Author Archives: Andy Bolton

The UK reservoir sector is going through a period of transformation. After exponential expansion in the 19th and 20th centuries, major reservoir construction ceased at the end of the 20th century. No new major water supply reservoirs have been constructed for the last 30 years. In the 21st century, population-driven…

A new guide providing practical advice for boosting productivity across the infrastructure lifecycle, has been published by the ICE.

Driving Productivity: Infrastructure Lifecycle Guidance is an online publication which builds on the Institution’s State of the Nation 2022: Improving Infrastructure Productivity report. State of the Nation 2022 explored possible interventions that…

In late November, chancellor Jeremy Hunt set out the government’s latest spending plans in the 2023 Autumn Statement.

Hunt’s announcements focused on supply-side reforms to the economy, including changes to the planning system for the electricity network. He confirmed that the government is acting on the electricity networks commissioner’s proposals to…

ICE Council is seeking new members for the session which begins in November.

There are 11 vacancies: Five general members (comprising Chartered, Incorporated and Technician Members), who are elected by the professionally qualified members worldwide and do not represent any particular constituency Five regional members – one member to represent each…

Hall succeeds Anusha Shah in November. He is an academic widely recognised for his research into water resource risk analysis.

ICE senior vice president Jim Hall has been officially elected to be the next ICE president by ICE Council. He succeeds Anusha Shah in November 2024. The ICE nomination committee put…

The “father of civil engineering” John Smeaton is credited with coining the term civil engineer. His legacy is impressive, and includes many famous structures such as the Eddystone Lighthouse.  He also founded the first engineering society in the world – the Society of Civil Engineers, renamed the Smeatonian Society of…

Main Point Peter Meanley is quite right that we need a British Standard to encourage the use of basalt reinforcement (Your View, December 2023). However, in my view we also need a change of attitude in the risk averse procuring authorities, primarily government departments. They often view innovation with suspicion and…

The UK’s infrastructure industry might be forgiven for being downhearted as we come into the New Year. Confidence in major project and programme delivery is at, what feels like, an all time low. The cancellation of Phase 2 of High Speed 2 (HS2) is a recent – and very public…

Now is the time to shift the mindset on water management in communities to capture the many benefits collaboration brings. Uniquely, water, or a lack of, is at the root of many societal challenges, including droughts, floods and pollution, which often exist side by side. It should be reassuring that…

It has been an eventful few months for UK infrastructure policy, even by recent standards. Industry warnings about offshore wind incentives were ignored, net zero policies were scaled back, and the northern leg of High Speed 2 was cancelled. Within this whirlwind policy environment, the second National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA2)…