Comment and opinion
27.09.19
New digital tools help infrastructure developers minimise their impact on the environment
How do we ensure the infrastructure we’re building to underpin our towns and cities and enable our way of life doesn’t cost us the earth? As an industry, we have to find a way to balance the demand for better transport connections, more housing, cleaner energy and a steady flow of fresh water with the urgent need to protect our environment.
27.09.19
Smart materials: how could they transform infrastructure intelligence?
Every year in the UK we spend billions of pounds repairing and maintaining our vital infrastructure . But new, smart materials could enable us to cut those costs, improve sustainability, and the safety of major project delivery.
06.08.19
What’s a realistic Hydrogen roadmap to 2050?
If we were to accept that hydrogen could play a significant role in plugging the energy gap and accelerating the UK’s journey towards net zero carbon by 2050, what would a roadmap for a hydrogen economy look like?
26.04.19
Five Stages to engineering a carbon-neutral future
Jyoti Sehdev, one of our section engineers, provides her thoughts on the five stages of a project lifecycle that we influence to engineer a carbon-neutral future.
18.02.19
10 guiding principles for energy and resource efficiency
I was recently invited to be a contributing author of the Institute of Chemical Engineer's energy and resource efficiency guide. My article provides a summary of the 10 guiding principles. Although the guide has been written from the perspective of industrial plant, it contains guiding principles that will ring true for any business…
06.02.19
This generation's biggest challenge
A report was published towards the end of last year by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) claiming that the global temperature rise needed to be capped at 1.5° rather than the previously stated 2° (rise measured against pre-industrial global temperatures). The last time the global temperature spiked in such a dramatic fashion was 56 million years ago when a vast quantity of carbon was injected into the earth’s atmosphere. The outcome of which completely flipped the world on its head.
06.12.18
Costain is fully committed to Waste to Wealth
In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a stark warning: ‘we have just 12 years to mitigate the risk to catastrophic climate change and reverse the destruction of natural habitats’. We must make the most out of precious resources, aim to waste as little as possible and find ways of turning the waste we do create into new wealth.
16.10.18
A passion to protect the environment and raise awareness
Chartered Environmentalist, Jennifer Pollard, has a passion to protect the environment and raise environmental awareness. As part of Green Great Britain Week, she tells us about her career journey and the work she has been involved in, doing what she loves.
29.08.18
The nail biting wait for exam results is over… what’s next?
Well it’s that time of year again when those of us with children or involved in the education sector hold our breath as we wait for the exam results to be announced. For almost everybody this will involve some flashback to the past and their own experience. For me, it reminds me of ‘first love distractions!’ and a lack of real focus and direction in my A-levels leading to a happy four years at my ‘back up’ university choice!
20.04.18
What's the worst that can happen?
Through the wonderful organisation Girls Out Loud, I have just completed a year as a mentor to a 13 year old girl. This wasn’t part of the plan, when asked, my inner voice screamed “Noooo!”, but having done it, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Not for the warm fuzzy feelings we associate with doing good for a youngster, but for the massive impact it had on me.