Engineering Matters

Around the world, urban planners are seeking to deliver urban growth and increase access to city centres through the development of transit-oriented communities. These combine new publicly-backed transport infrastructure, with privately-financed residential and commercial development. It's a route to more sustainable cities, but it involves careful navigation of budgetary constraints and the needs of existing communities. Michael Matthys explains some of the challenges of delivering transit-oriented communities in Toronto. He explains some of the challenges, both in terms of engineering, and in terms of meeting community needs. For stations in crowded downtown areas, he describes the importance of maintaining local character, and explains how retrofit might be a suitable solution. Looking further out into the suburbs, he describes policies that can help maintain affordable options for residents, and the engagement needed to ensure community support. Guest Michael Matthys, Planning Lead, SvN Architects + Planners Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359k Transit-Oriented Communities in Toronto first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In the 1970s, Saudi Arabia, buoyed by a surge in oil prices, embarked on an ambitious building programme. The country moved rapidly to develop its cities and infrastructure. However, Prince Salman, then the governor of Riyadh, now the country's King, saw that this was resulting in cities that were unmoored from their local context. This episode traces the evolution of modern architecture in Saudi Arabia, from the economic boom of the 1970s and the development of a distinctive Salmani-style. We look at the national program of incorporating the vernacular in individual buildings, before moving on to the current Vision 2030, describing its approach to wider urban development, passive temperature control, and sustainability. Lastly, we examine lessons for other nations engaged in a phase of rapid growth and urbanisation, and what they can learn from this history. Guest Lana Al-Dwehji, Lead Architect, Omrania Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development. Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359j – Modern Vernacular in Saudi Arabia first appeared on Engineering Matters.

For facade specialists, stone is highly prized for its performance and character. The right choice of stone can anchor a building in its local context, or make a striking statement. While stone has fallen out of use, modern approaches mean that it could now be used in the same standardised ways as steel, concrete and glass. In this episode we learn that it is ripe for a return as a structural material, decades after it was supplanted by concrete and steel. A series of projects demonstrate how stone can be used as a structural component. Finally, we look at the steps needed to make stone building a routine part of construction: the adoption of standards, allowing stone components to be used ‘off-the-shelf', rather than needing to prove them each time and an understanding of its versatility. Guest David West, Technical Director, Inhabit Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359i Stone as Structure first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Sustainability experts often use a hierarchy to help their thinking about interventions. The best way to limit your impact is to do nothing at all. If that's not possible, then use as few materials as you can. And finally, if extensive work must be conducted, then replace more carbon-intensive materials with those with less impacts. In this episode, Lucas Grisoni describes three projects in Paris that demonstrate different approaches to sustainable construction. For the University of Chicago's new campus, the focus has been on reducing the use of materials, both in order to keep the structure light—it is built over a railway—and to minimise carbon impacts. On WoodUp, one of Europe's tallest timber structures, the focus is on selecting a lower carbon material. And on the Eiffel Tower, the historical nature of the project has demanded limited interventions—which has the benefit of reducing carbon impacts, as well as preserving the structure. Guest Lucas Grisoni, Head of Structural Engineering, Low-carbon/Complex Structures & Envelopes, Elioth, by Egis Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development. Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359h Sustainability in Paris first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Lifecycle carbon assessment – the process of monitoring the total carbon footprint of a structure from the first spade in the ground to demolition – sits at the confluence of engineering and sustainability. As we adapt our processes and understanding of the built environment, LCA is a critical measure to guide our decision making. The nature of the work is truly holistic, in winter an icy road might have salt spread on it. This in turn could corrode rebar, which needs to be replaced. That work might close part of the road, which increases vehicle idling times and stop-start driving. All of this impacts LCA. Ali Amiri was an early adopter of the technique, and has devised a means of calculating a building's carbon impact before it's even reached the ground-breaking stage. His team now include lifecycle carbon assessment (LCA) as a routine part of their process. This episode also looks at the intergenerational aspect of the work, where, younger members of the team are bringing the data science related skills that allow them to deliver the LCA as standard. Guest Ali Amiri, Regional Director for Building Engineering and Sustainability, Egis Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359g An Intergenerational Approach to Sustainability first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Retrofitting is an instrumental step in reducing the carbon footprint of a city's building stock. It also extends the life of a building and has a lower environmental impact than demolishing inefficient properties and building anew. Even a new development, such as the East Village in Stratford London, although just 12 years old, is still largely heated by fossil fuel. Adaptable designs are critical to bring future improvements to existing structures. Marion Baeli is a pioneer of sustainable architecture, her practice identified easy-to-deliver improvements to energy use on one of the buildings in the development, at the same time as adding capacity that could finance the project. Guest Marion Baeli, Principal, Sustainability Transformation at 10 Design Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359f Sustainability and Adaptation in East London first appeared on Engineering Matters.

When you are designing a stadium for the World Cup, or any major sport, it's vital to have a fan's-eye view. For more than a century, the architects tasked with designing stadiums have used the C-value, developed by Victorian theatre designer John Russel. But this value just measures the view in one direction, towards the stage. Sporting events are viewed in the round, with fans all around the stadium bowl. In this episode, we hear from Mark Fenwick, whose practice has designed stadiums for the Qatar World Cup, and for leading European football teams. He explains how Fenwick Iribarren has built on the Victorian concept of C-values and sightlines in theatre design, with the FI-Factor, a new system for mapping the spectators' view from each seat in a stadium. Mark describes the sub-factors considered, explains how this was first used during bidding for a new world cup stadium at Education City in Qatar, its subsequent use in Valencia, and its scope for use on other stadiums. Guest Mark Fenwick, Partner, Fenwick Iribarren Architects Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359e A Better View of Stadium Design first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Nuclear power promises to provide energy when other sources can't. But nuclear plants currently take a long time to build—often more than a decade. Anthony Burch, digital manager, Egis, and his colleagues, are working on the key components of Hinkley Point C in England. These form the so-called ‘nuclear island'—the reactor building and four associated safety buildings. In this episode, Anthony describes the challenges of delivering ‘right first time' construction on a highly complex, one off, and long term project: Hinkley Point C. He explains the challenges of clash detection on a project that has continued to evolve, and how the use of BIM and digital tools has smoothed this process. He describes how work on this project will feed into future projects, such as Sizewell C, and open the way to a new generation of nuclear power plant construction. Guest Anthony Burch, Digital Manager, BIM Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359d A Digital Path to Nuclear's New Generation first appeared on Engineering Matters.

At ITER, in France, scientists and engineers from around the world are working together to develop nuclear fusion at power plant scale. The project could one day lead to a world of truly abundant green energy. In this episode, Caroline Dixon explains some of the logistical challenges of working on a project that is perhaps humanity's largest ever experiment. In this decades-long project, the engineers building the reactor are in a constant race to keep up with scientists working on the cutting edge of physics. The reactor building is being constructed using thousands of steel plates, embedded in concrete. As the scientists develop their ideas, near constant changes are needed to the structure's components. Caroline describes how a hotline was developed early in the project to allow experts to collaborate on resolving clashes.This was followed by a holistic integration team, or HIT, which brought a fusion of minds between all the project’s delivery teams, to manage this constantly evolving design and construction process—an approach that could speed construction across all major projects. Guest Caroline Dixon, Project Director, Nuclear Power, Egis Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, engineering, operations and mobility services firm with 22,000 employees across more than 100 countries. The company designs and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to climate emergencies and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.The post #359c A Fusion of Minds at ITER first appeared on Engineering Matters.

There is a changing view of the environment among public sector clients in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has ambitious goals like generating 50% of electricity from renewables by 2030, the UAE has targets such as diverting 80 percent of its waste from landfill by by 2031, and Qatar is moving towards 100% treated wastewater reuse. With environmental considerations now at the core of new projects, rather than being a problem to be dealt with, each project must consider its impact on the environment. This means a shift from reacting to problems, to planning with goals being measured. Countries like UAE, Saudi and Qatar, are putting in place long-term plans for strategies that include waste diversion, emissions reductions and renewable energy. In benchmarking these strategies against international standards and best practices, the deployment of digital tools is critical. Guest Yassman AlKhatib, Regional Director for Water, Environment, and Energy Transition, Egis Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development. Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359b Water, Energy and the Environment in the Middle East first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Lismore sits at the confluence of two rivers in New South Wales. Covering more than 1,300 square kilometres, it is home to more than 44,000 people. In 2022, it was hit by a huge flood, the highest on record, followed by a smaller, though still devastating, second flood. Five lives were lost in the disasters, along with 500 properties, making 2,000 people homeless at a cost of AUD 350M in damages. The event raised critical questions about flood prevention and planning. It underscored the urgent need for more resilient approaches to town and city planning, that anticipate extreme events and protect communities and economic activities more effectively. Engeny were initially brought in to improve flood protection, before the flooding demonstrated the existential need for this work. This episode looks at the protection work so far, how it has evolved after the flood, and future plans to meet the increasing risks. Guest Mark Page, Government Sector Lead, Engeny Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development. Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359a Australia's Most Flooded Town first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Society needs to consider the impact of climate change on our cities because it is no longer a future challenge; it is a present reality. Cities with their concentrated populations, infrastructure and supply challenges are uniquely vulnerable to climate-related shocks, exposed to risks such as floods, heatwaves, water scarcity and any disruption to their systems. Engineers and decision-makers must embed sustainability and resilience into every stage of the planning and design process to ensure adaptability to these changes. In this introduction to a series on sustainable approaches to the global built environment, we begin a journey that will take us around the world, to meet engineers on the front lines of this civilisational challenge. Guest Thomas Salvant, Chief Executive Officer – Energy and Sustainable Cities, Egis Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services firm. Egis creates and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to the climate emergency and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development. Its 22,000 employees operate across over 100 countries, deploying their expertise to develop and deliver cutting-edge innovations and solutions for clients. Through the wide range of its activities, Egis plays a central role in the collective organisation of society and the living environment of citizens all over the world.The post #359 Intro – A Sustainable and Resilient World first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Residents of tall buildings can face significant risks in the event of fire or structural failure. At Grenfell Tower in the UK, a fire in a resident's kitchen spread rapidly around the building, due to failures in the testing and installation of cladding materials, and leading to widespread loss of life. The inquiry into the fire revealed how overlooked risks can line up, causing disaster. The 2022 Building Safety Act established that dutyholders—owners and developers—of buildings like this should employ competent professionals. The challenge these dutyholders now face is to identify those professionals. The Engineering Council in the UK has established a means to do this, through the Higher Risk Buildings Register. In this episode, Chris O’Regan, chair of the joint ICE/IStructE committee that developed the register, explains the skills and expertise needed from engineers working on these structures. This goes beyond technical expertise: Chris highlights the need for empathy with residents, and a demonstrated ability to collaborate with professionals from other disciplines. Guest Chris O'Regan, chair, ICE/IStructE Higher Risk Buildings Register Committee; associate director, Mason Navarro PledgeThe post #358 Experts in Risk first appeared on Engineering Matters.

A wise asset owner builds on solid ground. Unless ground risks are clearly identified, projects can easily be delayed or delivered over budget. Some risks may not even be fully understood until an asset begins operations. In this final episode of three on ground risks and the asset life cycle, Karim Khalaf explains how one major European vehicle manufacturer only learned how the soil beneath their new manufacturing plant would act, once steel presses started working—effectively inducing a series of small earthquakes and setting foundations floating off the apparently solid sand they stood on. Assumptions about ground conditions can lead to costly and time-consuming emergencies during construction. An unexpected cavity, for example, may mean that work has to stop until the site is properly modelled. In the past, that could involve substantial costs and lengthy delays, as heavy geotechnical equipment is deployed. But, with the careful use of geophysical screening, answers can be delivered quickly, and work resumed, with costs kept under control. Rod Eddies describes how these two sets of techniques, namely broad geophysical screening and strategic geotechnical investigations, can be used together to create a detailed 3D model of the subsurface. This can be shared and used by those making strategic decisions, as well as by technical specialists and other stakeholders. Matt Waddicor of Fermi Development, who we heard from in the first episode, rounds up the advantages of using this approach throughout the asset life cycle, and shares how early investigations may support on time and on budget delivery, across the infrastructure sector. Guests Matt Waddicor, Development Programme Director, Fermi Development Rod Eddies, Solutions Director, Land, Fugro Karim Khalaf, Regional Business Line Manager, Middle East, Fugro Partner Fugro is the world's leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.The post #357c Well-Grounded Decisions: Construction and Operations first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Without a clear understanding of ground conditions, unquantified risk can be transferred from project owner to lead contractors when a contract is signed. In the first episode of this three part series, we explored how geophysical screening, using non-intrusive methods, can be used to reduce uncertainty in site selection and provide clarity on construction costs and delivery schedules. In this episode, we move past the final investment decision, to the development of project designs. Karim Khalaf, Regional Business Line Manager, Middle East, at Fugro, explains how one client commissioned a new method of site screening, ambient noise tomography, to check subsurface conditions before starting work on building a stormwater pumping station in Doha, Qatar. Not every project owner performs this sort of early geophysical investigation. However, as Rod Eddies explains, the Geo-Risk Management Framework can still be applied by lead contractors as they complete designs and schedule construction work. We learn how early screening can provide a basis for more detailed geotechnical techniques, using boreholes and cone penetration testing. This approach gives clients the answers they need, when they need them, while minimising the need to deploy heavy equipment. Guests Rod Eddies, Solutions Director, Land, Fugro Karim Khalaf, Regional Business Line Manager, Middle East, FugroThe post #357b Well-Grounded Decisions: Design Development first appeared on Engineering Matters.

On any project, uncertainty creates risk. Decisions that are made without a good understanding of site conditions can result in overengineering or threats to safety. Delivery may be delayed, and unexpected costs incurred. To avoid these risks, project owners and other stakeholders should question their assumptions and get real, actionable insights throughout the project lifecycle. In this three-part series, we explore a key source of risk to any project, subsurface conditions, and a new approach that builds certainty from the ground up. In this first episode, Rod Eddies, Solutions Director, Land, at Fugro, explains the development of the Geo-Risk Management Framework, a way of thinking about subsurface risks that builds on research on cognitive bias. We learn about GroundIQ®, a new approach to ground risk management that provides earlier, faster, and better site characterization. Early screening allows project developers to identify suitable sites and more accurately predict delivery times and costs before a final investment decision is made. Fermi Developments is a privately-funded nuclear developer, working to deliver ‘Ready to Build’ small modular reactor sites across the UK. The company recently formed a strategic partnership with Fugro, under which the geo-data specialists will support their work from site selection all the way through to delivery. In this episode, Fermi's Matt Waddicor explains how this new approach to risk will help the developer identify suitable sites and prepare well-grounded proposals for investors. Guests Matt Waddicor, Development Programme Director, Fermi Development Rod Eddies, Solutions Director, Land, Fugro Karim Khalaf, Regional Business Line Manager, Middle East, Fugro Partner Fugro is the world's leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.The post #357a Well-Grounded Decisions: Site Selection first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Wastewater treatment is an overlooked lifesaver. While the medical advances of the last 100 years—penicillin, chemotherapy, and, more recently, mRNA vaccines—have transformed healthcare, keeping our water supplies free from pathogens like cholera and dysentery, has saved many more lives. The systems developed to treat wastewater are so successful that we can afford to flush and forget. But this is infrastructure we must not overlook. Growing populations, increased use by industry, and regulations that get tighter as we learn of new threats to human life and the environment, are putting wastewater treatment facilities under strain. Existing plants are often tucked away on constrained sites, and work as part of a sprawling network of sewage systems that make it extremely difficult for them to be relocated. This is very much the case at Ringsend in Dublin. Here, on a site bounded by other facilities and the sea, the waste produced by millions of Dubliners—and the city's industry and commerce—must be processed before being discharged into the Liffey Estuary. To update the plant, its owners had considered building a 9km pipe to discharge waste outside of the sensitive areas of the estuary. But a new solution was identified. By implementing a novel form of biological treatment, developed by Haskoning, Egis was able to ensure that the effluent discharged was so clean, it would be safe for wildlife. But installing this would take careful planning and scheduling, in order to complete the work in tight constraints, without any pause in plant operations. Guests Marisa Buyers-Basso, associate director, Haskoning Marcus Fagan, chartered engineer, Egis Partner Egis is a leading global architectural, consulting, engineering, operations and mobility services firm with 22,000 employees across more than 100 countries. The company designs and operates intelligent infrastructure and buildings that both respond to climate emergencies and contribute to balanced, sustainable and resilient development.  Egis has operated in Ireland since 1994 and is the largest multi-disciplinary consultancy, engineering and operations firm in the country. Its current activities in Ireland include operating the Dublin Tunnel and the Jack Lynch Tunnel in Cork, overseeing 1,200km of Ireland's motorways. It is also active in the design and delivery of major transportation programmes, renewable energy and water and waste water projects. With over 600 staff in Ireland across 16 offices and sites nationwide, it is committed to enabling sustainable economic development and responding to the requirements of population growth while addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions. The post #356 Making Space for Wastewater Treatment first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Green-grey engineering combines nature-based solutions with traditional civil engineering. It can be used in flood protection, with mangroves acting as a first line of defense rather than relying wholly on seawalls or earthen berms. As parts of the world face dual threats of flood and drought, the same systems can incorporate drainage and water collection. Unlike traditional civil engineering, nature-based solutions offer a wide range of additional benefits. Mangroves act as fish nurseries feeding local communities and boosting economies. They sequester carbon, helping limit climate change. They provide opportunities for tourism. And they provide significant flood protection, boosting resilience. But there is a need to scale and accelerate funding to address the loss and protection of coastal ecosystems and the true value they represent. A new analytical framework, Net Ecosystem Value, offers a tool to inform this need. Rich geodata insights, analysis and scenario modelling combined with local knowledge and academic research. This environmental and economic accounting demonstrates the true value of investing in these solutions, as well as the cost of doing nothing.By providing more granularity, rather than relying on global assumptions, this supports the development of relevant financial mechanisms such as blue bonds. By taking a whole-of-ecosystem approach, Net Ecosystem Value is able to show the true value of investing in coastal zones as critical infrastructure that accounts for blue carbon, fisheries, resilience, biodiversity, livelihoods, and social and cultural values In this episode, Alpa Bhattacharjee and Rod Braun explain the broad range of benefits these ecosystems offer, and the progress that is being made to incorporate them alongside traditional civil engineering solutions. Guests Alpa Bhattacharjee, Climate and Nature – Blue Finance Advisory, Fugro Rod Braun, Senior Director, Conservation International Image credit Alex Mustard / Ocean Image Bank Partner Fugro is the world's leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.The post #355 The Real Value of Nature first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The infrastructure sector is adopting AI with enthusiasm. A new whitepaper from Bentley Systems, Pinsent Masons, Turner & Townsend, and Mott Macdonald, The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Built Environment, surveyed the sector, and found the 48% of the infrastructure companies they spoke to were trialling AI, or had already implemented it. But only one fifth had a comprehensive AI policy, more than a third had no organisational policy, and 37% had only limited project controls, or none at all. As part of Bentley Systems Year In Infrastructure series of events, Mark Coates hosted a panel discussion on the white paper. Bringing together key members of the infrastructure sector—engineers, contractors, and lawyers—the panel discussed how infrastructure businesses can implement a project management approach to AI implementation. In this episode, Mark Coates joins us to examine some of the risks associated with AI adoption, and particularly of ‘stealth adoption', happening outside of organisational guardrails. The panel discussion members bring their own perspectives, explaining how AI can be used successfully now, and the organisational, data management, and contractual steps needed to ensure its safe, ethical, and efficient use across complex supply chains. Guests Mark Coates, vice president of infrastructure policy alignment, Bentley Systems Yeunjin (YJ) Kim, AI technical lead, group AI, Mott MacDonald Anne-Marie Friel, partner, infrastructure, Pinsent Masons Guy Beaumont, director, digital lead, Turner & TownsendResources The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Built Environment, PartnerInfrastructure is too big to fail, so you need AI you can trust. Bentley Systems is delivering infrastructure-ready AI across design, construction, and operations. As the partner of choice for engineering firms and owner-operators worldwide, Bentley’s software and digital twin solutions span engineering disciplines, industry sectors, and all phases of the infrastructure lifecycle, unlocking the value of data to transform project delivery and asset performance.The post #354 AI in Infrastructure: Adoption and Guardrails first appeared on Engineering Matters.

This week, the UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, or EAC, released a report on environmental sustainability and housing growth. The UK government is striving to meet a target of building one and a half million new homes, and has raised concerns about the risk that environmental objections could delay their construction. But, the EAC says, the UK must balance these needs. One tool to do this is the Whole Life Carbon Assessment guidelines, produced by the RICS, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In the absence of a national programme for measuring the carbon impact of construction, the EAC recommends that this tool should be adopted into the planning process. In this episode, first aired in 2023, we talked to Simon Sturgis, lead author of the guidance, as he and his colleagues worked to produce its second edition. Guests Simon Sturgis, founder, Targeting Zero LLP Matthew Collins, senior specialist, construction and infrastructure management, RICS Resources Simon Sturgis's paper Redefining Zero, which helped spur debate on the carbon costs of buildings. An earlier UK House of Commons environmental audit select committee report Building to net zero: costing carbon in construction. The Bath University Inventory of Carbon and Energy (Bath ICE) database. The post #353 Carbon Assessment in a Time of Housebuilding first appeared on Engineering Matters.

From blood pressure monitors and smart watches, to MRIs and step counters, many of us make tracking health metrics part of our daily routine. Armed with data, we can take steps to extend our lives. And this approach can also be used to extend the life of key components of our energy infrastructure. The offshore... The post #352 Health Monitoring for Offshore Wind  first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Around the world, climate change and shifting alliances are opening up new theatres of geopolitical competition. In the Arctic, Canada must be ready to patrol a new coastline; in the Pacific, Australia faces increased tension with China.  Naval defence will be a key component of these nations' security planning. But the so-called ‘exquisite' capabilities of... The post #351 Rough Seas and Reliable Defence Partnerships first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Dr Meganne Christian is a scientist and adventurer. In her research, she has studied the performance of novel materials including the use of nanoscale metals for hydrogen storage, and the use of graphene across a diverse range of applications. But her career has taken her far from the traditional university lab. In 2018-2019, Meganne was... The post #350 Living in Space: The Next Generation of Astronauts first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in west London demanded new ways of thinking about professionalism and ethics in the engineering sector. However, since that awful night in 2017, which saw the loss of 72 lives, fatal incidents and near misses have continued to happen: in Genoa, in Toddbrook, in Miami, and on many more... The post #349 Never Again: Embedding Safety in Engineering first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In Europe, and around the world, renewable electricity generation is being built at pace. However, these sources of energy create a new challenge: they are intermittent, and will not generate power on dark, windless days. One solution to the challenge is to install grid scale storage. If you're building an offshore wind farm, with a... The post #348 Modelling Distributed Energy Storage first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Last week, at the end of September 2025, a study by Regen, commissioned by the MCS Foundation, found that biomethane had a limited capacity to replace natural gas in the UK's domestic heating. The study emphasised the importance of focusing on electricity and heat pumps to keep our homes warm. This means that much of... The post #347 The pipeline to Net Zero, revisited first appeared on Engineering Matters.

It's a simple fact of chemistry that cement cannot be produced, without also producing carbon dioxide. But this does not mean that the sector—and its clients in the construction industry—cannot decarbonise. The equally simple solution is just to capture and store the carbon dioxide, before it can enter the atmosphere. The challenge is how to... The post #346 Scaling Carbon-Free Cement first appeared on Engineering Matters.

When launching a satellite into orbit, getting the positioning right is of paramount importance. As humanity sends more satellites into space, the vast space above our heads has become hazardously busy. State-of-the-art positioning technology has helped to counter this problem, with existing systems able to track the location of satellites to an accuracy of metres.... The post #345 Pinpoint Precision in Space Positioning first appeared on Engineering Matters.

When flooding happens, damage and disruption ripples out across assets and infrastructure. Private businesses and homeowners can insure themselves against direct damages to buildings. But the impacts on the local economy go much further: debris can block transport networks, causing businesses to fail and reducing tax revenues, at a time when increased local government spending... The post #344 Networks Under Water: Transport, Flooding and Resilience first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented the punch card as a means of inputting control data to one of the earliest automated technologies, the weavers' loom. A generation later, Charles Babbage used this innovation as part of his design for an ‘analytical engine', and Ada Lovelace demonstrated how sets of instructions could be written for the engine to... The post #343 Weaving Software into Automation first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The metaverse is often thought of as an alternative virtual space, a world separate from reality where we can hang out with avatars of our friends and families, or shop at virtual stores. But the industrial metaverse ties the physical and the virtual much more closely together, with a focus that is less on photorealism,... The post #342 Real Solutions and the Industrial Metaverse first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Alan Lusty founded adi Group, a multidisciplinary engineering business supporting major manufacturers. He is part of a group that offers engineering services in 23 sectors, with over 750 employees. But he left school at 16 without qualifications, instead pursuing an apprenticeship. At adi Group, more than 10% of employees are apprentices: double the rate set... The post #341 Opening the Door to Engineering – Engineering Matters Awards winner's episode first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Electrification of construction equipment is an ongoing and necessary part of the global effort to reduce carbon emissions and restrict global warming. Sixty years ago, Fugro developed the first commercial cone penetration testing equipment to run on electrical power, and today it is continuing on that journey by electrifying the machine that carries it. What... The post #340 Diving Deep into Electric Machinery first appeared on Engineering Matters.

On two major road projects in the UK work was completed on time and under budget. But not every project can claim such success. Defects, delays and cost overruns plague projects around the world. Projects such as those at Junction 10 on the M25 London orbital motorway, and on a stretch of the A19 near... The post #339 Integrated Contracts and Innovative Delivery first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Nature has long served as a blueprint for engineering breakthroughs from the kingfisher-inspired design of Japan's Bullet Train to termite mounds that inform energy-efficient buildings. Siemens Digital Industries is taking this concept further by combining biomimicry with digital technology to tackle sustainability challenges across entire industries. Eryn Devola, Head of Sustainability at Siemens, explains how... The post #338 Bio-Inspired Innovation & Systemic Sustainability first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In this episode, we spotlight the remarkable work of the Lightyear Foundation, the winner of the Engineering Matters Awards 2025 Gold Champion for Diversity and Inclusion. The foundation is the only UK charity dedicated to engaging disabled and neurodivergent young people with STEM. Chief Executive Jeff Banks and Senior Programme Manager Emma Zeale explain how... The post #337 Breaking Barriers to STEM with Lightyear Foundation – Engineering Matters Awards winners episode first appeared on Engineering Matters.

At a quarry in Turkey, heavy haul trucks are carrying hundreds of tonnes of materials, with no external power. It's not quite perpetual motion, but it is removing the need for diesel or cables on a hard working site. NUH Cement commissioned ABB to repower a 30-year-old Euclid haul truck. The truck collects loads from... The post #336 Gravity-Powered Heavy Haul – Engineering Matters Awards winners episode first appeared on Engineering Matters.

LongPath Technologies has taken Nobel-winning discoveries, and applied them to a key cause of climate change: methane leaks from oil and gas facilities. The sector now turns to LongPath to establish monitoring across facilities. But as LongPath sought to scale from innovation to commercialization, it turned to Red Pitaya for a vital component. In this... The post #335 Monitoring Methane: The Tech Behind the Tech  first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In 2016 management consultants McKinsey released a report that reverberated around the construction and engineering sectors. This sector, the report said, was consistently delivering projects late—often 20% longer to finish than expected—and over budget: by as much as 80%. The report's authors pointed out that the tools that could resolve these delays and cost overruns,... The post #334 Digital Construction's Past, Present and Future first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Generative AI has swept across our society. In every app, up it pops, eager to offer a helping hand. The opportunity to talk to computer systems as if they are human, or to create memes at unprecedented speed, has great appeal for many. But is it ready to do the hard work at the heart... The post #333 Agents of Change – AI in Industry first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Airports are at the forefront of a global transformation, rethinking their role not just as transport hubs but as sustainable, connected cities of the future. In this episode we explore how airports around the world are responding to environmental pressures, technological advancements, and increasing passenger demands. From Hong Kong's ambitious runway reclamation to Heathrow's efforts... The post #332 The Future of Airports Around the World first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In the second half of the 20th Century, the world was transformed through infrastructure construction. New roads and railways, levees and power lines, delivered unprecedented comfort and convenience, and laid the foundation for an economy driven by easy transport and trade. But today, as many governments struggle with budgetary constraints and the need to balance... The post #331 Life Extension for Infrastructure first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Helping the next generation achieve their full potential doesn't just take commitment from their parents or carers, or from professionals like teachers. It takes, as the saying goes, a village. In Derby, nuclear engineer Katie Jarman has assembled the equivalent of a village full of volunteer maths tutors, all recruited from her employer Rolls-Royce, to... The post #330 A Village Full of Maths Tutors – Engineering Matters Awards' winners episode first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Ben Gibbons and his colleagues at Circular11 are developing ways to add value to hard-to-recycle light plastics. They take packaging, and turn it into a lumber-equivalent, suitable for long term use as post and rail fencing. But to maintain tight loops of circularity, they needed to understand the supply chain they were targeting. National Highways... The post #329 Scaling Low Carbon Innovation – Engineering Matters Awards' winners episode first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Worldwide, water is in short supply and high demand, with very real consequences for human health and security. Many countries struggle to maintain aging networks, meaning that more than 20% of clean water is lost before it reaches the customer. New industries, like data centres, are adding to demand, as they use water for cooling.... The post #328 Listening for Leaks – Engineering Matters Awards Innovation Champion, FIDO first appeared on Engineering Matters.

On the coast of rural Cumbria, in England's northeast, a once-secretive nuclear site is transforming its legacy by investing in the engineers of tomorrow. Sellafield, known historically for producing weapons-grade plutonium and nuclear energy, has now begun the 100 year process of decommissioning. At the Sellafield Engineering & Maintenance Centre of Excellence, engineers research and... The post #327 Nuclear Engineering for School Children – Engineering Matters Awards 2025 first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The past months have seen a shift in international trade, of a scale not seen for decades. New US tariffs have created uncertainty for investors, and promise to spark a global trade war. While these new challenges to cross-border trade are unique, recent years have seen another shift in industrial policy, particularly in the UK,... The post #326 Revisited: The Green, Green, Shores of Home first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The rise of AI and machine learning promises a revolution in how we live and work. Expert reasoning and mundane tasks will be completed for us in the cloud. But the cloud is not ethereal or abstract. It is a globe spanning mass of physical infrastructure. Enabling this transformation will demand a huge expansion in... The post #325 Real world sustainability and the digital revolution first appeared on Engineering Matters.

This February, with the flick of a switch, there was a vast shift of power on Europe's borders. The Baltic states' electrical grids, built in the 1960s while these countries were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, had been under the control of Moscow. In one weekend, the transmission system operators in Latvia, Lithuania, and... The post #324 A Shift of Power on Europe's Borders first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Engineers from around the world gathered at the Postal Museum in London for the Engineering Matters Awards 2025, presented in partnership with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IMechE, and Engineers Without Borders UK, EWB UK. In this episode, we introduce the award gold champions. In episodes to come, we will look in more detail at... The post #323 Engineers Deliver Impact: The Engineering Matters Awards 2025 first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Seagrass meadows are the engineers of the marine ecosystem. They provide habitats, support biodiversity, prevent coastal erosion and sequester carbon dioxide. For this reason Italy has embarked upon a world leading project to map these coastal ecosystems at a national scale, enabling it to plan protection and restoration measures that will improve ocean health and... The post #322 Engineering Ecosystems: Italy's Seagrass Meadows first appeared on Engineering Matters.