Insights

Sowing the seeds of change
Costain’s Sam White and Gavin Stonard, reflect on discussions from the recent Social Contract summit and in particular the role behaviours and culture can have on the long term resilience and security of our water supply.

How to value social outcomes in the water sector
Infrastructure is facing an enormous challenge, including population growth and climate change, making economic and environmental resilience now more urgent than ever.

Solving storm release spills with systems thinking
The recent press coverage around sewage spills into watercourses has highlighted the scale of the challenge faced by water companies coping with the impacts of climate change and population growth. Delivering a better service to customers and the performance improvements required by Ofwat through the Outcome Delivery Incentives (ODIs) are driving the need to innovate and implement affordable solutions at pace.

Digital approach to construction of London’s super sewer
Digital processes and innovations are enabling the Thames Tideway tunnel team to respond to change, make confident decisions and improve safety and efficiency on the project.

Maintaining resilient, low carbon UK water infrastructure which is fit for the future
A new world of innovation is being directed by Ofwat and the water industry is embracing the opportunities to find better solutions to the challenges in our changing world.

Engineering Matters Podcast #73 How to build a digital twin
Our expert, Carolina Toczycka, has teamed up Guy Gregory from Anglian Water and Engineering Matters to talk through the realities of building a digital twin.

Delivering decades of operational efficiency and certainty with through-life thinking
We live in a world where #servicedelivery is non-negotiable and the safety, resilience, reliability, and security of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) is paramount. So what steps have you and your organisation taken to ensure timely service will meet demand without fail? In this article, Nick Jacques explores how important it is for those involved in delivering an asset to understand that their role is to deliver decades of operational capability not just handover a nice new shiny, high-profile asset.

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.

How a digital twin can deliver immeasurable benefits without immeasurable costs
The benefits of having a digital twin for just one infrastructure asset are many: This single source of information can reduce the number of site visits, enhancing safety and minimising downtime, as well as minimise the risk of delays and escalating costs to capital projects, to name a few. The benefits of a digital twin at a national scale would be immeasurable.

The relationship between ‘systems thinking’ and ‘systems engineering’
We share the three benefits that Costain achieves by using ‘systems thinking’ in the context of engineering.