In this episode of The Engineers Collective we speak to ICE president Anusha Shah about the importance of biodiversity net gain (BNG). This year has seen BNG of 10% become mandatory for new developments. Shah has committed her year in office to pushing the agenda of nature-based solutions in civil engineering. The two themes are intertwined and she explains how they are essential for driving forward sustainability in the built environment and are essential in how construction must be shaped moving into the future. Prior to the interview, NCE editor Gavin Pearson, news editor Rob Hakimian and r ..read more

In this month’s episode of The Engineers Collective podcast from New Civil Engineer we mark one year since the publication of the 2023 update to the PAS 2080 standard for carbon management in infrastructure.   We’ve gathered representatives from Mott MacDonald, the Department for Transport and Anglian Water to gain insight a series of roundtables held by Mott MacDonald where industry stakeholders discussed and debated how PAS 2080 should be implemented in their businesses and projects.   DfT head of systems Tom McLenachan tells us about the systems thinking outcomes from th ..read more

In this month’s episode of The Engineers Collective podcast from New Civil Engineer we speak to Julia Stevens, the chief executive of the Constructionarium, about how the facility is preparing budding construction workers and engineers for life on a work site. Stevens tells us about the Constructionarium, a 7.5ha site at Bircharm Newton in Norfolk, which features a range of work areas including scaled down rivers, lakes, stabilised flatlands, mountainous terrain. We hear about the rigorous week-long courses which encompass everything from pre-construction documentation to client engagement to ..read more

This month’s episode of The Engineers Collective from New Civil Engineer focuses on the role that hydrogen could play in the global effort to transition to a zero-carbon world. International management consultancy Arthur D. Little recently put out a report entitled Hydrogen: The electroshock to the energy transition and in this episode NCE acting news editor Rob Hakimian is joined by three experts from the consultancy to discuss just how this might happen. They discuss where it’s already being used, the barriers to greater adoption, the UK’s recently published hydrogen strategy, National Highw ..read more

The new episode of the Engineers Collective podcast is out now. This month’s episode focuses on ‘transforming infrastructure performance’. The UK’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) released two papers, in 2017 and 2021, called Transforming infrastructure performance in which it set out a vision for the future of infrastructure delivery. This process embeds the use of modern tools and greater project integration to make delivery less expensive and less unpredictable, while increasing safety, learning, efficiency and future readiness. Since then, there have been regular Transforming I ..read more

This episode focuses on the value of place making within construction and engineering projects. Place making is the practice of ensuring that a project goes beyond functionality and delivers something that benefits the society in which it is being constructed. It is ensuring that there is space above and around it for public use, which will bolster a community with new resources. Fitting in the requirements of a client while also providing wider benefit for the community can make place making feel like a difficult jigsaw, but it has wide-ranging knock-on effects that make it worthwhile. These ..read more

Safety is paramount in construction. Safety of the people who work on constructing a scheme – and safety of those people who will eventually make use of the scheme. On this month’s episode of the Engineers Collective, NCE assistant news editor Rob Hakimian is joined by CROSS scheme manager Paul Livesey to discuss the history of CROSS, how it has grown and its importance in today’s construction landscape. In the conversation, Paul talks about the establishment of CROSS, the sector’s response and how it has developed over its nearly 50 years in existence, bolstered by support from the ICE and IS ..read more

Over recent years we have all seen our pictures, music and other prized documents migrate to the cloud, which has presented a new kind of convenience and accessibility. The same is true in the construction industry, where some projects have seen vital documents, plans and information become stored on a shared cloud. This increases the ways that these documents can be accessed and also ensures that everyone is working from the same update, rather than sifting through various downloaded versions that might not tally with what other people on the project are referencing. In this episode, former N ..read more

Urban populations are growing while climate change means both droughts, as well as sudden intense rainfall events, are on the rise. However, existing urban infrastructure in UK has not caught up with the water management challenges presented by these scenarios. We need to be much smarter about the capture, usage and planned management of water going forward. This is critical to reduce flood risk and to be prepared for periods of drought.   In this episode, New Civil Engineer assistant news editor Rob Hakimian is joined by two guests to discuss the topic - Charlotte Markey, who is green ur ..read more

Workers in the construction industry are three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population but for those working in the building trades the risk is much higher at eight times. These are stark figures but construction industry charity the Lighthouse Club launched a new campaign called #Makeitvisible at the start of this year that is already making a difference. Lighthouse Club chief executive Bill Hill joined NCE editor Claire Smith and assistant news editor Rob Hakimian for this episode to talk about why the Construction Leadership Council called on the charity to take the ..read more