Insights

“There is a view that we must invest and the best thing to invest in to get people back to work is infrastructure.”
Our transportation managing director, Sue Kershaw, shares her views on investment in infrastructure in the first interview of a series published by Burges Salmon, an independent law firm.

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.

Engineering Matters Podcast #66 Fever screening at airports
Our experts, Fiona O’Shea and Rob Middleton, have teamed up with Engineering Matters to explain how we are integrating thermal camera and management technology into airport and airline systems, to ensure greater safety, a more seamless passenger experience and smooth airport operations for the long term.

Improving major project performance through the right culture and leadership behaviour – PART THREE OF THREE
The urgency to build better resilience for our economy, the environment and communities is stronger than ever before. But realising this imperative requires transformation at pace across the lifecycle of infrastructure and one way to encourage this, to date overlooked, is by improving the behaviours of those leading project review meetings.

Improving major project performance through the right culture and leadership behaviour – PART TWO OF THREE
We live in a world where pressure to deliver value for money on high-performing, complex infrastructure projects is relentless and yet there are numerous examples of over budget and over running projects in the UK. According to the Infrastructure and Projects Association, of the major projects identified between 2012-2019, the number of projects classified as “probable of a successful delivery” has fallen from 48% in 2013 to just 17% in 2019. A transformation that delivers faster and more efficient projects is required.

Improving major project performance through the right culture and leadership behaviour – PART ONE OF THREE
At a national level, project reviews play a fundamental role in ensuring the nation’s critical infrastructure gets delivered on time and on budget. When properly run they enable the teams involved, and their leadership, to see through the fog, evaluate a project’s underlying health and make effective decisions on future activity. This all centres on the encouragement of desired behaviours and the discouragement of undesired behaviours through different consequences.

How can connected and automated vehicles contribute to the net zero agenda?
The Committee on Climate Change recommended a new emissions target for net-zero greenhouse gases by 2050, an ambitious target which UK government has pledged to achieve. Road transport is still one of the leading contributors to air pollution and the sector has a lot of work to do to reduce its impact on the environment.

Flattening the climate curve? – Lessons from lockdown for tackling for climate change
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”. This statement on the lessons of action in adversity, attributed to Winston Churchill, describing post-war attempts to create the United Nations as a force to rebuild the global community is absolutely pertinent in a COVID-19 impacted Britain right now.

Integrating thermal imaging technology to help restore air passenger confidence
Thermal imaging technology will play an important role in the aviation sector’s strategy to minimise risk, keep staff and passengers safe and increase public confidence in flying following the Covid-19 pandemic. Several airports have already announced their use and Costain is right at the heart of this development, helping to drive the role of digital technology and innovation in supporting UK recovery and productivity.

How can infrastructure do more to boost biodiversity?
With an increase in UK government investment in infrastructure, now is the time to look carefully at how we as a sector can do more to minimise any negative impact on biodiversity. If we use the right technology tools early on in all projects, the industry has an opportunity to maximise its positive impact and biodiversity net gain across the UK.