Have you ever dreamt of flying? This dream is quite common. Humans have always been fascinated by the skies, and our quest to conquer them dates back to the Spain of Al-Ándalus. Amazing, isn’t it?   In the 9th century, the Andalusian scientist Abbás Ibn Firnás decided he wanted to fly. After a few crashes, he created a prototype that was able to glide for a few seconds. Interestingly, this device also became the world's first parachute when he attempted to land.   Fast forward to the past century, the Wright Brothers made history by creating the first airplane. With this ..read more

London is one of the main metropolitan areas of the world. If you think about the English capital, you can probably name ten iconic things off the top of your head. Shakespeare, Abbey Road, Buckingham Palace, Sherlock Holmes. A city that's buzzing with music and theater, in constant movement. The London metro system, or the "tube" as Londoners call it, is a symbol of the city's vitality. It's not just a network of tunnels and trains but a testament to the city's evolution. From its small beginning to the complex system, it is today, a lot of history and effort has gone into making it what it ..read more

How can we evolve as a society without sidelining the environment? The past few decades have brought about new needs in a rapidly evolving landscape, bringing up new questions. The challenge is to find ways to adapt to the local habitats we’re building in, from the tallest trees to the smallest animals. But, how can we protect some of the most fragile species in our projects? This dilemma is precisely what our team faced. The 407 ETR highway in Ontario, Canada, is a key infrastructure for transportation in the area. It’s, in fact, one of the busiest roads in North America. It is also surr ..read more

During the hurricane season in the Atlantic, a period that runs from June 1 to November 30 each year, the tropical cyclones that head towards the US and Caribbean coasts test the management and strength of all constructions and infrastructures. Meteorologist Albert Martinez explains how to predict the path of a hurricane and the deadlines citizens have to prepare for potential hazards.  Edgar Acosta, Design Build Estimating Manager at Webber, and Daniel Morrow, Construction Manager at Webber, tell us how Hurricane Harvey impacted the Houston area in 2017 and how neighbors organized to he ..read more

We have always been struck by the incredible height of skyscrapers. Do you know how tall the tallest building in the world is? The current record is 2,717 feet, over half a mile. Nonetheless, we are sure that somewhere in the world, an even taller one is already being planned. Have you ever wondered how tall they are downwards? How many feet would they have had to build underground, to support such a height above? And how is the tallest building in the world built? In this episode of Sounds Like Infrastructure, we dive, or rather climb, to the tallest building in the world. We want to discove ..read more

In 1765 the Scotsman James Watt invented the steam engine. In 4500 BC, humans from way back then invented the wheel.   More than six thousand years of difference between one invention and the other, but both completely transformed society at the time and all that was to come.   On a smaller scale, construction, engineering and architecture evolve thanks to the accumulation of experience and the arrival of new technologies that drive change. In this episode of Sounds of Infrastructure, we delve into how innovation has pushed the wheel of evolution to keep turning: sustainability, digi ..read more

Imagine the highways of the future with faster drive times, fewer accidents and reliable, instant safety alerts that are navigated by a mixture of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). As vehicles are getting smarter, so as the roads in which they circulate in thanks to emergence of new technologies like 5G, C-V2X and real-time sensing which are being retrofitted into the existing infrastructure. In this episode, Cintra's Senior Innovation Manager, Jen Duthie, explains the concept of smart highways, using Cintra's AIVIA Smart Roads initiative (Smart Roads Technology Solution - C ..read more

On a warm August night in 1790, Madrid’s Plaza Mayor was home to one of the worst fires the city had ever seen. Over the course of nine days, the fire not only burned most of the square, but also wreaked havoc outside of it too.  After the fire was finally put out, the king commissioned the architect Juan de Villanueva to rebuild the square. His task? To make sure it never burned down again.  On this episode of Sounds Like Infrastructure we tell you the story behind Madrid’s most famous square and the work Ferrovial took on to bring the square back to its former glory.  Sound ..read more

This World Water Day, we take a look at what cities across the world are doing to diversify their water supplies and make sure they don’t face their very own ‘Day Zero’ - the apocalyptical sounding event that threatened Cape Town in early 2018.  Peter Bailey guides us through Houston’s plan to diversify from groundwater and stop the city from sinking, and Eva Muñoz Manzanera explains how the Spanish city of Águilas is using desalination to help irrigate the region.  Sounds Like Infrastructure is a collaboration between Ferrovial and Veleta Media. Our team includes Craig Lawless, Ke ..read more

Diversity and inclusion are terms we’ve been hearing a lot more of recently. But although their definitions are pretty straightforward, we don’t always know exactly what they mean when it comes to their use in the world of business.  To help celebrate International Women’s Day, we’ve decided to dig a little deeper into what these two words mean. We talk to Webber’s Chelsea Russo about her experiences working in often male dominated fields, and how that has influenced her perception of diversity in different companies and her day to day work. We also chat about the Women of Webber pr ..read more