housing crisis through the creation of a new generation of communities across England. Now Britain’s housing crisis is not new — but the scale of the Government’s ambition to tackle it is. With a target to deliver 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament, the focus is turning to how this can be achieved in a way that creates thriving, sustainable communities rather than...

In this week's episode we’re taking a closer look at infrastructure’s use of data – how emerging digital technologies and AI tools are shaping and transforming the way we manage our built and natural environment. To help me I am joined by James Lee, the new Chief Operating Officer at global infrastructure giant Bentley Systems in a quiet corner of the annual Year in Infrastructure tech gathering and celebration in Amsterdam. It is clearly a moment when global infrastructure delivery fa...

In today’s episode we turn our attention to architecture and its role in shaping not just our buildings and infrastructure, but the society, environment and communities that are created by our built environment. To tackle this challenging brief, I am joined this week in a quiet corner of the Building Centre in London by Chris Williamson, internationally renowned architect, founder of Weston Williamson + Partners – the practice that he set up in 1985 - and the freshly installed new President o...

In today's episode we take a close look at the investor’s perspective on the UK’s infrastructure market — and, in particular, what the landmark Final Investment Decision on the new Sizewell C nuclear power station tells us about the appetite, the risks, and the rewards for long-term private capital. Because, following completion of the deal last month, for the first time, the British public will be co-owners of a nuclear power station, sitting alongside a powerful mix of investors including E...

In today's episode we tackle one of the construction sector’s most persistent and costly challenges: productivity. The UK construction industry is under huge pressure as it copes with economic pressures, a shrinking workforce and a pipeline of increasingly complex projects. Creating major infrastructure schemes to transform our energy water and transport systems, tackling a 1.5 million house construction target and the constant battle to renew the aging assets that glue our society toge...

In today's podcast we are talking about bioenergy and specifically looking at how carbon capture and storage is set to transform the technology. The UK’s net zero energy transition is firmly underway and one of the most promising new technologies is Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, or BECCS. By combining the generation of renewable power with the permanent removal of CO₂, BECCS has been described as a “double win” for climate action. At the heart of this opportunity is Evero, the lo...

In today's episode we’re talking about steel — but not in the usual way. My guest, Ben Holmes, is Head of Sustainability at Elliott Wood, the structural and civil engineers behind, amongst many other things, 30 Duke Street, the UK’s largest steel reuse project in which some 78% of steel from the original structure is being repurposed. Ben believes that the current public sector rescue of British Steel presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity — not just to save an industry, but to rei...

In today's podcast we dive into the rapidly evolving world of infrastructure investment — a space that has moved from the periphery of specialist portfolios to the centre of global capital markets. Once the preserve of a relatively narrow group of pension funds and specialist investors, infrastructure has now become a truly universal asset class, attracting sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, private equity houses and retail capital. And it’s an asset class that promises st...

In today's episode we’re diving into cement – a material that underpins every road, every railway, every school, hospital, bridge, and home we build. Because without it, the UK’s infrastructure ambitions would, quite literally, crumble! My guest today is Dr Diana Casey, executive director for cement, energy and climate at the Mineral Products Association (MPA). As she knows only too well, cement may not grab headlines in the way that high-speed rail or offshore wind does, but it is the backbo...

In today's bumper post summer special episode we return to the HS2 project - infrastructure’s poster child for delay and cost overrun – as we discuss the content of a brand new book examining how this project went, as the title suggests, so badly Off the Rails. Few infrastructure projects in British history have generated as much debate and scrutiny as HS2; becoming a lightning rod for wider conversations about the UK’s ability to deliver major infrastructure on time, on budget, and with publ...

In today's episode we revisit the subject of project commissioning - a vital, often underestimated stage of infrastructure delivery. What is commissioning – well in a nutshell it’s the complex process of preparing an asset to operate exactly as intended from day one. So to be clear, it's not testing! And to discuss this we are back with Paul Turner, chief executive of the newly renamed Institute of Commissioning & Assurance. This time last year Paul had just launched what was ...

In this episode we’re focusing on the management of nuclear waste; one of the most complex, long-term, and often misunderstood aspects of the UK’s energy future. Because while nuclear power is increasingly seen as a vital part of the transition to a low-carbon energy system, - and the UK government has just committed tens of billions of public pounds to accelerating its development - the question of what we do with the waste it produces remains both a technical and social challenge. At the he...

In today’s episode we’re diving into one of the most pressing – and controversial – sectors in UK infrastructure: water. Following years of public outrage over pollution, poor service and rising bills, the water industry in England and Wales now faces a once-in-a-generation reckoning. That reckoning arrived this month with the publication of the final report from the Independent Water Commission, chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe. Backed by over 50,000 responses and extensive consultation, th...

In today's podcast we delve into the fast-evolving world of infrastructure investment - an area that has never been more critical to delivering the economic growth, national resilience and transition to a net zero future demanded by the UK government. As we saw in the latest 10 year Infrastructure Strategy and in the Industrial Strategy that sits behind it, public infrastructure underpins the ambitious long-term plans that are set to boost connectivity, create jobs and raise living standards,...

In today’s episode we are focusing on the government’s latest - and long awaited - 10 year infrastructure strategy. Because after decades of underinvestment, fragmented planning, and inconsistent delivery, the government has finally published what is perhaps the most comprehensive and ambitious infrastructure strategy in a generation. Backed by at least £725 billion of public funding over the next decade, the new 10-Year Strategy for Infrastructure aims to chart a long-term path for eco...

In today' podcast we are focusing on the UK’s new nuclear power ambitions and specifically, exploring the Sizewell C project. As I said a few weeks ago on the podcast, it’s perhaps one of the most significant moments for the UK’s nuclear industry in over a generation. Last month, the government announced a multi-billion investment to drive forward this ambition with £14.2 billion committed to accelerate construction of the Sizewell C project. Alongside this comes backing for Small Modular Rea...

Today’s podcast takes a deep dive into High Speed 2 via the recently published Stewart Review, a detailed piece of work which attempts to help government to learn lessons and take stock from this much discussed project. And I’m pleased to say that to help me with this task today I am joined by the report’s author, James Stewart, long-standing infrastructure finance and delivery expert who I know will guide us first hand through his report. A bit of background. As we know, the HS2 projec...

In today’s episode we will focus on the state of public infrastructure in the United States of America. Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers releases what’s been called “the nation’s most important report you’ve probably never heard of” - the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Using a simple A–F grading scale, it assesses the state of everything from roads, bridges, and railways to water systems, schools, broadband, and energy grids. And this year’s Rep...

In today's podcast we’re going to explore the UK government's latest announcement to invest vast sums of public cash in the nuclear industry. The latest spending review included £14.2bn to kickstart the Sizewell C plant and £2.5bn to underpin ongoing research into fusion technology. But crucially, it also outlined plans to pump £2.5bn into Small Modular Reactor development – something that I think is perhaps one of the most ambitious – and transformational announcements in the UK’s energy his...