Engineering Matters

#318 Gaming Out a Career in Nuclear Feb 27, 2025

At a unique hackathon in Manchester, a diverse group of hackers, coders, and gamers gathered to design digital solutions for the nuclear industry, blending innovation, teamwork, and pressure-driven problem-solving.

The event, called HackAFuture, served as a groundbreaking careers initiative, offering the winning team not just bragging rights, but jobs with AtkinsRéalis developing their solution. This was the brainchild of Darren Grears, Director, Head of Digital, Nuclear & Power EMEA at AtkinsRéalis and Sam Stephens, Head of Digital, Nuclear, at AtkinsRéalis. They share insights into what made them want to set up the HackAFuture event and why digital and gaming skills are required in the nuclear industry.

This episode travels through the 24 hours of the hack, from the kick off, to the winner being announced. With insights from judges, organisers and competitors on the HackAFuture event, it gives a glimpse of the future of the nuclear industry.

Guests

Darren Grears, Director, Head of Digital, Nuclear & Power EMEA, AtkinsRéalis
Sam Stephens, Head of Digital, Nuclear, AtkinsRéalis

Candice Long, Digital Solutions Wngineer, AtkinsRéalis

Alexandra Hussenot, Chief Revenue Officer, Igloo Vision

Partner

AtkinsRéalis is a world-leading professional services and project management company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. Employing over 37,000 people across Canada, the US and Latin America, the UK and Ireland, and Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, AtkinsRéalis creates sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems.

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#317 Human Factors, Human Error, and Safety by Design Feb 20, 2025

When we search for causes of accidents, we often assume a binary: either mechanical failure, or human error, were to blame, and we must pick between them. But labelling an accident as caused by human error doesn’t teach us anything. It makes no effort to understand what caused people to make the decisions they did. From aviation and healthcare to energy and defense, understanding how people interact with complex systems is key to improving safety, efficiency, and decision-making.

At the most recent annual Thomas Hawksley lecture, organised by The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Professor Sarah Sharples, the chief scientific advisor to the Department for Transport, opened a discussion titled Humans and Automations – Safety by Design. In this episode, we hear her advice on how to consider the science of human factors in engineered systems.

Mark Young, Professor of Human Factors in Transport, was part of the discussion, and joins the episode to explain how cognitive factors like workload, stress, and situational factors all contribute to humans abilities to make decisions, particularly when under pressure.

As we move into an ever more autonomous world, humans in many sectors are becoming overseers of complex systems. This creates a new paradigm for human factors, not just asking how to get the best performance out of humans in a system, but how to empower people to intervene when a system goes wrong.

Guests

Sarah Sharples, chief scientific advisor, Department for Transport

Mark Young, professor of human factors in transport, University of Southampton, President of Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors

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#316 What Can AI Engineers Learn From Medical Professionals? Feb 13, 2025

AI is evolving so fast it eludes definition. The potential impact of the field is barely understood, even by those working in it. ‘Move-fast-and-break-things’ practitioners are deploying AI systems in autonomous vehicles, in courts, in medical diagnosis, and now even at the heart of the US federal government.

Few of the constraints that govern individual and corporate behaviour are being applied to the field. Large corporations are shaping the sector faster than governments can act. In a society where few have a useful understanding of the technology, neither market signals or social norms can steer how good AI systems are produced, and harms prevented. But experts and institutions are proposing systems that might professionalise the sector, establishing best practices and avoiding harms.

In this episode, Fordham Law School’s Chinmayi Sharma shares her proposal for a ‘Hippocratic Oath for AI’, that could bring the same professional duties to AI developers as are followed by surgeons. Peter Bannister, whose business Romilly Life Sciences supports the development of cutting edge medical devices, explains how his institution, the IET, is already shaping a professional approach to this technology. And Humboldt Prize-winning pharmacologist David Colquhoun shares a story from early in his career that illustrates the importance of ongoing monitoring of adverse effects of innovative products.

Guests

Chinmayi Sharma, Associate Professor, Fordham School of Law

Peter Bannister, MD, Romilly Life Sciences

David Colquhoun, Fellow of the Royal Society, Honorary Fellow, UCL

References

AI’s Hippocratic Oath, Chinmayi Sharma

Code, Lawrence Lessig

We Need a Building Code for Building Code, Carl Landwehr

Digital Empires, Anu Bradford

The Application of Artificial Intelligence in Functional Safety, The IET

Responsible Handover of AI, Sense about Science

DC’s Improbable Science, David Colquhoun

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#315 Renewing the World, Without Costing the Planet Feb 06, 2025

How should engineers think about their duty to design safe structures? For IStructE’s head of climate action Will Arnold, this duty extends beyond the structure, to the safety of everyone on the planet. With renewable energy cutting operational carbon emissions, the majority of the engineering sector’s impact on climate change now comes from embodied carbon.

Today, the World Health Organisation estimates that 150,000 excess deaths each year are caused by climate change. Embodied carbon from construction accounts for 10% of climate changing emissions. Around 15,000 deaths each year could be attributed to poor design that does not consider these costs.

In this episode, we learn how engineers have extended the lifespan of structures around the world, minimising or entirely avoiding new impacts on the planet. As UCL’s Katherine Cashell explains, structural engineers now have a wealth of techniques and technologies that they can use to renew, retrofit, and preserve existing structures. With these tools in hand, they can meet client and public demands, while cutting financial and carbon costs.

Resources

PAS 2080: Carbon Management in Infrastructure and Built Environment

The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard

Part Z – A proposed amendment to the UK building regulations

IStructE Climate Action Report 2024

Guests

Will Arnold, head of climate action, IStructE

Prof. Katherine Cashell, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering (CEGE), University College London

Mike Davies, co-founder/director, SD Engineers

Balduino Del Principe, associate, Arup

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#314 Remote Operations, To the Moon and Back Jan 30, 2025

Ten years ago, Fugro set out on an ambitious mission: to bring expert staff off of vessels, and into a purpose built remote operations centre, or ROC. The first of these ROCs, in Houston, now allows specialist staff to work on multiple projects at once, giving customers the real time data and analysis they need to compete in the fast-paced markets at the heart of the energy transition.

In the decade since, Fugro has established ROCs around the world. In this episode, we learn how staff in Houston, Aberdeen, Dubai and Perth are enjoying a better work-life balance, without the need to spend weeks away from home, working offshore. The move will allow Fugro to diversify the workforce and recruit staff skilled in other areas, such as IT and software. And it means employees can devote more of their working time to where it will have the most impact and value for customers.

As the global network of ROCs has been rolled out, Fugro has been developing not just remote analysis, but remote command and control, of vessels and survey vehicles, with autonomy playing an increasingly important role. This allows Fugro not only to compete for individual projects, but to offer remote operations as a service.

At sea, these developments can now shrink the climate and financial costs of performing surveys. But the concept has gone much further, with the Australian Space Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Control (SpAARC) facility now working with Intuitive Machines to bring remote operation to the moon. And this work is laying the foundation for increased use of remote operations in more mundane, earthly, applications.

Guests

Ryan Trahan, Remote Operations Surveyor, Houston, Fugro

Fionnuala Richard, Regional Manager Americas Remote Operations Centers

Vitto César, Remote Operations Centre Senior Geophysicist, Aberdeen, Fugro

Jeff Richardson, Regional Manager Europe and Africa Remote Operations Centres, Fugro

Ross Macfarlane, Manager, Middle East and India Remote and Autonomous Operations Resource Centre, Fugro

Samuel Forbes, Director, The Australian Space Automation and AI Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC), Fugro

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#313 Introducing: Mapping Italy’s Seagrass for Biodiversity Gain, from Planet Beyond Jan 23, 2025

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has a 100 year history of mapping the world’s oceans. John Nyberg, technical director, explains how the organisation’s role in understanding our oceans is evolving. Now, rather than just recording ocean depths for mariners, the organisation is setting standards for how we record environmental data. In Italy, this approach is being put into effect with an ambitious coastline mapping project. Planet Beyond explored this work in a recent episode.

In a bid to reverse a decline in biodiversity, Italy aims to map 7500 kilometres of coastline to a depth of 50 metres. Marco Filippone, global solution director for ocean science and hydrography at Fugro, explains how new technologies ranging from satellite sensors to remote underwater mapping are all playing a crucial role in collecting data for this initiative.

One of the first undertakings of the Italian coastline mapping initiatives was to get a better understanding of the seagrass meadows and the role they can play in maintaining ocean biodiversity. Giordano Giorgi, the project director for Italy’s marine initiative explains how the project has furthered our understanding of seagrass’ role in carbon capture and with this knowledge, how the protection of the seagrass meadows can be ensured.

Host
Jon Baston-Pitt

Guests

John Nyberg, technical director, the International Hydrographic Organisation

Giordano Giorgi, project director, Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA)

Marco Filippone, global solution director for ocean science and hydrography, Fugro

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#312 Lifting Each Other Up — Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, People Jan 17, 2025

What do engineers build? Often, the answer will be bridges and dams, apartment blocks and factories.
But in everything they do, engineers are also helping to build communities. They are contributing to building people’s careers, and it is those jobs that are central to building a better world.

In this episode, the last of four profiling shortlisted entries in the Engineering Matters Awards, we are looking at how engineers are helping to build better, more diverse workforces, and supporting the communities they work in.

Guests

Stuart Culley, Customer & Social Value Lead, Aureos

Victoria Hingley, Skills, Employment, and Education Lead, EKFB (Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall)

Katie Jarman, Assistant Chief Engineer, Rolls-Royce Novel Nuclear

Alan Lusty, Founder/CEO, adi Group

Emma Zeale, STEM Outreach Programme Manager, The Lightyear Foundation

Rosie Mellors, Community Manager, The Lightyear Foundation

Ali Birkett, Science Events Developer, Edinburgh Science

Mateja Lampe, CEO, Red Pitaya

Angela Groggins, Work Experience Lead, Sellafield Centre of Excellence

Claire O’Connor, Social Impact Community Lead, Sellafield Centre of Excellence

David Eldon, Behavioural Strategy Lead, Sellafield

Sulaman Mukhtar, Innovation Project Manager, National Highways

Jeff Richardson, Regional Manager, Remote Operations, Fugro

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#311 Transforming the World, and the Economy — Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, Planet, Part 3 Jan 16, 2025

At the core of engineering and manufacturing, is the transformation of materials.

A tree becomes a book. A stone is transformed into a concrete bridge, rocks into steel and glass skyscrapers.

Each of these transformations are inefficient. Raw materials are lost to waste. Mechanical energy is converted into lost heat. In this inefficiency, we gradually chip away at our planet, and its liveability.

If we are to maintain our planet, we must find new, more efficient ways to perform these transformations. We must move from a linear economy, where materials are extracted, transformed, used and then thrown away. Instead, we most focus on re-using, and build a truly circular economy.

In this episode, the third of four profiling shortlisted entries in the Engineering Matters Awards, we are looking at how engineers are helping to transform the world, by making manufacturing and transport efficient and sustainable.

Guests

Victoria Garcia, CEO, BindEthics

States Lee, Engineering Lead, Notpla

John-Paul Grogan, Product Designer, FrugalPac

Geoff Brighty, CTO, Mura Technology

Ed Fortin, Global Product Manager, Magna International

Tom Siekmann, CEO, Voodin Blade Technology

Keith Jones, CEO, CityShuttle

Joe Tighes, CEO, Klean Drive

Thomas Huggenberger, Product Manager, ABB

Fabiana Cavalcante, Global Head of Mobile E-Power, ABB

Steve Wilkinson, CTO, Avioxx

Maurice Briggs, CEO, Vertical Solar

Alf Oschatz, MD, SBP

Adhesh Shenoy, CEO, Guerilla

Victoria Edwards, CEO, Fido

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#310 Manufacturing a Brighter Future – Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, Planet, Part 2 Jan 15, 2025

Across every sector, from manufacturing to transportation, energy to construction, the race toward a net zero future is reshaping how we work, produce, and consume. These industries have powered global growth for decades, but now, they must also lead the way in securing a sustainable future.

The scale of the challenge is immense. Achieving a greener future will require more than incremental changes—it demands bold, transformative ideas. In this second episode of four looking at shortlisted entries to the Engineering Matters Awards, we’re looking at ways to make industry cleaner and more efficient. Whether that’s in construction, transport, materials or even valves, these entries are all helping deliver a net zero world.

Guests

Matt Lamb, Senior Design Engineer, Hiperenergy, Aureos (formerly Keltbray)

Dan Summerbell, Chief Solutions Officer, CarbonRe

Christoph Birkl, CEO, Brill Power

Melissa Giusti, Principal Innovation Advisor, National Highways

Peter Toxopeus, Fleet Development Manager, Fugro

David Tindall, Global Product Owner, Land Equipment, Fugro

Mohammed Khan, CEO, Immaterial

George Hunter, Head of Sale, Carnot

Anne Franzas, Global Product Manager, Circularity, Drives Division, ABB

Dave Hawley, Global Head of Sales, Low Voltage Motors, ABB

Heikki Vepsäläinen, President, Large Motors and Generators, ABB

Brendan Hegerty, Director of Marketing and Sustainability, Oxford Flow

Joachim Knapp, CEO, Anker Tech

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#309 A Generation of Change – Engineering Matters Awards 2025 shortlist, Planet, Part 1 Jan 14, 2025

What links draught excluders and nuclear reactors? Or carbon capture and methane monitoring? As we enter a generation of change, these and other ideas will be key to developing efficient, decarbonised energy, and to how we use this energy in our homes.

This week, we introduce the shortlisted entries for the 2025 Engineering Matters Awards. The awards aim to celebrate the impact that engineers have on people, and on the planet. In this first episode of four, we look at how shortlisted entries in the Net Zero, Environment, and Sustainability categories are changing energy generation, and domestic energy use.

Guests

Patrick Möller, CEO, CorPower Ocean

Jaymish Patel, CEO, BioFuel Evolution

Thomas Fudge, CEO, WASE

Andreas Aepli, CFO, Climeworks

Maxime Tornier, VP, R&D, Climeworks

Jasper Wong, CTO, Airhive

Clément Gourrierec, Director, CrystalTrade

Michelle Brechtelsbauer, VP, Strategy, Last Energy

James Montgomery, Chief Design Engineer, Novel Nuclear, Rolls-Royce

John Mason, Systems Design & Integration Specialist, Novel Nuclear, Rolls-Royce

Mateja Lampe, CEO, Red Pitaya

Derek Egan, Chartered Engineer, EirGrid

Dunstan Power, MD, Versinetic

Jess Prevost, Marketing Director, Switchee

Mauro Fazion, CTO, SuSy

Sam Cryer, CEO, Thermulon

Sally Philips, Founder, Chimney Sheep

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#308 Building Bandwidth in the 1920s Jan 09, 2025

We live in a world where data and connectivity are essential to almost everything we do. Cable and satellite connections add value to business through trade and collaboration, and enrich our personal lives with the ability to engage with friends and family around the world. Maintaining these connections is a central aim of engineers in...

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#307 Giving the Gift of Engineering Dec 19, 2024

For many of us, now is a season of giving. A well chosen gift can bring lasting joy. But it’s easy to get wrong. One of the finest gifts anyone can give, is the gift of engineering. But how can engineers and designers ensure that when they share their gifts, they really meet the needs...

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#306 Revisited: Building Rothera Wharf Dec 12, 2024

This week, we are returning to Rothera, in the Antarctic, where, in 2021 the British Antarctic Survey had just completed work on a project it has called ‘the world’s most extreme construction site’. Pour yourself a warming drink, and enjoy the episode. We’ll be back with a new episode next week. Since the end of...

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#305 Making the Case for Nature-Based Solutions Dec 05, 2024

Nature-based solutions are emerging as vital tools to tackle the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss by leveraging nature’s inherent resilience to protect and restore ecosystems. This episode explores how innovative approaches can make these solutions mainstream and economically viable while addressing complex challenges like urban flooding, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable investment opportunities....

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#304 Grounded in Knowledge – Ireland’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm Nov 28, 2024

During the last Ice Age, glaciers scored huge trenches through the land beneath the Irish Sea. Today, those valleys are filled with softer material and sit between tracts of hard rock, creating a diverse landscape that wind farm developer Codling Wind Park has had to research in painstaking detail before it can begin installing its...

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#303 Gathering data at the speed of a train: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Health & Safety Gold Champion – Fugro RILA Nov 21, 2024

Monitoring and maintaining an entire rail network can be costly, slow and, for those working on the track, very dangerous. Specialised trains were developed that could be mounted with sensors for collecting data on track gauging and track condition, however these couldn’t be mounted together. In this episode we look into the development of RILA...

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#302 Conservation, Community and AI: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Community Gold Champion — iNaturalist Nov 14, 2024

From habitat destruction, to use of pesticides, the arrival of invasive species and the growing impact of climate change, life, in all shapes and sizes, is fighting to survive. To protect the world’s biodiversity, first we have a better understanding of what and where that biodiversity is. In this episode we delve into iNaturalist, the...

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#301 Electrifying Sydney: Transformational Energy Systems Nov 07, 2024

In the early 1900s Sydney was transformed by its first electric lighting system, which was so bright compared to gas lamps it was hailed as “turning night into day”. The network did much more than just light up the streets. It democratised power, electrifying communities, homes and businesses for the first time. The system, designed by...

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#300 Bonus: Powering Net Zero Nov 05, 2024

Governments and businesses around the world have made commitments to achieve Net Zero by the middle of the century. This will require engineering innovation, and changes to practices, standards and regulations, across the generation, transmission, storage and transport segments. In this episode we explore these challenges and how they intersect. The IET’s Powering Net Zero...

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#299e Highways UK Live – A Legacy of Excellence Nov 01, 2024

The Thames had been for thousands of years London’s main route to the sea. But it is also an obstacle. The last crossing east of London is the bridge and tunnel at Dartford, and this is often congested. But a new crossing has been proposed further down the river. Throughout its planning, the focus has...

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#299d Highways UK Live – The Journey to Net Zero and Resilience Oct 31, 2024

National Highways has adopted clear net zero targets: its own operations will be carbon free by 2030; those of contractors on its roads by 2040; and of road users by 2050. The challenge will be meeting those goals, while also fulfilling its mission of getting drivers where they need to go, safely and efficiently. The...

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#299c Highways UK Live – Next Generation Asset Management Oct 30, 2024

In 2024, National Highways completely closed parts of the M25, London’s orbital motorway. This blockage in the arterial system of the UK economy wasn’t a mistake. Instead, it was an example of meticulously planned surgery, performed by experts. In the previous episode of this mini-series, recorded live at Highways UK, we saw how data is...

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#299b Highways UK Live – Roads Reimagined Oct 29, 2024

As an engineer, it is easy to think of roads as a challenge to be solved. Many of the innovations we will discuss in this mini-series will have a real impact on the safety, efficiency, and environmental impact of roads. But roads should be thought of as a service, not as an end in themselves....

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#299a Highways UK Live – The Future of Highways – Mini-series Preview Oct 28, 2024

Why should we be thinking about roads as a service, not just an engineering challenge? What does it mean for a road to be a computer wrapped in asphalt? How can we use data from cars, highway assets, and even the road itself, to plan maintenance with minimal disruption to road users? How can roads...

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#298 Making Everyone Welcome in Construction: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Diversity & Inclusion Gold Champion — EKFB Oct 24, 2024

We should all want to build workplaces where everyone feels safe and included. But how can we do that when we don’t know what everyone needs? How can we make sure that we understand our colleagues and potential recruits, and provide them with the tools they need to be welcomed, and to be successful? Engineering...

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#297 Revisited: A Deep Dive Into the Past Oct 17, 2024

In 1985 diver Henri Cosquer discovered a submerged cave entrance in the Mediterranean near Marseilles. Exploring over the next six years he discovered a chamber filled with prehistoric art. Conditions in the caves and the submerged passages leading to it are extremely dangerous: three divers lost their lives exploring the caves. Efforts to map the...

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#296 A Safer, Faster, Way to Build Offshore Wind Oct 10, 2024

The North Sea’s natural conditions, with shallow waters and strong winds, make it ideal for wind farms. But, these same factors pose challenges for construction. To meet ambitious Net Zero targets, improving the speed and efficiency of installing wind farm foundations is critical. At the same time, these works must be carried out safely, without...

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#295 Decision Time for the Hydrogen Economy Oct 03, 2024

The first stable atom to form after the Big Bang was hydrogen. Transformed into other atoms through stellar nuclear fusion, it is the foundation of all matter. Bound with other elements in water and hydrocarbons, it is the basis for all life, and the fuel of the industrial revolution. But can it also be the...

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#294 A View of the Future from Coire Glas Sep 26, 2024

On Coire Glas, in the remote Scottish Highlands, geologists and engineers are developing a vision of Scotland’s energy future. SSE Renewables plans the first pumped hydro storage facility in the UK for decades here, taking advantage of the unique and awe inspiring landscape. But first, they need to understand conditions on and in the ground....

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#293 Cleaning clothes and changing lives: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Community Gold Champion — The Washing Machine Project Sep 19, 2024

For 70% of the world’s population, doing the laundry means hours of difficult manual washing. It was this fact that led Nav Sawhney to leave his job as a design engineer at Dyson and try to come up with a way to fix this problem. After six different design iterations, Nav and his team at...

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#292 Place is the Space for Growth Sep 12, 2024

How should local and regional leaders encourage investment in their communities? Around the world, cities struggle with a legacy of industrial decline. In England, devolution of planning policy to mayoral combined authorities has allowed for regions like Greater Manchester to outpace national growth. But within regions, local areas can themselves fall behind, and require a...

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#291 Making the Case for Cutting Carbon Sep 05, 2024

Project managers have traditionally measured the viability of a project design or materials choice as a triangle, balancing cost, scope and performance. With the addition of carbon, this triangle becomes a three-sided pyramid, with four considerations each interacting with the others. Materials suppliers and project designers now have a wealth of carbon cutting innovations available...

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#290 Racing for Innovation: Inside Formula Student Aug 29, 2024

Formula Student is Europe’s top educational motorsport competition, with students and teams from all over the world coming to compete. The competition is integrated into engineering degree courses, allowing students to take what they are learning in the classroom and lab, into the real world. It tests both engineering skills, and the project management that...

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#289 Bringing lean production to agriculture: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Sustainability Gold Champions — Intelligent Growth Solutions Aug 22, 2024

Lean production techniques have become common across heavy industry. They cut resource use, and promote quality assurance. They were inspired by shelf stocking techniques used in US grocery stores. But can they now be turned to the start of the grocery supply chain, farming itself? That is the goal of Engineering Matters Awards Sustainability Gold...

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#288 Counting carbon costs of the world’s infrastructure: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Net Zero Gold Champion – Whole Life Carbon Assessment, 2nd edition Aug 15, 2024

We can only efficiently reduce those things that we can measure. The Whole Life Carbon Assessment standard, produced by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), established a method for assessing the carbon impact of buildings. Its updated version, which came into effect in July, expanded its scope to include infrastructure, and was designed to...

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#287 Engineers Without Borders: The Design Challenge Aug 08, 2024

The Engineers Without Borders UK People Design Challenge is a year long challenge that is part of many UK engineering students’ degrees. For this episode we went to Stoller Hall in Manchester to cover the Design Challenge final. The design challenge each year focuses on a new community, and puts them at the centre of...

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#286 AI In the Real World Aug 01, 2024

With the launch of robot taxis, we are already seeing autonomously controlled devices operating alongside humans in the public realm. As AI improves it will become embedded in our physical environment, in factories and construction sites, and in our streets and homes. In episode 267, we talked to Darren Martin about the importance of considering...

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Bonus: Engineering a Low Carbon Paris Olympics Jul 26, 2024

What does it take to win at the Olympics? For Pierre Engel, chief engineer at ArcelorMittal, victory took years of experience, precision, and collaboration. He was aided by kit made entirely of a novel material—low carbon recycled steel. Pierre’s challenge shared much with those faced by Olympians. But he wasn’t skipping rope to keep himself...

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#285 Delivering the Floating Offshore Wind Revolution Jul 25, 2024

The UK is a global leader when it comes to the development of offshore wind energy. Despite past government bans on onshore wind development, the UK was able to continue developing its wind energy portfolio by going out to sea. The UK now generates over a quarter of its electricity from wind, with a significant...

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#284 Queensway Tunnel: The Miracle Under the Mersey Jul 18, 2024

When the Queensway Tunnel opened on 18th July 1934 King George V declared it a miracle. At 3.4km long and with a 13.4m internal diameter it was the world’s longest subaqueous tunnel and the largest municipal engineering project that had ever been undertaken in the UK. The project pushed the boundaries of engineering design and...

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#283 Power, without the power brick: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Net Zero Gold Champion AmberSemi Jul 11, 2024

In every home, ancient technologies lurk, threatening fire and ruin. While many devices—lights, TVs, and hard drives, for example—have adopted solid state technologies, power bricks still use ageing electromechanical systems. AmberSemi’s AC Direct DC Enabler is a fabless semiconductor system that replaces these bricks. At home, that means smaller, safer ways of connecting DC devices...

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#282 Spinning up the renewables revolution: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Gold Champion — Dumarey Jul 04, 2024

Can an ancient technology help spin up the renewables revolution? Dumarey—formerly Punch—Flybrid is doing just that, with its flywheel-based technology. In this episode, one of a series this summer, we look at their winning entries to the Engineering Matters Awards. On construction sites, power supply must be shaped around the peak demands of heavy equipment....

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#281 A rocket in the high street: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Inclusion Gold Champion — Space for Everyone Jun 27, 2024

The adventures of astronauts have inspired the dreams of many young people. But once those dreams collide with the reality of years of demanding training and study, they often fade. Today, space is about much more than high profile crewed missions. In the UK alone, tens of thousands of workers will be needed by the...

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#280 Measuring carbon in materials and projects: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Net Zero Champion — BCIS Built Environment Carbon Database Jun 20, 2024

We delve into the critical role of the built environment in addressing the climate emergency, and how our Engineering Matters Awards Net Zero champion the Built Environment Carbon Database (BECD) is helping decarbonise the industry. Created by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS), the BECD is a...

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#279 Intersection, Identity, and Engineering Jun 13, 2024

The concept of intersection has given society a new way to understand identity. It has profound implications for how we understand ourselves and others in our workplaces. For engineers, it can inform how projects are designed, and how they meet the needs of diverse users. The concept was developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw, and draws on...

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#278 Capturing carbon with concrete: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Innovation Gold Champion Seratech Jun 06, 2024

Around the world, 8% of CO2 emissions come from the production of concrete, and 90% of those emissions come from the production of cement. This episode highlights the groundbreaking work of Engineering Matters Awards Gold Champion Seratech, a company pioneering the use of carbon capture technology in concrete production. Their innovative process uses the abundant...

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#277 The Race to Net Zero – Innovation at Pace May 30, 2024

The race to hit Net Zero targets will require an unprecedented surge in innovation. As Dame Laura Sandys, CBE, explains, energy systems will be reshaped, with a few hundred players in the market replaced by millions of actions and assets in a distributed system. These will necessitate not just physical changes to how we generate,...

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#276 A Deep Understanding of the Ground Beneath Our Feet May 23, 2024

Cone Penetration Testing is a conceptually simple technology first developed in the Netherlands almost a century ago, but is still a critical component in the geotechnical toolkit. Now far more accurate and capable than early cones, modern equivalents are being deployed to solve some of the most pressing challenges, within the Dutch lowlands and far...

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#275 Serving Countries to Serving Communities May 16, 2024

For any military operation the objectives of the mission are absolutely paramount. Failure is not an option. The team is motivated to achieve a common goal, often working under extreme pressure, pulling together to overcome challenges, paying attention to detail and always prioritising the objectives of the mission. In this way veterans have a lot...

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#274 Seeing the Future of a City May 09, 2024

Dar es Salaam is one of the world’s fastest growing cities. In the 1970s, it was home to less than one million people. Today, it has a population of more than five million people, and by 2035 it is projected to have more than 13 million residents. The city sits on a natural harbour, the...

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#273 The Core Technologies of a New Power System May 02, 2024

In this episode, we delve into the dynamic world of Power Electronics, Machines, and Drives (PEMD), exploring its pivotal role in shaping the future of energy systems and sustainability efforts. PEMD technology plays a critical role in advancing electrification and decarbonisation efforts worldwide. With PEMD technology enabling the integration of renewable energy sources, improving energy...

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#272 Designing Dinorwig: Inside Electric Mountain Apr 25, 2024

In late 1973 the UK’s Central Electricity Generating Board gained parliamentary approval to build the largest and most difficult pumped storage hydroelectric power station in its history. It was the largest civil engineering contract ever awarded by the government and became the biggest construction project in Europe. Engineering teams had to burrow 750m deep into...

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#271 Pumped Storage: Australia tackles Intermittency Apr 18, 2024

On the receiving end of among of the worst natural disasters in modern history, while being blessed with some of the most abundant natural resource reserves, and a developed economy, Australia sits in a unique position with regards to climate change. Many eyes are on the country as it looks to maintain the grid resilience...

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#270 A Blueprint for Low Carbon Roads Apr 11, 2024

In the UK, over a quarter of a million kilometers of road have been laid. From motorways and A-roads to small country lanes, every kilometer of construction comes with a big carbon cost, emitting up to 2,600 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per kilometer. Over the last decade investment into new material technology and machinery has...

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#269 The Pipeline to Net Zero Apr 04, 2024

It will be just as important to upgrade pipeline networks for the energy transition, as it is the electric grid. These will carry carbon dioxide and hydrogen, along with ammonia and biogas. They will enable carbon capture, local hydrogen for fuel intensive industry and transport, and for export. Governments around the world have struggled to...

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Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 5: How to Swim in a Sea of Data Mar 28, 2024

HS2 is one of the most complex and challenging railway scheme the UK has ever undertaken. As such, it has been generating vast amounts of data across the board. Every geological survey, every design, every site, every environmental survey, all generating more and more data. So with all this data, what do you do with...

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Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 4: Being Safe and Inclusive Every Step of the Way Mar 28, 2024

HS2 is focused not only on safety, but on overall health and wellbeing on all employees and contractors. Identifying long term risks to wellbeing is a challenge within any industry. It’s a particular problem on construction sites, where people often move between projects and sites. Episode 4 dives into some of the innovations and technology...

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Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 3: Reducing and Reusing Mar 28, 2024

HS2’s place within the current climate and environment has always been its top priority. Once operational, the British-built bullet trains will provide zero-carbon journeys between the UK’s two largest cities, Birmingham and London. Episode 3 explores how HS2’s railway assets have been designed from the start with climate change resilience in mind, as well as...

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Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 2: The Blueprint and the Real Thing Mar 28, 2024

Design not only encapsulates the creativity and innovation of new products, but is the main source of information for construction to take place. Episode 2 of the Learning Legacy Podcast takes a look at the design stages of stations and tunnel portals and encapsulating the importance of finding new methods of work and finding the...

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Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 1: Building a Learning Legacy Mar 28, 2024

The concept of the Learning Legacy programme has been around for longer than you might think. Starting at London 2012, collating and sharing knowledge, innovation, good practice and lessons learned from major projects has developed in a number of ways to get to where we currently reside. In this first episode we’ll take a look...

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#268 Mastering Time: The Challenge of Time Synchronisation Mar 21, 2024

Timekeeping has been a pursuit fraught with challenges throughout history. From ancient sundials to mechanical clocks, humanity has continuously sought methods to measure time with greater accuracy. Technology has given us new ways to measure time, but also demands more accurate synchronisation. Time synchronisation stands as a linchpin in modern technology, ensuring coherence and accuracy...

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#267 AI and Humanity, with Darren Martin Mar 14, 2024

With the launch of ChatGPT, the power of generative AI has captured public attention. Systems like this can not only work through millions of options, like earlier chess-playing supercomputers, but develop original ideas that might not occur to humans, used to working within proven traditional approaches. New techniques of advanced information processing like this, promise...

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#266 Building Communities Together Mar 12, 2024

Cities around the world face a housing crisis. In countries like the UK, local authorities struggle to finance projects and to find space for development. In faster growing and younger cities, it can be a challenge to ensure services and infrastructure are developed at the same pace as new housing. Urban development requires a clear...

The post #266 Building Communities Together first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#265 Tunnelling Innovation: Inventing the Bentonite Shield Mar 07, 2024

Sixty years ago a civil engineer called John Bartlett of Mott, Hay & Anderson had a revolutionary idea. He noticed that bentonite clay could be used in a slurry to stabilise the face of tunnels during excavation. This could prevent non-cohesive, water bearing soils from collapsing inwards making excavation safer and cheaper. The first...

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#264 Finding Career Pathways into Social Value Feb 29, 2024

Social Value is a term that has been used to mean the additional benefits a company can provide to wider society beyond their business as usual. In the built environment, where infrastructure projects can already lead to negative consequences for local communities, considering how a company or project can provide real opportunities and benefits to...

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#263 The Tipping Point Feb 22, 2024

Digitalisation is changing every part of the economy. Modern mobile cranes have been developed based on some of the most fundamental concepts in engineering, many of which were first described by Archimedes. But here too, advances in sensors, computing power, and data transfer have been transformational. What can this meeting of modern and ancient tell...

The post #263 The Tipping Point first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#262 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 3 Feb 17, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#261 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 2 Feb 16, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#260 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 1 Feb 15, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#259 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 3 Feb 14, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#258 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 2 Feb 13, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#257 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 1 Feb 12, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

The post #257 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 1 first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#256 The Engineering Matters Awards – Environment Feb 10, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#255 The Engineering Matters Awards – Sustainability, part 2 Feb 09, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#254 The Engineering Matters Awards – Sustainability Feb 08, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#253 The Engineering Matters Awards – Community Feb 07, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#252 The Engineering Matters Awards – Health and Safety Feb 06, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#251 The Engineering Matters Awards – Diversity and Inclusion Feb 05, 2024

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways...

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#250 The Observational Method – Engineering’s Best Kept Secret Feb 01, 2024

The use of “The Observational Method” could be one of the best kept secrets of the engineering world. Time and time again it has been used to deliver world leading projects safely and cost effectively. In some cases it has been the only way forward when other methods have failed. The powerful methodology has been...

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#249 The Cables That Bind Our World Together Jan 25, 2024

The modern world is bound together with cables. As our economy moves to the cloud, the vast majority of data traffic passes through subsea cables. As we transition to renewable energy, hundreds of kilometres of cabling are needed within each wind farm, and to connect wind farms to the shore. When the first cables were...

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#248 Revisited: Secrets of the Hoover Dam Jan 18, 2024

Are there really bodies buried in the Hoover Dam? Was the hard hat really invented here in 1931? And why was it originally called Boulder Dam? In this episode, first aired in 2019, we explore and uncover the secrets of one of the greatest engineering projects ever built. The unique and formidable Hoover Dam. Learn...

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#247 Saving Structures with Cathodic Protection Jan 11, 2024

In this podcast we go back in time to the invention of cathodic protection 200 years ago by President of the Royal Society Sir Humphry Davy. Initially applied to ships and pipelines, Mott MacDonald has spent decades pioneering its use on civil infrastructure designing systems for bridges and buildings around the world. This innovative thinking...

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#246 Tiny Robots, Big Moves: The Basics of Microrobot Actuation Jan 04, 2024

From tireless assembly lines in bustling factories to the delicate precision of diamond cutting, robots are transforming industries by becoming superhuman coworkers. But what if we shrunk these tireless partners down to the size of a grain of rice? Enter the realm of microrobots, where the boundaries of automation shrink to the scale of a...

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#245 Transparent Concrete Dec 21, 2023

What would it mean to be able to look at a bag of concrete, and see its embodied carbon? That’s the goal of the new benchmark rating scheme for concrete, developed by the UK Low Carbon Concrete Group. It will allow suppliers, contractors and developers to consider the carbon footprint of projects, alongside cost and...

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#244 Water Quality: Navigating Challenges in UK’s Wild Waters Dec 14, 2023

Post the industrial revolution the UK’s waterways became very polluted, but the last 30 years have seen a massive turnaround in the UK’s water quality. Since the pandemic wild swimming has had a boom in popularity, with the UK’s beaches, lakes and rivers becoming popular destinations for being in nature and going for a dip....

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#243 Virtual Reality: A New Vision for Construction Dec 07, 2023

Virtual Reality has been steadily growing in the gaming market over the past few years, but now it could be about to change not how people play but how they work. From the imaginative realms of science fiction to the cutting-edge developments of the 21st century, we explore the roots of VR, paying homage to...

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SHORT: Recycling, Without Waste Dec 05, 2023

It can seem, at times, as if we are drowning in a sea of waste, a great ocean of paper and tin, glass and plastic, all mixed together, and resistant to recycling and re-use. AMP Robotics build systems that cut through this complexity. Trained using millions upon millions of images, their robots can identify, pick,...

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#242 Partnerships and Resilience Nov 30, 2023

It is vital that we limit the impact of climate change, through decarbonisation. But communities around the world are already experiencing harm, through floods, wildfires, and other climate-related catastrophes. We must also address these harms, mitigating them through increased resilience. Building better resilience cannot be left just to the state, or private sector industries like...

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#241 Wind, Waves and Wildlife: Navigating Biodiversity in Offshore Wind Nov 23, 2023

Across the ocean there is an intricate relationship between human activity and marine biodiversity. The energy transition means a huge increase in the number of offshore wind turbines. As our oceans become increasingly intertwined with human activities, marine life faces an evolving challenge. Extensive monitoring of biodiversity takes place during the pre-construction and construction phase,...

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#240 Saving Homes, Saving the Planet Nov 16, 2023

The West Kentish Town Estate provides more than 300 flats to social housing tenants. Built in the 1960s, using a panel building system, it has provided generations of Londoners an affordable home, close to the heart of one of the world’s biggest cities. But today, it is not meeting the needs of local families. Homes...

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#239 The resilience mindset, on Planet Beyond Nov 09, 2023

This week, we’re bringing you a guest episode from the Planet Beyond podcast. In this episode, Planet Beyond host Jon Baston-Pitt talks to Resilience Association vice chair Peter Power, about how organisations in the public and private sectors can develop a ‘resilience mindset’. We live in a world of unparalleled complexity and risk. The structure...

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#238 A Greener More Pleasant Land Nov 02, 2023

For the last three summers, shire horses have been at work each Lammas Day, mowing the new wildflower meadow on the former lawn of King’s College, Cambridge. The meadow isn’t just a quaint call back to East Anglia’s past, but gives a glimpse of the future, as new regulations come into force that require measurable...

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#237 Climbing the Ladder to Gender Equality Oct 26, 2023

Katie Kelleher, is a trailblazer in the construction industry. Her incredible story, from a career in recruitment to becoming a crane operator, defies gender stereotypes and highlights the importance of determination in breaking new ground. In this episode we hear Katie’s experiences working on high-risk construction projects, including the Thames Tideway and Crossail. She shares...

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SHORT: Junade Ali – The Youngest Fellow at the IET Oct 24, 2023

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a renowned professional organization at the forefront of advancing engineering and technology. The IET plays a pivotal role in fostering innovation, knowledge sharing, and networking within the engineering community, making it a cornerstone institution for professionals dedicated to shaping the future of technology. Becoming an IET fellow...

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#236 RAAC: The Misunderstood Material? Oct 19, 2023

RAAC, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, enabled a boom in public building in post-war Britain. It allowed schools, hospitals and other services to be built safely and efficiently, giving working Britons services they had long been excluded from. It, and other manufactured building materials, formed the basis of what are now known as Modern Methods...

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#235 Ffestiniog: 60 Years of Pioneering Storage Oct 12, 2023

Hidden in the mountainous peaks of Snowdonia’s National Park is a clean source of energy storage that has been supporting the UK’s electricity grid since it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1963. Ffestiniog was the UK’s first ever pumped storage hydropower project and it remains a critical part of today’s energy system....

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Introducing: Connected Places Oct 10, 2023

Around the world, engineers, project owners, and policymakers must make hard choices as they work to ensure our infrastructure is fit for the future. They must consider how climate change will impact those assets, and how those assets will help or hinder the energy transition. This week, with the UK’s political conference season in full...

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#234 Microreactors: From the Moon, to the ends of the Earth Oct 05, 2023

For more than a century, the UK’s Rolls-Royce have designed power systems for cars and planes, ships and submarines. Today, they are developing a novel form of nuclear reactor, which will bring reliable power to the Moon, and green energy to some of the world’s furthest frontiers. The microreactors they are developing are tiny: terrestrial...

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#233 Rebuilding the Dawlish Sea Wall Sep 28, 2023

The Dawlish sea wall, a historic and iconic structure, has long served as a critical link connecting South Devon and Cornwall to the rest of the UK. Its rich history and importance in facilitating transportation have made it a symbol of resilience. However, after a storm in 2014 the wall collapsed and left the train...

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#232 Future of Technology and Engineering Sep 21, 2023

Many organisations undervalue the role young employees can play, one in five UK employers outright refuse to hire from the 22-25 age group. However young employees can offer a different way of looking at problems and with an emerging skill gap across STEM industries, employing and training young people gives companies a chance to mould...

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#231 Powering Net Zero Sep 14, 2023

Governments and businesses around the world have made commitments to achieve Net Zero by the middle of the century. This will require engineering innovation, and changes to practices, standards and regulations, across the generation, transmission, storage and transport segments. In this episode we explore the challenges and how they intersect. The IET’s Powering Net Zero...

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#230 National Security’s New Frontlines Sep 07, 2023

In our increasingly complex and interconnected world, wars are fought not only on the battlefield, but within the infrastructure that supports our society. To address these challenges, engineers must adopt a ‘secure by design’ approach that identifies risks from the outset. Just as cyberattacks extend threats to a new digital domain, so too is climate...

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#229 Chip Manufacturing and the World’s Most Complex Machine Aug 31, 2023

Ever since the first computer chip was created the size of transistors on chips has been getting smaller and smaller. Gordon Moore, who went on to co-found Intel, predicted the doubling of number of transistors on a chip would double every two years, over the last 60 years this has been true but only thanks...

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#228 Hydrogen, and the road to Net Zero building materials Aug 24, 2023

For consumers, and for many businesses, the road to Net Zero is simple: replace fossil fuels with electricity, source the electricity from renewable sources, and use it as efficiently as possible, But this isn’t a road every business can follow. Some have energy requirements so intense, that they cannot be easily powered from the grid....

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#227 Electrifying the Skies: Harbour Air’s Green Revolution Aug 17, 2023

The De Havilland Beaver is a single pilot, seven passenger piston airplane that’s an icon of Canadian aviation. It has been out of production for over 50 years but is still a popular plane for short flights to Canada’s most remote areas. The De Havilland Beaver now finds itself on the cutting edge of aviation....

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#226 Gaming: A New Engine for Engagement Aug 10, 2023

What can an engineer or town planner learn from a computer game Viking? In this episode, we look at how one design team is using real time simulations, or gaming engines, to develop accessible ways of communicating engineering proposal to the public. Games such as Valheim challenge players to survive in a world of richly...

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#225 Saudi Arabia: Preserving the past, building the future Aug 03, 2023

Saudi Arabia has set out on a journey. This historic land is today home to a young country: a quarter of the population are under 15; more than 40% are younger than 25; and 90% are under 55 years old. The country aims to build a diversified economy that will provide new opportunities for this...

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#224 Power lines, helicopters, and data analysis Jul 27, 2023

Power companies like National Grid Electricity Distribution, have used helicopters to monitor power lines for decades. Once, an inspector would check each component visually from the helicopter. Today, they are backed up by a data specialist, who manages the acquisition of LIDAR and other data. The ability of these companies to acquire detailed data over...

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#223 Data and collaboration, operations and maintenance Jul 20, 2023

The operations and maintenance (O&M) sector has changed significantly since the inception of the 3P, or public private partnership, model in the 1990s. Once, these contracts merely assigned O&M responsibilities. Today, clients want suppliers to help them implement specific social and environmental values. This is changing the way O&M contractors work. They must collaborate closely...

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#222 Revisited: The future of 3D printing Jul 13, 2023

In episode #221, Engineering Matters looked at a new way of manufacturing feedstocks for plastics. This approach will eliminate the use for oil products, instead making use of plant-based materials, which will also help remove carbon from the atmosphere. But eliminating the use of finite oil resources is only one part of the circular economy....

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#221 Turning plants into plastics Jul 06, 2023

The world consumes 4.25 billion tonnes of oil every year. Over half of the oil drilled out of the ground goes towards transport, but the entire sector is moving to decarbonise. However even if the transport sector no longer requires oil, many industries across the economy will still be reliant on extracting fossil fuels. In...

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#220 The End of the Diesel Generator? Jun 29, 2023

Buildings and the construction industry account for 39% of global carbon emissions: 28% from materials and operational emissions, and 11% from construction operations. One of the main sources of those emissions during building works, is the use of diesel generators to power heavy equipment, such as tower cranes. But this equipment only needs high levels...

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#219 Syria: Rising from the rubble Jun 22, 2023

Can engineers help to build peace? Can the solutions engineers develop in places of conflict, contribute to the development of low carbon? They can. And Engineering Matters listeners can help with this important work. Over the past decade, many of Syria’s urban areas have been ravaged by aerial bombardment and shelling by artillery. It is...

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Episode Twelve, How to build a Railway: Leaving a legacy Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. From jobs and skills to Learning Legacy case studies, the HS2 project continues to provide good practice, innovation and lessons learned. HS2 isn’t just about building a new piece of infrastructure,...

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Episode Eleven, How to build a Railway: Safe at Heart Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. With any project, health and safety plays an important role. From working at height to operating heavy machinery, there is always a risk towards the health and wellbeing of workers, and...

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Episode Ten, How to build a Railway: Keeping things clean – our journey to net zero Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. Climate change presents unprecedented challenges; the actions we take today will fundamentally affect our lives and the lives of future generations. How we travel – and how we build our infrastructure...

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Episode Nine, How to build a Railway: From Track to The Cloud – the Layers of Railway Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. In this episode, we explore how it all fits together – how we integrate our rail systems. Rail travel has come a long way over the years. Now, with advances in...

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Episode Eight, How to build a Railway: Our next stop is… Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. This episode of the HS2 podcast series is all about the journey, and the destination. Stations sit at the heart of any railway system. They receive passenger flows from the railway...

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Episode Seven, How to build a Railway: Building Bridges Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. This episode of the HS2 podcast series goes back above ground to explore the design and construction of bridges, with a specific focus on HS2’s iconic Colne Valley Viaduct. Good infrastructure...

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Episode Six, How to build a Railway: Going underground Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. The latest instalment of HS2’s podcast delves into the fascinating world of tunnelling. As Phase One of the railway winds its way from Birmingham to London, it passes through an ever-changing landscape....

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Episode Five, How to build a Railway: Opportunity for Innovation Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. We are always looking towards new methods and technologies to help us work smarter, safer and more efficiently. Construction and engineering is no different. This episode of How to build a...

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Episode Four, How to build a Railway: Creating the Green Corridor Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. As the largest single environmental project in the UK, protecting and enhancing the environment has always been an integral part of the HS2 programme. Since 2009, every metre of the design has been carefully considered in navigating sites of natural significance. Episode four, ‘Creating the Green Corridor’, explores our endeavours to protect, replace and...

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Episode Three, How to build a Railway: Preparing the ground Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. Over 250 miles of new high speed railway is planned, with trains capable of speeds up to 225mph (360km/h), and linking the biggest cities in Scotland with Manchester, Birmingham and London....

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Episode Two, How to build a Railway: Unearthing History Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. This episode, ‘Unearthing History’, explores everything archaeology. HS2’s archaeology programme is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that will allow us to reveal over 10,000 years of British history. As Europe’s biggest dig, HS2’s...

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Episode One, How to build a Railway: The What and the Why of HS2 Jun 15, 2023

How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. This episode focusses on why HS2 is needed, the historical context of our country’s railways, project progress so far and upcoming goals. Guests Starting back in the 1830’s, Bob sets the...

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#218 Origin stories Jun 08, 2023

Engineering Matters is celebrating its fifth anniversary this week. Podcast founders Bernadette Ballantyne and Jon Young, along with the rest of the Engineering Matters team, tell the story of the show’s creation and rapid growth, and share a behind-the-scenes look at how some of our favourite and most popular episodes have been put together. Engineering...

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#217 Managing the Energy Transition Jun 01, 2023

More and more of the economy is being powered by the grid and that trend will continue over the next few decades. At the same time countries are looking to reduce their reliance on coal and gas and use more renewables like solar and wind. Managing the transition to a green grid will require extensive...

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#216 Accelerating Offshore Wind Construction May 25, 2023

The next decade will see an unprecedented level of offshore energy construction. In order to achieve the 2035 emissions targets adopted by many governments, the offshore industry will need to build thousands of turbines. Each of these must be secured by appropriate foundations and anchors, often in unmapped areas of the seabed, much deeper than...

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#215 Waste Goes Digital May 18, 2023

Waste is an integral part of the circular economy. It is, in many cases, simply a resource that is in the wrong place. But it can also be a nuisance, an eyesore or even a risk to health. In the UK, new regulations, and changes to ways some waste handling is allowed to take place,...

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#214 Delivering a Megaproject May 11, 2023

When a major public infrastructure project is announced often a brand new organisation is set up that is tasked with delivering the project. These organisations can be very small and not have the experience delivering a major project that only a few people have. In the past organisations like these have hired a programme or...

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#213 Revisited: Positioning Satellites in New Space May 04, 2023

Just over a week ago, SpaceX successfully launched one of the largest rockets ever, a key step in humanity’s journey beyond the earth. While the rocket underwent a ‘rapid unplanned disassembly’ shortly after launch, it gave the company’s engineers a wealth of data for future launches. The same company also owns the world’s largest constellation...

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#212 Turning beer green Apr 27, 2023

The brewing industry has become a testing ground for the energy transition. Many drinkers want to drink responsibly: not just to protect their own health, but the health of the planet. Brewers large and small are taking innovative approaches to their energy use. In Samlesbury, AB InBev has started working with Protium, who will fund,...

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#211 Rewilding the UK Apr 20, 2023

Britains biodiversity has been declining sharply over the last 50 years. We are now one of the most nature depleted nations in the world. Despite legislation and efforts to stem the tide of wildlife population decline, nothing has worked. Some Wildlife Trusts and organisations now support a more nature based approach to wildlife and land...

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#210 Revisited: Return of the Fatbergs Apr 13, 2023

Last week the UK government announced plan to ban the sale of wet wipes to deal with the problem of fatbergs in sewers. This week we’re rerunning an episode from 2019 where we venture down into the sewer system to see the largest fatberg in Europe. Underneath cities all over the UK subterranean mountains of...

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#209 Asset Management, Resilience, and Climate Change Apr 06, 2023

In a world of complex supply chains, how can owners secure their assets against risks like climate change and disease lockdowns? By using the concept of resilience, owners can form strategic asset management plans, which balance the level of service required, against the cost of that service, while paying attention to all the risks faced:...

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#208 Counting Carbon Costs in the Built Environment Mar 30, 2023

The first edition of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment, published in 2017, is a professional statement that establishes a methodology for calculating the carbon cost of buildings, and now infrastructure, from construction, through use, to end-of-life. The guidelines already allow users to make finely tuned...

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#207 Revolution in the North Sea Mar 23, 2023

For 50 years the North Sea has been critical to European energy. Technology and skills developed over decades enabled the extraction of oil and gas in some of the most extreme and hazardous conditions on the planet. As the world transitions away from oil and gas, the North Sea will again be a critical source...

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#206 The Giant Props of Gothenburg Mar 16, 2023

The Swedish city of Gothenburg is celebrating its 400 year anniversary in 2023 and as part of the celebrations the city is undergoing a construction boom. For much of the city’s 400 year history, major construction projects have been very limited by the wet and weak ground conditions beneath the city. This means that Gothenburg,...

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#205 The Green, Green, Shores of Home Mar 09, 2023

In recent decades, companies have moved manufacturing to countries offering low cost labour. Today, as they aim for Net Zero, they must also consider their carbon footprint. And that is almost impossible to do if raw materials are sourced from around the world, from countries with highly emitting energy systems and poor record keeping. Sam...

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Introducing: How to Build a Railway Mar 02, 2023

The Engineering Matters and Reby Media team has been working on a new podcast series in partnership with HS2. How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. The podcast series features industry experts and special guests giving their unique...

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#204 Creating Green Airports of the Future Mar 02, 2023

Globally, the aviation industry accounts for 2.5% of all carbon emissions. The emission of other gases and particulates at altitude may make its warming impact even larger. Industry wide, manufactures, airlines and even airports, are all looking at how to bring in a new age of green plane technology, whether it’s hydrogen fuel cell, battery...

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#203 Revisited: Crisis Shelter for Mass Displacement Feb 23, 2023

In light of the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, this we are revisting the story of Nooraullah Kuchai. Noorullah is a civil engineer, a humanitarian and a refugee twice over. He lived in a tent in a Pakistani refugee camp for a decade and is now dedicating his life to helping people who have...

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#202 After the Collapse Feb 16, 2023

What do we do after a structure fails? Often, we go to court. Courts cannot make bereaved families, or those injured, whole. They cannot repair damaged structures. But they can go some way to making right some of the harms suffered. Forensic engineers, or building pathologists, are often called on to offer expert witness testimony...

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#201 Creating the UK’s First eMixer Feb 09, 2023

In 2019 Tarmac announced their Innovation Challenge, for companies to propose new technologies to help Tarmac decarbonise. Over the next three years in partnership with Renault Trucks and TVS Interfleet they developed the first electric concrete mixer to be used in the UK. Through the process of designing and building a first of its kind...

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#200 Nuclear Robots on the Cutting Edge Feb 02, 2023

Robots are increasingly able to take on any repeatable task in industry, and are used in many dull, dirty or dangerous tasks. But their deployment for highly variable tasks remains limited. They are now being used in nuclear decommissioning, to sort, cut, and repack waste storage skips. And this could serve as a testing ground...

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#199 Pioneering Carbon Capture for Thermal Power Jan 26, 2023

How can we maintain reliable power through the energy transition, while still making significant cuts to energy emissions? Carbon capture and storage promises an answer, but much groundwork must be done to bring this potential to life. SSE recently received approval to build a new gas power plant at Keadby, in Lincolnshire, which could be...

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#198 Collaboration: The Net Zero Trilogy Jan 19, 2023

Getting to net zero emissions requires a paradigm shift in the way that we think and in the way that we do business says Dr Kim Yates from Mott MacDonald. In this episode we explore how collaboration between climate resilience, decarbonisation and improving biodiversity along with systems thinking could deepen efforts to reduce global carbon...

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#197 On the Cutting Edge of Aviation Jan 12, 2023

In 1992 rolls Royce helped to fund a new technology centre at the University of Birmingham which began a long relationship between the manufacturer and the university. Over the last 30 years research into material sciences for aviation have led to important safety and efficiency gains in plane performance. In 2022 the University of Birmingham...

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#196 Back to the Future of Fusion Jan 05, 2023

The US National Ignition Facility recently announced that it had achieved a milestone in the development of fusion technology, producing more energy from a fusion process than that put into the reactor directly by the lasers that control the process. While the NIF is not designed to research power generation—it has its roots in the...

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#195 The Journey of the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree Dec 22, 2022

Every December in London a magnificent Christmas tree is unveiled in Trafalgar Square. It is an annual gift from the people of Norway to the people of Britain that began 75 years ago. The origins of this tradition lie in the darkest days of the Second World War, and a British naval hero who undertook...

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#194 Nuclear Power Connections Dec 15, 2022

The UK government recently confirmed its support for Sizewell C. Getting to this point, and planning how thousands of construction crew and millions of tonnes of materials and plant will get to the site, has taken a decade of work. Nuclear power plants like Sizewell C are almost always built in rural locations, by the...

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#193 Carbon Crunch (Part 2): Resilience in a Changing World Dec 08, 2022

This year saw infrastructure resilience included in the Carbon Crunch programme for the first time. It is recognition that our infrastructure is being exposed to greater environmental risks than before, and so the impacts on people and communities will be even more profound. If construction does not properly consider the growing risks of rising floods...

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#193 Carbon Crunch (Part 1): The Decarbonisation Debate Dec 08, 2022

It has been nearly 10 years since the world first recorded atmospheric carbon above 400 parts per million. That year, 2013, also marked the first edition of the Carbon Crunch event which brought together infrastructure professionals to discuss the issue of decarbonisation. A decade on and much has changed for the better; we have near-universal...

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#192 Drilling Deep for Geothermal Dec 01, 2022

The deepest hole ever drilled drives 12.2km down below the border of Russia and Finland. The Kola Superdeep Borehole was an experiment to penetrate as deeply as possible into the Earth’s crust, but since 1995 it has been abandoned. Now a company believes that new technology will be able to drill to depths of 20km....

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#191 A Deep Dive Into the Past Nov 24, 2022

In 1985 diver Henri Cosquer discovered a submerged cave entrance in the Mediterranean near Marseilles. Exploring over the next six years he discovered a chamber filled with prehistoric art. Conditions in the caves and the submerged passages leading to it are extremely dangerous: three divers lost their lives exploring the caves. Efforts to map the...

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#190 Regional Re-balancing Nov 17, 2022

For 200 years, towns and cities across the British regions developed specialised roles in the economy of empire. Mining towns and ports, potteries and steelmakers all made their own contribution to a global trade network, and local communities enjoyed jobs for life, with clear paths to entry. With the changing global order of the late...

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#189 Life Cycle Analysis of Construction Materials Nov 10, 2022

How do we assess the environmental impact of construction materials? Some materials may enjoy a reputation as natural and sustainable. Timber, quite literally, grows on trees It is abundant, it captures carbon from the atmosphere, and at the end of its life can decompose naturally, leaving no harmful waste. But some of the highest value...

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#188 Data Analysis for Climate Resilience Nov 08, 2022

UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimates that over the past 20 years, 1.2 million people have been killed by more than 7,000 disasters. It estimates the economic damage at just under $3 trillion. It also found that when compared to the 1980s and 1990s, this impact has almost doubled. Countries are working to become...

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#187 Electrifying the Los Angeles Bus Fleet Nov 03, 2022

In Los Angeles only 3% of the population say they take public transit regularly, compared to 84% of residents who commute to work in their car every day. This results in huge amounts of traffic and air quality so bad that under public health requirements it’s illegal. LA Metro is making major investments to improve...

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#186 Vampire: Resurrecting Britain’s Fastest Car Oct 27, 2022

On 20 September 2006 Richard Hammond raced down the Elvington airfield in Vampire, the jet-powered dragster that still holds the British land speed record. Hammond was travelling at 288mph (464km/h) when one of the car’s tyres unexpectedly blew, flipping the vehicle onto its back. Although seriously injured, Hammond escaped with his life. The Vampire itself...

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#185 Building Canada Line’s Digital Twin Oct 20, 2022

The Canada Line is North America’s most efficient commuter rail. Since it opened in 2009, they have operated with a system availability of 99.9% and a punctuality record of 99.8%. But now they have reached a crucial stage in the line’s lifespan. After 13 years, major maintenance and replacement operations will need to take place...

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#184 The Future of Old Cities Oct 13, 2022

Net Zero is our 2050 ambition for society, but to make this a reality city must be held to a far higher standard. Our urban environments will need to become ‘carbon negative’ if we intend to mount a robust response to the climate emergency. New technologies and techniques are part of the solution. But there...

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#183 Testing Times: Building a Megalab Oct 06, 2022

At the end of 2019 the Coronavirus pandemic began its global take-over, the world had to react fast to try and stop the spread. A project sprung up overnight, to create a megalab large enough to cope with never before seen testing requirements. The project would be complex, intricate, and require a quick delivery. It...

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#182 Using Gravity to Store Energy Sep 29, 2022

As electricity grids around the world transition to using renewable energy resources, investment will need to be made in energy storage. When the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow there needs to be a way for the grid to be supplied with electricity. Currently pumped hydro storage is the main form of energy...

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#181 The Foundations of a New Arctic Sep 22, 2022

When picturing the Arctic, people from warmer latitudes are likely to imagine frozen tundra and lonely steppe. Add global warming to this and the vision shifts to melting ice caps and desperate fauna. But the Arctic is much more than that. It is a region of community and a land of opportunity. With immense fisheries...

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#180 Mining in a Net Zero World Sep 15, 2022

For industries across the world to reach net zero they are going to rely on mining critical minerals to allow for the electrification of their vehicles and machines. This has caused a huge leap in demand for minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt. Added to this, the mining industry itself is already a major polluter...

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#179 Trees: Escaping the Heat Sep 08, 2022

In July 2022 the UK burned as temperatures broke 40°C for the first time in recorded history. As each of us tried different approaches to dealing with the heat, trees offered respite for some astute Brits. In the immediate aftermath the UK Government announced £44 million in reforestation funding for this year. In appreciation of...

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#178 A Vision for a Modular Antarctica Sep 01, 2022

Antarctica New Zealand runs a critical research hub on the volcanic Ross Island. Originally built in 1957, it consists of 12 buildings connected by walkways – none of which have been upgraded since the 1980s. To keep the important science going for the next 50 years a redevelopment was launched in 2017. However, building in...

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SHORT: Tunnelling on Target Aug 30, 2022

An era of tunnelling megaprojects has dawned as governments have invested in the underground the world over. Skills shortages are nothing new to the engineering world, but in some sectors, it is beginning to bite. One such area is surveying. In these situations, technology and collaborative ways of working can take the strain off an...

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#177 The Abandoned Mine Lands of Wyoming Aug 25, 2022

Founded in the late 1800s to supply coal to the Union Pacific Railroad, the town of Hanna, Wyoming has a proud place in the industrial story of the United States. It also has another legacy to contend with – Abandoned Mine Lands. Historical mining activities have left the region with voided geology and subsidence issues....

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#176 Bangalore and the Digital Transformation Aug 18, 2022

In Bangalore, the high-tech heart of India, sits a centre of technology. A state-of-the-art engineering facility working on projects across the globe. In its time, the centre has transitioned from an offshore project design centre to the forefront of technological innovation in the company. Becoming a centre of excellence and pioneering digital innovation, this hub,...

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#175 Tarmac on the Future of Road Technology Aug 11, 2022

The UK’s roads are in increasing need of repair and local councils are facing a nine year long backlog of overdue road maintenance. However, with new technologies entering the road construction industry, future road maintenance and construction projects could be safer, greener and result in longer lasting roads. Tarmac is bringing together all the industry’s...

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#174 Closing the Building Performance Gap Aug 04, 2022

Buildings can use around three times as much energy as design models anticipate. This is an incredible figure and becomes a real problem when considered in context: real estate accounts for 39% of the UK’s total carbon. Around ¾ of that also comes from the operation phase. Part of the problem lies in the way...

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#173 Europe’s First Energy Island Jul 28, 2022

Denmark is embarking on the largest construction project in its history with the assembly of the first energy island in the North Sea. The 120,000sq.m site could serve as a hub for as many as 200 wind turbines, storing and supplying electricity to Denmark and its neighbours. The impact of greenhouse gases on our planet...

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#172 Vaccibox: Revolutionising Kenya’s Vaccine Storage Jul 21, 2022

Norah Magero, the co-founder of Drop Access talks about her invention the Vaccibox. In Kenya a large majority of the population live in remote rural areas with often limited energy access. The Vaccibox is a solar powered vaccine fridge that allows for the safe transportation and storage of vaccines to remote areas. In this episode...

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#171 Ultraviolet light: Preventing the Next Pandemic Jul 14, 2022

For most environments, disinfection has barely changed since the 1918 influenza outbreak; many of the same companies offer similar chemical products with which to douse surfaces. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic a startup decided to explore the use of ultraviolet light to disinfect surfaces, not just in high-end laboratories, but classrooms, bars, shops...

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#170 Pet Food vs Climate Change Jul 07, 2022

Although ‘pet food’ and ‘engineering’ may not immediately align in the mind, one supplier wanted to ensure its products were both sustainable and ethical; from certification to packaging, and from farm to bowl. To do this required a keen understanding of its supply chain and the impact its decisions would have on its carbon footprint....

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#169 Ocean Science: Ten Years to Turn the Tide Jun 30, 2022

This week we are bringing you a guest episode from the Planet Beyond podcast. This is another podcast we produce, and is brought to you by Fugro. For much of history the seas have loomed impossibly large and untouchable. This perception is at odds with the vulnerability of ocean environments. Now, following decades of abuse...

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SHORT: Making the Big Decisions Jun 28, 2022

Supply chain disruptions that initially left companies entirely without critical materials have given way to inflation of shipping and production costs, shortages of skilled labour, and volatile prices for everything from plaster to electronics. Unpredictable and unreliable supply chains are a headache for anyone involved in project cost or schedule management, but for a property...

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#168 Industry 4.0: Finding the Hidden Factory Jun 23, 2022

In the 1970’s Dr Armand Feigenbaum coined the term ‘Hidden Factories’ to talk about the hidden part of organisations where as much 40% of production capability was lost through inefficiency. Finding these weak spots proved difficult until very recently. An exponential increase in data processing power has led to a fourth industrial revolution, or industry...

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#167 Building Allyship Jun 16, 2022

At its core, being an ally is about support, a willingness to learn about the struggles of others, take them on board and be an advocate for those people’s rights. This is an important part of a healthy business culture. Given the current engineering skills gap, opening business to a wider pool of candidates through...

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#166 Space: The Robotic Age Jun 09, 2022

As access to space has become less expensive, companies are moving to create an in-orbit servicing and manufacturing industry. In-orbit servicing, repairing existing spacecraft and satellites, has been taking place for many years but as we move beyond low earth orbit advanced robotics will be used to carry out these tasks rather than astronauts. Space...

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#165 A Road Map to Net Zero Highways Jun 02, 2022

In 2020 National Highways released their 2030/2040/2050 Net Zero plan. The plan laid out three main targets for reaching net zero, first cutting all their direct carbon emissions which includes lighting the network and all forms of corporate office emissions by 2030. Second is cutting all emissions from the network’s construction and maintenance by 2040,...

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#164 Under the North Sea: Threat and Promise May 26, 2022

In the last century, the tides of conflict swirled around Europe as the world’s largest powers fought for dominance over air, land and sea. The North Sea was a critical theatre that could have determined the future direction of the planet in two World Wars. Since the guns fell silent in 1945, the North Sea...

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SHORT: Engineering Winners May 24, 2022

For more than 40 years, The IET’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards have been celebrating the incredible women engineers working to improve our world and shape our future to help change the outdated perception that it’s an industry just for men. These awards are all about showcasing the best women engineering talent in...

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#163 Nuclear Decommissioning with Data May 19, 2022

Our world is becoming increasingly more virtual, promising new ways of relating to each other and of doing business. The benefits of this, however, are unclear. Virtual and augmented realities could amount to no more than Pokémon Go or Second Life, but they could accentuate the harms we already see online in ways no-one can...

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#162 Smooth as Glass: The Road Ahead May 12, 2022

On concrete paved roads, cracks can be reflected up from the joints between paving sections, into the surface layer. These cracks can lead to further damage to the road structure, and require maintenance from road owners. But the latest road surfacing technology has been proven effective on Formula 1 tracks and airport runways around the...

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#161 The Net Zero Laboratory May 05, 2022

You have just arrived in a Biosafety Level 4 Containment Lab. These are the most secure laboratories built by human hands, and they are where scientists study the most dangerous pathogens. Containment is an absolute requirement and they are often in isolated locations. They are also extraordinarily intricate, complicated and expensive structures, that often require...

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#160 Autonomous Driving: Solving the Lidar Challenge Apr 28, 2022

When an engineer has an idea that could change the world, the world might not immediately be ready for it. That is what Omer Keilaf realised in 2012 when he thought he could revolutionise LiDAR technology while watching an advert for the Xbox Kinect. At that time the world was interested in mobile phone technology,...

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#159 Dealing with Data Apr 21, 2022

Once infrastructure projects pass a certain value, around 200 to 300 million dollars, data becomes a major challenge. There is no shortage of data in engineering and the complexity goes up exponentially. Data science is becoming increasingly important in an ever more complicated sector. Guests Tom Goldsmith, Product Manager – Lighthouse, Atkins Marianna Imprialou, Principal...

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#158 Vertical Farming at Potager Farm Apr 14, 2022

Potager Farm CEO Mario Gatineau grew up in the French countryside as the son of a beekeeper and botanist. When pesticides used in local farming killed around 80 percent of his father’s bees he dedicated himself to finding new environmentally sustainable ways to produce food. Today he is launching a vertical farm in the heart...

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SHORT: Celebrating the Work Apr 12, 2022

The engineering industry is only as good as the talent it can attract and retain. In this Engineering Matters Short we follow the journey of a talented young engineer, who found herself unable to connect with an industry dominated by older white men. Now she is set to host the upcoming E&T Innovation Awards in...

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#157 Interconnectors: The Green Link to Ireland Apr 07, 2022

Standing on the cliffs of Ireland’s west coast you can feel the reason that Ireland generates more than 35% of its electricity from wind power. But what happens when the wind passes on its way east towards Great Britain? When conditions are poor for renewables, a high penetration in the electricity mix becomes a liability....

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#156 Social Value: How to get it Right Mar 31, 2022

When it comes to adhering to standards, working within regulations, and ticking boxes, companies are pretty great. It’s how they are set up, and it is how they are used to thinking. But starting around 10 years ago, companies and organisations were asked to look at the world, and the work they do, in a...

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#155 Coral and the Hunt for a Cure Mar 24, 2022

Coral reefs are sometimes called the rainforests of the oceans and support an estimated 25% of all known marine species, but they, and the sponges that inhabit them, are unusually susceptible to changes in the waters and the local microbial community. Coral bleaching is just one of the negative effects of changing world. However, teams...

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#154 Falkirk Wheel: The Design Story Mar 17, 2022

This is the story of a structure so unique that there is nothing like it in the entire world. The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland is the only rotating boat lift ever built. Constructed in the late 1990s as part of the Millennium Link project to connect the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal...

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SHORT: Engineering Waste Mar 15, 2022

In partnership with Tabsal SCL, Engineering Matters speaks with Javier Saldise about how his Spanish company is taking waste wood and transforming it into structural timber.

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#153 Recycling Carbon: Biofuels from Waste Mar 10, 2022

What if we could take the waste that no one wants, the kind of waste that is shoved into landfill and turn it into sustainable fuel? Thanks to developments in gasification technology this is now possible at a commercial scale. In this episode we visit the Varennes Carbon Recycling Plant to discover why engineers are...

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#152 Crisis Shelter Revisited Mar 03, 2022

As hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flee their country which is under attack by Putin’s Russia, we find that the number of forcibly displaced people is at an all-time high. This episode, first run in 2019 and created with Mott MacDonald at the UK Shelter Forum examines the issues affecting shelter provision for refugees. Original...

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#151 Electrification: the future of industry Feb 24, 2022

In this week’s episode we will learn about the technologies that have driven the development of electrification for a variety of well-known industrial OEM brands. Electric motors, high-frequency battery chargers and motion controllers have made electric and hybrid vehicles more and more ubiquitous. And industry is just getting started. Guests Claes Avasjo, Executive Director, ZAPI...

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#150 Green Hydrogen: Creating the System Feb 17, 2022

Green hydrogen, created from renewable energy resources, has been hailed as a panacea to decarbonisation of heat and fluctuation in natural gas prices. But the reality is that not every application will be either cost effective or practically viable. In this episode we explore the case for green hydrogen and find that its success is...

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#149 Roads: Invention needs Ambition Feb 10, 2022

In the UK in 2020, 80% of freight was moved by road and 90% of passenger miles were travelled by road. It is considered a high-carbon form of transport today, but this is changing as new technology is rapidly making electric vehicles and alternative fuels more attractive. With the decarbonisation of road transport, its popularity...

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#148 Skyscrapers: Predicting the Future Feb 03, 2022

Predicting the future is difficult, every year would-be prophets fail to predict major events and over-eager journalists seize on the words of ancient mystics to fill column inches. But there are some people who need to be able to predict what society will need, up to a decade in advance. Developers of skyscrapers need to...

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#147 Flooding: Making Space for Water Jan 27, 2022

In the summer of 2021 record rainfall overwhelmed river systems across Europe. People in the Limburg region of the Netherlands held their collective breath as water levels in the River Meuse rose. Floods in the 1990s had taught them what devastation flooding could bring. Fortunately, the government had already acted, investing in a unique and...

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#146 Small Modular Reactors Jan 20, 2022

The 2021 energy crisis saw coal power plants fire into life as natural gas prices spiralled and wind turbines stood idle. The combination of circumstances emphasised the need for firm power that is also zero carbon. Fortunately, a quiet revolution has been underway in the nuclear industry as Small Modular Reactor (SMR) plans are maturing....

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#145 Andrew Smyth – Engineering with Cake Jan 13, 2022

When Andrew Smyth turned the handle on his clockwork pies on Great British Bake Off in 2016, it brought together two disciplines that had never been combined before. Engineering and baking were combined in the glory of eight mechanised pies. For aerospace engineer Andrew this was just the beginning of a new career as a...

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#144 Enhancing an Estuary, Restoring a River Jan 06, 2022

In this first episode of the New Year, we are telling a story about renewal. A project in 1950s New Zealand called the Kaituna Cut re-diverted a river, draining wetlands to create pasture. But working against nature can have negative consequences. The process caused the Maketū estuary to silt, and biodiversity to crash. Now, following...

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#143 Learning From Adventure Dec 23, 2021

This week we bring you a guest episode from the Planet Beyond podcast. An adventurous spirit in people has made many successful organisations what they are today. To be truly great, we often find these people are guided by a moral compass, possessing core values that provide that relentless pointer to the right way, even...

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#142 Blue Carbon: The Forgotten Store Dec 16, 2021

Humans can feel that we have built a world to live in that is above and apart from nature. We concrete the ground, we regulate the temperature of our spaces, and we shield ourselves from storms. But increasingly wild and frequent weather events are making us doubt the endurance of our fortress of glass, steel,...

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#141 Setting up a Vaccine Factory Dec 09, 2021

By the end of 2021, 8 billion doses of COVID19 vaccine had been administered around the world. This achievement has only been possible thanks to world leading scientific research creating vaccines in record breaking time. However not many people realise that this is only part of the story. To get these vaccines into the arms...

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#140 HS2 and the Golden Thread of Station Design Dec 02, 2021

High Speed 2 is the UK’s latest transport megaproject. Billed as the largest ever investment in the country’s rail, its first phase will link London in the south via 230km of high-speed rail with Birmingham in the West Midlands. With a focus on innovation and new technologies available, the project is determined to avoid the...

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#139 Offshore Wind: Scotland’s World Leader Nov 25, 2021

At 4.1GW Berwick Bank is planning to become the largest offshore windfarm in the world. This is enough generating capacity to power Scotland’s homes twice over and it would play a critical role in meeting the UK’s wind energy targets. But in order to move ahead it must overcome a range of challenges from obtaining...

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#138 Space Resources: The Next Leap Nov 18, 2021

Ever since the beginning of the space age, scientists and engineers have considered the role extra-terrestrial resources could have to supporting missions of exploration and science. However, early missions to space and the moon were too brief to benefit from in-situ supplies. Now with a new drive to return to the Moon, this time to...

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#137 The Calculator that Could Still Save the World Nov 11, 2021

Two years ago the world was preparing for COP25 in Madrid, and we released this episode (#36) about a calculator that was helping countries around the world to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and create more sustainable energy systems. Just as relevant now as it was then, and for the benefit of newer listeners, we...

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#136 The Future of Mobility Nov 04, 2021

In the 20 years before Covid-19 the proportion of 17- to 20-year-olds with a driving licence fell from nearly half to less than a third. Even before lockdowns and remote working, the way people moved was changing. As we organise for the future, we need to understand that the decisions on what to build and...

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#135 COP26: Decarbonising Transport Oct 29, 2021

Decarbonisation of transportation and shipping will require us to leverage improvements to green technologies and adapt to new ways of thinking and organising. It will require us to make different choices, on an individual and collective level. This is the final episode in our series of specials in the run up to COP26. We will...

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#134 COP26: Working in a Climate Conscious World Oct 28, 2021

The world is in a climate emergency and as its inhabitants, we have a narrow window of opportunity to take control. And the infrastructure industry has a fundamental and important role to play in reducing global emissions. In this episode, the third of our series leading up to COP26, we look at some ambitious targets...

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#133 COP26: The Legacy of the Lac Megantic Disaster Oct 27, 2021

Early in the morning of 6 July 2013 a freight train carrying 7.7 million litres of crude oil derailed, destroying downtown Lac Megantic, a small town in Quebec, Canada. The disaster claimed 47 lives and destroyed over 30 buildings and condemning a further 36. As part of the rebuilding efforts, the town saw an opportunity...

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#132 COP26: Decarbonising Buildings Oct 26, 2021

Every year buildings around the world are responsible for 13.6bn tonnes of carbon equivalent to 40 percent of all emissions. These are generated by the materials that shape them, the energy that illuminates them and the molecules that heat them. As countries gather in Scotland at COP 26 for the world’s biggest climate change conference,...

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#131 Cranes: How to Plan a Lift Oct 21, 2021

Modern construction cranes are highly optimised. They’re designed to lift as much as possible, as far or as high as possible, while being able to fit into tight spaces when needed. To work safely and efficiently, they need to spread the weight of the load, and the crane, down to the ground they stand on,...

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#130 Navigating New Construction Technology Oct 14, 2021

The money flowing in to new construction technology is unprecedented. In the in the five years from 2009 to 2014, $8 billion was spent on digital investments to boost productivity, improve design and optimise project management. But in the following five years – 2014 to 2019 – this more than tripled, with investors pouring more...

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#129 A Vision for Clean Growth in Bradford Oct 07, 2021

Bradford in the North West of the UK was at the heart of the industrial revolution. Its world class textiles industry made it one of the richest cities in the world. But now it needs a new vision for the future and in this episode we have partnered with WSP to discover how the UK’s...

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#128 Positioning Satellites in New Space Sep 30, 2021

As the regions of space around Earth become increasingly crowded with new satellites, the most popular orbits of all are becoming hazardous. Beyond a point, the crowding will reach a level at which a collision between two objects would result in a cascade. The initial collision would lead to yet more collisions until Low Earth...

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#127 Tools for Thinking Sep 28, 2021

In today’s episode we are looking from the dawn of engineering to the modern day, at ‘tools for thinking’. These are the intellectual methods and the physical tools that engineers have used throughout history to work through their ideas and prove viability. Each advance makes it possible to work with numbers in new ways, and...

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#126 Propping up Vienna Sep 23, 2021

Vienna, the capital city of Austria is also known worldwide as The City of Music and this musical metropolis is fine tuning the way that it constructs underground. In order to expand its metro system it has turned to the use of hydraulic props to hold back the pressure from the earth during construction of...

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#125 Artificial Intelligence in Project Planning Sep 16, 2021

New software using AI is enabling planners to identify options for engineering projects that are beyond the realms of human imagination. Traditionally, solutions are studied individually at great time and cost but budgets and timelines are more constrained than ever before. At the same time planners are being asked to incorporate more factors into identifying...

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#124 Mussels: How to Save the Seas Sep 09, 2021

Intensive farming leads to nutrients seeping into the groundwater and into rivers. These enriched waterways deliver immense quantities of nutrients to coastal seas and cause algae to bloom, overwhelming the ecosystem. Fortunately, blue mussels can feed on these algae and also provide a sustainable food source both for humans and for the agriculture and aquaculture...

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#123 Engineering Plants: Intelligent Growth Solutions Sep 02, 2021

The world is on the brink of a climate related disaster. The solution requires a combination of engineering disciplines that do not come together very often. But they must, because the challenge is so enormous that the future of the human race quite literally depends on it. Wheat, rice, sweetcorn, and soybean currently provide two...

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#122 Decarbonisation: Growing Roads on Trees Aug 26, 2021

In this episode we look at how a new plant-based bitumen will be incorporated into asphalt mixtures currently being developed. The hope is that this will allow clients to build roads that act as carbon sinks. The reduction in carbon by using products like this could play a significant role in helping the UK achieve...

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#121 Batteries: The Lithium-Silicon Age Aug 19, 2021

After a decade of growth, there were 10 million electric cars on the world’s roads by the end of 2020. This growth trend is set to continue, with at least 145 million on the roads by 2030. The performance of batteries in this electrified future will be critical. In this episode we are looking at...

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#120 Recycled Plastic: The Canadian Potential Aug 12, 2021

In 2019, Justin Trudeau declared war on plastic waste. And single-use plastics were listed as a toxic material in Canada in May of this year. Before long, Canadian companies will have to find a use for the immense quantity of material they generate. Yet the North American reprocessing industry is still young. Meanwhile, on the...

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#119 The Grange: Saving Time, Saving Lives Aug 05, 2021

As COVID-19 rampaged across the UK in 2020, society shut down and hospitals reached breaking point. For engineers building The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, South Wales their work took on a greater meaning. They had to make sure that this 450 bed critical care facility was completed ahead of time. Their actions didn’t just...

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#118 Gateway: The Lunar Space Station Jul 29, 2021

The last time a person walked on the moon was 14 December 1972. Almost 50 years ago. Since then, human operations have been confined to Earth orbit. But during that time, technology has not stood still. Now we are ready to take the next step. This episode we are talking to NASA about the Lunar...

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#117 How Sails Could Save Shipping Jul 22, 2021

The first boats that harnessed the wind to skip over the waves may have been built 8,000 years ago. Several hundred years later, the earliest seaborne trading networks began to form in the Aegean and the Persian Gulf. Modern cargo shipping relies on ‘bunker fuel’ a thick, black sludge made from the dregs of the...

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#116 Climate Change: Islands on the Frontline Jul 15, 2021

Island states are at the forefront of climate change. Rising sea levels mean more coastal erosion, overtopping of defences and salinification of land. More frequent and devastating severe weather events are disrupting everyday life and acidification of the ocean is impacting on fishing. It is happening now, not in decades to come. From atolls in...

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#115 The Circular Road Jul 08, 2021

In this episode we explain how one of the world’s biggest problems – plastic waste can be reused in state of the art, energy-efficient road-building products. Working with Cumbria County Council within an initiative called Adept Live Labs Shell will be publicly sharing the knowledge they are gaining in these lab trials, with the overall...

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#114 Engineering with Dogs Jul 01, 2021

Ecologists on infrastructure projects have some new team members: Conservation dogs. Their superior olfactory systems mean that they can sniff out a plethora of protected species from great crested newts and water voles, to bats and birds. Critically these canine detectives can do this more quickly, accurately and safely than humans. Thanks to pioneering work...

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#113 Food Waste: Making a Net Zero Jet Fuel Jun 24, 2021

Every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted. The waste occurs all through the supply chain, from the farm itself, all the way to the household. It represents enough calories to potentially feed every undernourished person on the planet, and there is an environmental cost to this. About 6% of all human greenhouse gas...

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#112 Hagerbach: The Bat Cave of Tunnelling Jun 17, 2021

Every good superhero universe has its origins story. Hagerbach’s begins with Rudolf Amberg, looking to innovate and find new efficiency savings for his iron mine. So began a 50-year journey from testing equipment and explosives, to fire and tunnel safety simulations, and ever more creative uses for underground space. Ultimately the mining industry in Switzerland...

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#111 Machine Learning: Construction’s Future Jun 10, 2021

When people think of digital tools to help with engineering problems, they usually think of a 3D model or a computerised image, representing something that exists in the real world. Machine learning is not that. What it does is completely alien to your way of thinking. It operates in such a way that is totally...

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#110 London: Boosting Biodiversity Jun 03, 2021

London is the world’s first national park city, with about 50% green coverage of its surface area. This is a legacy of the public and Royal parks, Victorian tree planting, and is something Londoners enjoy on a daily basis. Behind the scenes, major organisations and stakeholders are working to raise the profile of environmental sustainability. ...

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#109 Spiders Versus Plastic May 27, 2021

For millions of years spiders have been spinning naturally occurring proteins into an incredibly strong and durable silk. By studying the anatomy of these arachnids, scientists in the UK have cracked the code to reassembling natural proteins creating a new alternative to plastic. Pioneering research company Xampla says that its supramolecular engineered protein is fully...

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#108 Antarctica: Building Rothera Wharf May 20, 2021

Since the end of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, humanity has focused its activities in the southern continent on science and research. To do this effectively, logistics are critical. To prepare for the arrival of its new ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, the wharf at Rothera Research Station needed to be replaced. The...

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#107 Africa: Connecting a Continent May 13, 2021

Preparation is currently underway for installation of one of the world’s longest fibre optic communications cables. Survey vessels are circumnavigating the entire coast of Africa determining the best locations for laying the cable on the seabed and bringing it onshore. At around 36,000km long it will provide connectivity to countries throughout the continent and form...

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#106 A Beginner’s Guide to Social Value May 06, 2021

Why do we build? Why develop society? And who reaps the benefit? In this episode we look at the new interest the construction industry is taking in quantifying and appreciating social value. That difficult-to-define idea that has also enjoyed the recent attention of central government, with legislation mandating that projects and tenders take it into...

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#105 Solar Grazing at Shaker Village Apr 29, 2021

In a field a few miles southwest of the city of Lexington in Kentucky, a sheep is quietly grazing in the shade. This is a very special sheep. It has been carefully selected from a rare breed to control the vegetation at Kentucky’s largest solar farm. The practice is known as Solar Grazing, an environmentally...

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#104 Solving Rail’s Hidden Hazard Apr 22, 2021

In 2019/20 an estimated 693,000 workers in Great Britain sustained a non-fatal injury at work in Great Britain. The figure, which comes from the Office of National Statistics Labour Force Survey, represents 2,160 injuries per 100,000 workers. The rate had been steadily decreasing for decades. This self-reported rate passed just below 4,000 per 100,000 in...

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#103 A Canadian Blueprint for Net Zero Apr 15, 2021

What is Net Zero? And how can we get there? Can we mitigate the damage of three centuries of fossil fuel-powered industrialisation, with three decades of new energy infrastructure? While Canada is rich in renewables and already produces 80% of its electricity using non greenhouse gas sources, it, like countries around the world, has a...

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#102 Crushing Climate Change Apr 08, 2021

Every two years the Peak District hosts ‘Hillhead’ in a disused quarry. It is the largest event for the Quarrying, Construction and Recycling industries. It is known both for its lively equipment demonstrations and unpredictable weather. This year the coronavirus forced the event online, and the new format forced the organisers to reconsider the focus....

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#101 Powering and Protecting Scottish Heritage Apr 01, 2021

Along the west coast of Scotland lies a chain of island communities where fishing and farming have been a way of life for thousands of years. In securing the future of these islands through providing reliable electricity, engineers and archaeologists are looking to the past to ensure that the rich history is not lost. Replacing...

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#100 Megaprojects (Part 3): Learning from Experience Mar 30, 2021

This is the third and final episode of our three-part special looking at the delivery of megaprojects. In this episode we examine the lessons learned from two of the most iconic tunnelling projects of recent times: London’s Crossrail and New York’s East Side Access. Crossrail was the largest infrastructure project in Europe. Weaving in and...

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#100 Megaprojects (Part 2): How to Deliver? Mar 30, 2021

For the 100th episode of Engineering Matters we bring you this three-part special looking at the delivery of a megaproject. In this second episode, we look at how a client can assess the scale of the task of delivering an impossibly complex scheme, such as a megaproject and supplement gaps in its skillset with industry...

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#100 Megaprojects (Part 1): What Makes a Megaproject? Mar 30, 2021

Megaprojects are among the most complex and challenging of society’s undertakings. Each is grand is scope and due to the scale, none are ever built twice. Although they leverage the resources and political will of a nation, most encounter cost and schedule overruns, damaging reputations and souring public support. For the 100th episode of Engineering...

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#99 Urbanisation: Infrastructure for Growing Cities Mar 25, 2021

Today the world holds 33 megacities, cities that are home to over 10 million people. As these sprawling urban centres become more crowded than ever before infrastructure is under pressure to do more, last longer and respond faster. In this episode we find out why it is so important to understand exactly what is in the...

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#98 The Construction Playground Mar 18, 2021

As projects grow ever more complex, with tighter delivery demands placed on the entire supply chain, a baseline of digitalisation has been essential for the past few years… the companies that have adapted and thrived in this environment are now looking into areas they might not have worked with before. Predictive analysis, material tracking, sensors,...

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#97 The Gateway to Indonesia Mar 11, 2021

To alleviate the burden on its largest city Jakarta, Indonesia is going to move its capital more than 1,000km from the densely populated island of Java, to less developed Borneo. The new city will be constructed near the port city of Balikpapan, an economic boon for the region but an increased strain on its already-tested...

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#97 (Indonesian) Bandara Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Sepinggan Mar 11, 2021

Dalam episode ini kami bermitra dengan Shell untuk membahas pengaspalan ulang landasan pacu (atau runway) Bandara Balikpapan – Bandara Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Sepinggan. Kita akan mempelajari bagaimana peningkatan jumlah penumpang dan armada pesawat yang lebih baru dan berat telah mendorong landasan pacu yang ada melampaui batasnya. Frekuensi serta beban yang meningkat, yang dikombinasiikan dengan...

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#96 Fusion: Britain Builds a Star Mar 04, 2021

In this episode we are looking at a project being run by the UK Atomic Energy Authority which aims to build a prototype fusion power plant by the 2040s. To do that they are currently working on a concept design, choosing from a menu of international technologies. Their work needs to be complete by spring...

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#95 Saving Oceans with Science Feb 25, 2021

The world’s oceans are in crisis. Plastic pollution, rising sea levels, warmer waters and chemical changes are degrading ocean systems and the world is at a dangerous tipping point. A point so dangerous that the United Nations has made 2021 the start of a new decade for ocean science for sustainable development. In this episode...

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#94 Barriers to Data Rich Design Feb 18, 2021

Construction has not always recognised the value of using data from past projects to deliver better results in the present. It often finds itself starting from scratch on new projects, when learning from earlier experiences could help solve its productivity problem. But the so-called data rich design is still sporadic, and the industry suffers for...

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#93 Tomatoes and the Road to Net Zero Feb 11, 2021

Something remarkable is happening in East Anglia. Waste heat from sewage treatment is being pumped into two enormous greenhouses creating low carbon heat for growing tomatoes. A lot of tomatoes, more than 10% of UK production. This use of waste heat is just one of the ways that water companies are using waste as a...

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#92 The Most Flooded Town In England Feb 04, 2021

In this episode we partnered with WSP to tell the story of Looe, a fishing port in Cornwall. The small town has the dubious accolade of ‘most flooded place in England’, and without intervention, the situation will get much worse. With sea levels rising by as much as a metre over the next century, and...

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#91 Global Risks and Shapeshifting Infrastructure Jan 28, 2021

With the weight of the built environment exceeding that of the total biomass for the first time, the human impact on the planet has passed a symbolic but significant milestone. What we do matters, and such a society needs to be run as effectively as possible. Every year the World Economic Forum publishes its Global...

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#90 The New Way to Plan a City Jan 21, 2021

The data quality in the planning and development sector is appalling. Whether supplied in this form accidentally, negligently, or recklessly does not matter – much of it is wrong. Yet over the years, this data has been used to form some of our most important decisions for the built environment. Now a new system will...

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#89 Blue Lanes in the Black Country Jan 14, 2021

A revolution is happening in the UK, and it is happening quietly. Inspired by the Copenhagen Bicycle Account, Bike Life is the biggest assessment of cycling in cities and urban areas across the UK and Ireland. Started in Birmingham, but now in 12 cities across the country, Bike Life has informed policy decisions, justified investment...

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#88 Engineering Trees Jan 07, 2021

It is tree planting season in the UK. With their amazing carbon storage ability, flood alleviation capacity and biodiversity boosting potential, trees are fast becoming a critical part of plans to reduce net carbon emissions and mitigate against global warming. But with only 13 percent tree cover the UK lags behind Europe when it comes...

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#87 So That Was 2020 Dec 29, 2020

Welcome to the very last Engineering Matters of 2020! In this episode we go back to some of the biggest stories that we covered over the past year and find out what happened next. We also give listeners a peak behind the curtain at how we put the episodes together and introduce you to some...

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#86 Enterprise Delivery: A Model for Recovery Dec 22, 2020

With a £100bn capital spending plan, the biggest ever investment in new transport infrastructure and a ten-point plan for climate change, the UK is determined to build its way to post COVID19 economic recovery. The bad news is that major projects have a terrible track record for not being built on time and going over...

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#85 Concrete’s Role in the Climate War Dec 17, 2020

Contributing around 8% of global climate emissions, concrete is a major source of carbon. It is also essential, and no major project is feasible without thousands of tonnes of concrete. As the world looks to decrease its impact on the environment, with a reduction of carbon emissions forming a major focus within that effort, every...

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#84 Asphalt of the Future Dec 15, 2020

Have you ever walked past a newly surfaced road, perhaps around the corner from your house… and wondered when it will next be resurfaced? Side roads often seem to be in poor condition, and if you live in England, you probably will not see it resurfaced again in your lifetime. The average interval is 119...

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#83 Digitisation and the road to diversity Dec 10, 2020

In this episode we look at how the demands of the industry are becoming increasingly diverse, resulting in a similar change in the people carrying out the work. We look at how the industry can adapt to use new tools at its disposal to take advantage of new skills, improve productivity, and make construction a...

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#82 Securing the Shugborough Tunnel Dec 08, 2020

Set in the West Midlands county of Staffordshire is a former Royal Forest called Cannock Chase. It is part misty, secluded woodland and part undulating moorland. As you head up to the north of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the landscape becomes tame and you enter the Shugborough Estate, some 10km to the east...

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#81 Zen and the Art of Programme Management Dec 03, 2020

The adoption of healthy or unhealthy behaviours at project reviews can have an enormous impact on the overall project and even the wider industry. Going down the wrong path can have a multiplier effect over the course of the project, and with growing project complexities, you need to be able to rely on your team....

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#80 Covid 19: Construction Copes with the Pandemic Nov 26, 2020

It is by now a topic that sadly needs little introduction. It has impacted everyone in the last year. Changed lives and livelihoods, overturned entire sectors, and altered the global balance of power Our way of living and working has changed, and only in the last couple of weeks has hope appeared in the distance,...

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#79 Rebuilding Zandvoort’s Rollercoaster Racetrack Nov 19, 2020

In this episode we look at the Circuit Zandvoort, the iconic post-WW2 racetrack in the Netherlands. Beloved by fans of all flavours of motorsport, it recently had cause to redesign and resurface its track in the hopes of hosting the first Dutch Grand Prix since 1985. To do this required the design of some of...

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#78 Reinventing invention Nov 12, 2020

A revolution is approaching manufacturing, one that will see costs and time to market cut by as much as 50%. The digitalisation of engineering will reduce the need to churn out prototypes as a product goes back and forth between design and manufacturing departments. In a rapidly changing world, this revolution cannot come soon enough,...

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#77 Floating Turbines: Offshore Wind’s Game Changer Nov 05, 2020

Until a few years ago the offshore wind industry was constrained by the seabed characteristics of countries seeking to harness the generating capacity of the wind. Only those with shallow waters of around 40m or less could implement fixed offshore arrays. But in just a few years the game has changed. Floating offshore turbines are...

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#76 Building with Biomaterials Oct 29, 2020

In this episode we have partnered with Autodesk Construction Solutions to look at a new approach to housing construction in Kenya. We take a look at how a local architecture, engineering and construction firm, BuildX, is working with modern methods of construction – manufacturing modular units offsite – to produce housing on a scale, and...

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#75 Last Howl of the Vulcan Oct 22, 2020

The Vulcan is one of the most iconic aircraft ever flown by the Royal Air Force. Although not quite the household name that the Spitfire has been, it has always been a crowd favourite at air shows. As well as the immense noise generated by its four Rolls Royce Olympus engines, which has thrilled children...

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#74 Weaving a New Data Fabric for Infrastructure Oct 15, 2020

Imagine a world where Alexa can tell you the latest, greenest, safest and most cost-effective way to design, deliver or operate something. Advice on decision-making that takes into account whole life costing, and tell you where best to spend money, to save more money in future. We all understand this concept in our own lives;...

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#73 How to Build a Digital Twin Oct 08, 2020

Anglian Water currently enjoys a daily surplus of 150 million litres of water, but this is forecast to become a 150 million litre deficit by 2045. To help mitigate this shortfall it is constructing hundreds of kilometres of large diameter pipeline, as well as pumping stations and storage points to divert water from areas with...

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#72 Seeing the Himalayas: Kickstarting Net Zero Oct 01, 2020

On a bright morning in April, people in the city of Jalandhar in the state of Punjab stood out in the streets and saw something breath-taking… something that many of them had never seen before. The skies were so clear that for the first time in decades the soaring peaks of the Himalayas standing almost...

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#71 Stewards of the Soil Sep 24, 2020

Historically civilisations have sprung up wherever the land was most fertile, soils that supported good crop productivity to meet the food requirements of highly concentrated groups of people. Now with the global population close to 8 billion, and all arable land already committed to food production, we are turning to technology to help fertilise soils...

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#70 On Track for a Rail Revolution Sep 17, 2020

The railway network in the UK is old and vast and home to the first public railway to use steam locomotives in the world. The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825 and connected coal mines in the northeast of England. It was the metal track, the coal-fired furnace, and the shrill whistle of the...

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#69 Artificial Intelligence in Infrastructure Sep 10, 2020

Maintaining a tunnel requires many hours of dedicated work by highly skilled engineers. And as our network of tunnels expands, so does the maintenance demand. Asset owners and local authorities have been under pressure for years to find a cost-effective way of monitoring and maintaining their underground infrastructure. And now, engineers in Switzerland have turned...

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#68 The Future of Design Sep 03, 2020

Changes to the way we do design are coming; construction is languishing at the bottom of the productivity rankings, now below hunting and fishing. Decision-making is happening late in the project lifecycle, meaning that design work has to be repeated unnecessarily, and a reward culture based on price rather than outcomes builds in more inefficiency....

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#67 The Future is Remote and Autonomous Aug 27, 2020

Remotely operated vehicles, uncrewed surface vessels and ever-increasing autonomy are removing personnel from dangerous work offshore in the North Sea and elsewhere. Inspection of maritime assets is now being controlled from onshore operations centres. We look at one of these command and control centres, the Fugro facility in Aberdeen. With a robust regulatory framework and...

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#66 Fever Screening in Airports Aug 20, 2020

As a small island trading nation, Britain risks killing its economy and losing millions of jobs, unless it can allow people to get back to work in as normal a way as possible. So said John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow Airport, who wants to see a more sophisticated way of opening our borders. He was...

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#65 Every Little Helps Aug 13, 2020

At the start of the Covid-19 lockdown, one of the few reasons people were allowed to leave their homes was to shop for the basic essentials. Social distancing rules meant that shoppers were held in long queues that wound through supermarket car parks, moving slowly. One supermarket in northern England had the added problem of...

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#64 EDAROTH Aug 06, 2020

Manchester – the city has been on the cutting edge since the birth of the industrial revolution. From John Dalton’s Atomic Theory in 1803, to the invention of Graphene in 2004. More recently it has given the world the greatest music ever made. Home to 2.8 million people in 1.2 million dwellings over 500 square...

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#63 Nine Days to Build a Hospital Jul 30, 2020

When Dan Harmer received a call in March that told him to clear his schedule and prepare for a meeting, he knew it would be important, but had no idea quite what would be asked of him. With Covid-19 spreading exponentially, and the National Health Service looking increasingly vulnerable, he was the man chosen to...

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#62 The Washing Machine Project Jul 23, 2020

Hundreds of millions of people in the most economically disadvantaged places in the world spend up to 20 hours per week washing clothes by hand. This task, traditionally forced onto women, is back breaking and monotonous. Then in 2018 a promise made in a rural village in southern India has led Nav Sawhney to leave...

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#61 Countdown to British launch Jul 16, 2020

On 28 October 1971 the UK conducted its first and only successful orbital launch, firing the Prospero satellite into low earth orbit – LEO on a Black Arrow rocket. Since that time, the country has lacked a native launch vehicle. In this episode we speak with Joe Laynton, a mechanical engineer working for Skyrora, an...

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#60 Covid 19: Creating safer spaces Jul 02, 2020

Britain is emerging from some of the toughest social restrictions placed in peacetime history. As people come out of their homes, they are eager to meet friends and loved ones, and head back out into the world – but they are scared. To help keep people safe in a world gripped by Covid-19, and to...

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#59 Empowering Ethical Engineering Jun 25, 2020

Engineers are in a uniquely powerful position. Able to shape our built environment and so influence the direction of civilisation, the impact that their expertise can have for the good of society and the environment is incredible. But people are human, and if a negative culture is allowed to thrive in the organisations that employ...

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#58 Construction declares climate emergency Jun 11, 2020

Since mid-2019, over 900 architectural practices in the UK have made a declaration of climate and biodiversity emergency, acknowledging the extreme seriousness of our situation and making a public commitment to positive change. Now joined by declarations from other disciplines in the construction industry, the growing movement needs coordination or it risks becoming siloed. In...

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#57 Printing versus the pandemic: COVID 19 May 28, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic that has torn through society has also seen supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) depleted at an alarming rate. As doctors and nurses are forced to improvise, and traditional suppliers struggle to meet the sudden increase in demand, help has arrived from an unexpected group of enthusiasts. The 3D printing community has...

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#56 The Biodiversity Emergency May 14, 2020

Biodiversity in the UK is facing an emergency with around 30 percent of native species becoming extinct since the 1970s. This loss of wildlife, which echoes trends all over the world, could have catastrophic impacts on food, air quality and the environment. However for the UK change is on the horizon with a new Environment...

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#55 Saving Structures with Satellites Apr 30, 2020

How data from satellites can track structural movement, and give early warning of potential failure. New research shows that catastrophic bridge collapses could have been prevented if engineers had been paying attention to the right information, information that is currently being collected by satellites orbiting our planet. Satellite monitoring is one of the many innovations...

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#54 Keith Bannerman: A life underground Apr 17, 2020

Carving out underground space for railways, roads, waterways, urban development and even fishing and farming is how some people spend their entire careers. One of those people is chair of the International Tunnelling Association Young Members Committee Keith Bannerman, who was obsessed by the industry from the moment he attended a short course in Brisbane...

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#53 Technology vs biology: fighting COVID 19 Apr 03, 2020

As cases of COVID 19 explode, the World Health Organisation is urging countries around the world to learn from South Korea. Before even recording its first case of the virus its technology industries mobilised, enabling it to test anyone with symptoms, perform extensive contact tracing and isolate those at risk – fast. This enabled the...

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#52 Tunnelling Podcast: Propping up Luton Airport’s new rail link Mar 27, 2020

How a new 2.5km cable pulled railway will connect Luton Airport’s terminal to the UK rail network boosting future growth. Today rail passengers arriving at the airport must disembark from the train and finish their journey on a shuttle bus. But not for much longer. Deep sheet piles are currently being driven into the ground...

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#51 Covid 19: Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Mar 20, 2020

The rapid and exponential spread of the new coronavirus, COVID 19 is changing the way that we live and work. First detected in December 2019 in Wuhan City, China, within three months it was a global pandemic. To keep operating through the crisis businesses turned to digital technologies to support home working. But this connectivity...

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#50 Dealing with Nuclear Waste Mar 13, 2020

The UK has a legacy of 600,000 tonnes of nuclear waste being held in temporary storage facilities at 30 sites around the country. It is enough to fill a football stadium and despite over 60 years of generating nuclear power in the UK, we still don’t have a long-term plan for disposing of it. Scientific...

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#49 Uncharted waters: Flooding and drought Mar 05, 2020

This winter a series of weather bombs detonated across the UK, overwhelming river systems and overtopping flood defences. River levels were off the charts, 4000 properties flooded, some temporary defences failed and people took to the streets in canoes. The UK is entering unchartered territory as far as flooding is concerned. Yet the threat of...

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#48 Paving the way in pothole prevention Feb 27, 2020

How nematode worms, 3D printing and drones could revolutionise our approach to maintaining road surfaces. According to the RAC we are 1.5 times more likely to hit a pothole today than we were over a decade ago and winter is peak pothole time. In the cold months the UK’s road surfaces weather the impact of...

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#47 Breathalysing Whales: Drones Revisited Feb 20, 2020

An update on our Drones episode from January 2019 where we learn about new uses for unmanned aerial vehicles, and celebrate being shortlisted for three awards in the Publisher Podcast Awards held in London in March 2020. No-one knows how many penguins are in the Antarctic, and last year we discovered that thanks to the...

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#46 Metro stations: The gateway to the city Feb 13, 2020

A tremendous change occurred with the industrial revolution: whereas it had taken all of human history until around 1800 for world population to reach one billion, the second billion was achieved in only 130 years in 1930, the third billion in 30 years in 1960, the fourth billion in 15 years in 1974, and the fifth...

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#45 Offshore Wind, Part 2 : Foundations for the Future Feb 06, 2020

How new technology is supporting the UK’s offshore wind industry to bring down costs and accelerate construction. From new methods for drilling into the seabed, to advanced foundation design models and improved data capture, innovation is critical for this fast-growing market. But it won’t be easy. Deeper waters and variable ground conditions make these some...

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#44 Offshore Wind, Part 1: Becoming a World Leader Jan 30, 2020

Over the past two decades the UK has become the world’s leading offshore wind energy producer. Not only is it responsible for 40% of all offshore wind generated electricity, it is set to quadruple the installed capacity by 2030. Its journey to becoming a world leader began in 2000 with construction of just two Vestas...

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#43 Virtual Reality: transforming design Jan 23, 2020

From new immersive technologies to life saving applications, virtual reality is finally meeting up to expectations of the 1990s and transforming the way that projects are designed. Its ability to improve visualisation of new and existing infrastructure is bringing many benefits, including some that users hadn’t anticipated as well as saving millions of pounds in...

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#42 Surviving a tunnel fire Jan 16, 2020

This week we are bringing you an episode of our newly launched Tunnelling Podcast, made in partnership with the British Tunnelling Society. In March 1999, the Mont Blanc tunnel fire claimed the lives of 38 tunnel users and one fire fighter. For decades debate has raged over the best approach to tackling a fire, saving...

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#41 Crunch Time for Net Zero Jan 09, 2020

Last year the UK set a legally binding target to become carbon neutral by 2050, ahead of any other major global economy. In doing so it took the first ambitious steps on a massively difficult path, and the road to net zero requires a total overhaul of how infrastructure is designed, delivered and managed. In...

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#40 Becoming a Role Model: Ying Wan Loh Dec 24, 2019

Becoming a Role Model: Ying Wan Loh From rotary drilling on Mars to hybrid-electric aviation and the expansive global supply chains of the aeronautical industry, we explore the engineering life of Ying Wan Loh. In 2019 Ying became the Institution of Engineering and Technology Young Woman Engineer of the Year, a title given to astronaut...

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#39 Heathrow: Leading the digital charge Dec 19, 2019

Heathrow has announced an ambitious expansion plan that will add a third runway and take the airport to cope with growing demand up until 2050. It calls for massive development of its infrastructure to cope with growing passenger numbers and it takes an innovative approach to its supply chain, looking to distribute the economic benefits...

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#38 Temporary Heroes: Construction’s Unseen Infrastructure Dec 12, 2019

What do the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Ipswich Barrier and Heathrow Airport have in common? None of them could have been realised without a complex network of supporting infrastructure built before the main structures themselves were erected. Known as the temporary works this vital and often complex system of scaffolding, excavation support, propping elements...

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#37 Solving the Productivity Puzzle Nov 28, 2019

Historically, the nation’s productivity has improved with economic growth, but since the global financial crisis and despite the UK’s recovery, productivity has flatlined. The Office for National Statistics calls this “The productivity puzzle” and for construction the situation is even worse. Productivity has floundered since the 1990s. But as big data continues to drive the...

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#36 The Calculator that Could Save the World Nov 21, 2019

How a calculator is helping countries around the world to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and create more sustainable energy systems. When Professor David MacKay of Cambridge University wrote a book about sustainable energy in 2009, he could not have realised that this groundbreaking text would go on to form the basis for a calculator...

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#35 The Quantum Enabler: Professor Sir Peter Knight Nov 07, 2019

As Quantum computing becomes a 21st century reality, Professor Sir Peter Knight explains why controlling the register of quantum bits that make up a quantum processor is so difficult, and explains how the journey to quantum computing is creating new technologies that no one could ever have predicted……. Peter’s life in quantum physics began in...

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#34 Crisis Shelter for Mass Displacement Oct 31, 2019

Noorullah Kuchai is a civil engineer, a humanitarian and a refugee twice over. He lived in a tent in a Pakistani refugee camp for a decade and is now dedicating his life to helping people who have been displaced by war like he was. And the challenge is enormous. More people are being displaced by...

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#33 Future Factories: Driving forward industry 4.0 Oct 17, 2019

World leading smart robotics, industry disrupting technologies and the next generation of augmented reality are just some of the advances in action at Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre’s Factory 2050. Launched in December 2015, Factory 2050 was set up as a reconfigurable glass walled factory of the future, and since then it has helped businesses...

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#32 The untold story of Eiffel and his Tower Oct 03, 2019

Had its use as a gigantic 300m high radio antenna not been recognised in the early 1900s the magnificent Eiffel Tower, would have been pulled down and destroyed. Under its original contract as the wrought iron gateway to the 1889 Paris World Fair, it was only to stand for 20 years. But its creator, engineer...

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#31 Creating a National Digital Twin Sep 19, 2019

Back in December 2017 the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission set the UK a huge challenge: to create a digital model of our national infrastructure. Known as a National Digital Twin this engineering feat requires secure sharing of high-quality standardised data between infrastructure owners and operators, making operations more efficient and resilient. A new task force...

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#30 Interviewing Dad: Atkins President Philip Hoare Sep 05, 2019

Chloe is 16 and interested in an engineering career. She is also the daughter of Philip Hoare, President of engineering consultant Atkins. To find out more she digs deep into her Dad’s engineering life story by interviewing him about the projects that have shaped his career. From harrowing tragedy on a bridge project to world...

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#29 Innovations in Renewable Energy: Lorna Bennet Aug 22, 2019

Growing up in a tiny village in rural Scotland, regular power cuts would leave Lorna Bennet and her family without electricity for days on end. Determined to become self-sufficient Lorna set about learning how to create sustainable energy, from designing water wheels to working on tidal power arrays and testing the world’s largest offshore wind...

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#28 Building for Biodiversity Aug 08, 2019

Habitat for the UK’s Great Yellow Bumblebee has declined 80 percent over the last century thanks to the loss of the flower rich meadows that sustain them. They now only persist in the North of Scotland, so when Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks planned a new substation in the Highlands, preserving the habitat of the...

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#27 Recycling Plastic into Roads Jul 26, 2019

After 844 trial tests, and setting his own street on fire, founder of Scottish start-up MacRebur Toby McCartney finally hit on a viable solution for repairing potholes. His idea sought to resurface roads using recycled plastics, and the result is a form of polymer modification of asphalt that uses a mixture of waste plastics and...

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#26 Saving Rossington Jul 16, 2019

Placing the United Nations’ sustainable development goals at the heart of projects can regenerate UK communities. From a new 4km road link that saved a former mining community in Yorkshire, to a coastal replenishment scheme that brought new opportunity to Colwyn Bay in North Wales, we hear how incorporating the sustainable development goals is changing...

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#25 Return of the Fatbergs Jun 27, 2019

Underneath cities all over the UK subterranean mountains of calcified fat are gathering in our sewers as fat, oil and grease stick to baby wipes and harden to form a blubbery bacterial blockage. Removing them is dangerous, manual work, putting people and the infrastructure itself at risk. In this episode we venture to the site...

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#24 Unleash the Hydrogen Potential Jun 13, 2019

Could the lightest element in the periodic table be the answer to the world’s most weighty challenge of decarbonising energy? Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe and the most energy dense. Burning it creates clean electricity and heat without generating carbon emissions, but to utilise it, first it must be released from...

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#23 Becoming an astronaut: Sophie Harker May 30, 2019

It was a meeting with the first Briton in space, Dr Helen Sharman, that changed the course of Sophie Harker’s life forever. A maths student at The University of Nottingham, she took this advice seriously and went on to become an aerodynamics and performance engineer at BAE Systems. Although she is yet to leave planet...

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#22 Electric Excavators: Cities cut carbon in construction May 21, 2019

Since 1913 the world’s most famous flower show has been held every Spring in Chelsea in London. This year among the electric blue Persian Slippers, the white and yellow Anthemis Punctata, and the eye catching, deep pink Digitalis Illumination series of Chris Beardshaw’s Morgan Stanley Garden, there is a focus on creating beautiful gardens with...

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#21 Electric Aviation: Meeting demand for low emission flight May 09, 2019

Norwegian airline Widerøe needs a new fleet of planes to serve its regional passenger base. But it doesn’t want to buy conventional aircraft. It wants a zero emission fleet to undertake its 450 flights per day, and move 2.8 million passengers per year. But so far, no electric planes have been certified for commercial flight...

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#20 Electric Vehicles: Lessons from world leading Norway May 03, 2019

How did Norway become the world’s most successful electric vehicle market? Last month almost 80 percent of all new cars sold in Oslo were EVs and across the entire country it was 58 percent. Even more remarkable is that the soaring popularity of EVs is despite the lower operating efficiency that batteries achieve in cold...

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#19 Future of 3D Printing Apr 18, 2019

From additive manufacturing in space, to 3D printing customised pharmaceuticals and non-planar electronics, the next revolution in 3D printing is already underway. In this episode we head to the International Space Station and interview the engineer behind a world first in 3D printing, “The Refabricator”. This 3D printer that can not only print plastic in...

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#18 Cocoa Power Apr 04, 2019

Four thousand years after it was first used as a form of nutrition for the Olmec people of Mesoamerica, engineers are finding new ways to harness the potential of the fruit from the miraculous Theobroma Cacao tree, better known today as cocoa pods. Their solution could provide rural farming communities in Ghana with a new...

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#17 Acting on climate change Mar 21, 2019

As young people all over the world protest over political inaction on climate change, we ask how engineers can prevent our planet’s temperature rising past the point of no return. Responding to this challenge means that engineering professionals, businesses and institutions must do things differently. They must say no say no to carbon intensive development,...

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#16 Designing green buildings Mar 08, 2019

Do plants hold the key to making cities healthier? Could we design buildings that don’t take away green space, but create it? That don’t demand energy, but generate it? Rudi Scheuermann of consultant Arup thinks so. By employing a range of design techniques including cladding structures in living plant walls and engineering bioreactive facades that...

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#15 Engineering Elephants: Brittany Harris Feb 22, 2019

Providing water and sanitation after a destructive military revolution in Peru; engineering with elephants in Kenya; and plunging into enormous pot holes in Uganda, the professional life of civil engineer Brittany Harris has been more eventful since she graduated in 2015 than many engineers’ experience throughout their entire working careers. Her efforts to bring sustainable...

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#14 The Bridge Man: Dr Robin Sham Feb 08, 2019

How did a circus act inspire a revolutionary new construction method for Scotland’s first glass fibre reinforced polymer, cable stayed footbridge? Why did triumph and heartache underpin construction of the world’s most difficult cable stayed bridge, the Kap Shui Mun Bridge in Hong Kong? What did tunnel engineering teach designers about construction that enabled them...

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#13 Secrets of the Hoover Dam Jan 27, 2019

Are there really bodies buried in the Hoover Dam? Was the hard hat really invented here in 1931? And why was it originally called Boulder Dam? In this podcast we explore and uncover the secrets of one of the greatest engineering projects ever built. The unique and formidable Hoover Dam. Learn about the “Double Ugly”,...

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#12 The Drone Boom Jan 03, 2019

No-one knows how many penguins are in the Antarctic, but thanks to the use of drones this is set to change as scientists are using these unmanned aerial vehicles to fly over colonies of chinstrap, adelie and gentoos. And that is not all. Academics at the University of East Anglia are developing artificial intelligence that...

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# 11 The robots are here Dec 23, 2018

Robots are not just coming. They are already here. From TyBot which can tie steel reinforcement into position on bridges, to the road marking wizard Little Erik, and robotic hot wire cutters that can create bespoke formwork in minutes, robots are able to transform the way that infrastructure and buildings are constructed. From accelerating work...

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#10 How China has automated road design Nov 30, 2018

With 4.8 million kilometres of road China sits third in the world in terms of length of highways behind only the US and India. But its huge investment budget of £455 billion for new and improved highways could see it bypass these other world leaders. In 2018 alone it will add a further 5,000km presenting...

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#9 The race to create Hyperloop Nov 19, 2018

Right now companies around the world are competing in a global race to prove that a new transport revolution is just a few years away. Using high speed transit through low pressure tubes speeds of 1100km/hr per hour are theoretically possible, bringing cities closer together than ever before. London to Edinburgh? 40minutes. Melbourne to Sydney?...

The post #9 The race to create Hyperloop first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#8 Cargotecture: scaling up shipping container construction Oct 30, 2018

Floating along Copenhagen’s central waterway is a new proposition in affordable student accommodation, Urban Rigger. Each of these 745m2 units starts with a central concrete pontoon supporting nine steel shipping containers, which between them host 12 studio apartments for student accommodation. Launched as a solution to the student housing crisis in the Danish capital more...

The post #8 Cargotecture: scaling up shipping container construction first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#7 The woman who built Trump Tower Oct 15, 2018

The story of how Brooklyn born maths genius Barbara Res became head of construction for Trump Tower, despite deep-rooted sexism that sat at the heart of construction – and society in the 1970s and 1980s. Project owner Donald Trump modestly called Trump Tower “the most important project in the world” and to deliver it, he...

The post #7 The woman who built Trump Tower first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#6 Minecraft: inspiring young engineers Oct 01, 2018

The story of how schools, colleges and professional institutions are working with Minecraft Education Edition to inspire the next generation of young engineers. Engineering UK predicts that 124,000 new engineers are required every year in the UK to fill the gap created by retiring professionals and expanding demand. But it is only managing to attract...

The post #6 Minecraft: inspiring young engineers first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#5 Community Power: solar gains for villagers Sep 19, 2018

How a small village in Buckinghamshire developed and delivered a clean, green, solar energy project that generates enough electricity to power over 1000 homes and uses its profits to benefit the local community. The 4.18MW solar power project in the village of Gawcott generates three times more electricity that this community of 280 properties requires....

The post #5 Community Power: solar gains for villagers first appeared on Engineering Matters.

FIRE 4: New tech for a safer future Aug 28, 2018

From apps that can tell building residents what to do in a fire, to smart psrinklers and localised external fire detection and suppression, new technologies have the potential to make buildings safer and evacuation faster. Developments in fire detection technology are also reducing the incidence of false alarms and reducing the likelihood of vandalism or...

The post FIRE 4: New tech for a safer future first appeared on Engineering Matters.

FIRE 3: In event of a fire use the lift Aug 21, 2018

In the event of a fire do not use the lift, use the stairs. We have been conditioned to fear using an elevator to escape a fire. But one major London project is trying to change all that. At 22 Bishopsgate in London the designers have set in place a lift evacuation strategy that can cut...

The post FIRE 3: In event of a fire use the lift first appeared on Engineering Matters.

FIRE 2: Incentivising good practice Aug 14, 2018

In the second of our series of podcasts examining fire safety in tall buildings we ask how can developers of tall buildings be incentivised to build in more resilience, and use some of the innovations already in the market to make buildings safer from fire? We interview Justin Francis of the Queensland Fire Service who...

The post FIRE 2: Incentivising good practice first appeared on Engineering Matters.

FIRE 1: Making buildings safer Aug 07, 2018

Now is the time for change when it comes to fire safety in tall buildings. The catastrophic events at Grenfell Tower in London on 14 June 2017 have become the starting point in a drastic restructure of the system governing fire and safety in tall buildings. The post-Grenfell review of building regulations and fire safety...

The post FIRE 1: Making buildings safer first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#4 The Rise of the Digital Twin Jul 23, 2018

Digital twins are revolutionising business models for aviation, industry and engineering. These virtual replicants of assets enriched with real time and contextual data are giving more information about networks, systems, factories, equipment and buildings than ever before. Assets then become more cost effective to maintain, and efficient to operate with cloud based data storage enabling...

The post #4 The Rise of the Digital Twin first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#3 Worms and plastic: a waste treatment revolution Jul 09, 2018

The UK in now at war with waste plastic creating major new opportunities for the waste industry. In January Prime Minister Theresa May published a new 25 year Environment Plan which pledged to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Increasing recycling rates, using biodegradable materials and reusing plastic are all parts of the strategy...

The post #3 Worms and plastic: a waste treatment revolution first appeared on Engineering Matters.

#2 Lost in spaces Jun 25, 2018

Satellite based global positioning systems have revolutionised navigation outdoors and now software engineers are bringing the same innovation to indoor spaces. Airports, with their expansive terminals, are a perfect testing ground for new digital navigation technology. In London, Gatwick airport is leading the way. Designed by Pointr Labs the airport introduced 2000 Bluetooth beacons to...

The post #2 Lost in spaces first appeared on Engineering Matters.

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