Episodes

Dar es Salaam is one of the world’s fastest growing cities. In the 1970s, it was home to less than one million people. Today, it has a population of more than five million people, and by 2035 it is projected to have more than 13 million residents. The city sits on a natural harbour, the Zanzibar channel, and is crossed by a series of short rivers and tributaries. These supported the population, and helped build its position as one of Africa’s most important ports. But as climate change takes ef...

In this episode, we delve into the dynamic world of Power Electronics, Machines, and Drives (PEMD), exploring its pivotal role in shaping the future of energy systems and sustainability efforts. PEMD technology plays a critical role in advancing electrification and decarbonisation efforts worldwide. With PEMD technology enabling the integration of renewable energy sources, improving energy conversion efficiency, and driving advancements in electric mobility, the industry is poised to play a piv...

In late 1973 the UK’s Central Electricity Generating Board gained parliamentary approval to build the largest and most difficult pumped storage hydroelectric power station in its history. It was the largest civil engineering contract ever awarded by the government and became the biggest construction project in Europe. Engineering teams had to burrow 750m deep into the Cambrian slate of Elidir Fawr mountain at Dinorwig, North Wales to create the underground power station and a 16km labyrinth of t...

On the receiving end of among of the worst natural disasters in modern history, while being blessed with some of the most abundant natural resource reserves, and a developed economy, Australia sits in a unique position with regards to climate change. Many eyes are on the country as it looks to maintain the grid resilience of its traditional coal-fuelled economy, while undertaking one of the most dramatic shifts to renewables in the developed world. The southern continent walks an uncharted pat...

In the UK, over a quarter of a million kilometers of road have been laid. From motorways and A-roads to small country lanes, every kilometer of construction comes with a big carbon cost, emitting up to 2,600 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per kilometer. Over the last decade investment into new material technology and machinery has produced an array of tools for the road construction industry to use which can reduce carbon emissions. We’ve previously explored some of these individual innovations, such...

It will be just as important to upgrade pipeline networks for the energy transition, as it is the electric grid. These will carry carbon dioxide and hydrogen, along with ammonia and biogas. They will enable carbon capture, local hydrogen for fuel intensive industry and transport, and for export. Governments around the world have struggled to develop these networks. The UK’s strategy is to create clusters of carbon emitters to make use of offshore carbon storage. These can take advantage of lega...

HS2 is one of the most complex and challenging railway scheme the UK has ever undertaken. As such, it has been generating vast amounts of data across the board. Every geological survey, every design, every site, every environmental survey, all generating more and more data. So with all this data, what do you do with it? The final episode of the Learning Legacy Podcast looks at how HS2 has been using their data to build more detailed models, advance approaches to work and better equipment that ...

HS2 is focused not only on safety, but on overall health and wellbeing on all employees and contractors. Identifying long term risks to wellbeing is a challenge within any industry. It’s a particular problem on construction sites, where people often move between projects and sites. Episode 4 dives into some of the innovations and technology being implemented across the project. From monitoring site workers exposure to Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome, to understanding the approach in place at BBV to...

HS2’s place within the current climate and environment has always been its top priority. Once operational, the British-built bullet trains will provide zero-carbon journeys between the UK’s two largest cities, Birmingham and London. Episode 3 explores how HS2’s railway assets have been designed from the start with climate change resilience in mind, as well as utilising waste clay from tunnelling, and how it can be transformed into low carbon concrete. Featuring: Kay Hughes – HS2 Design Direct...

Design not only encapsulates the creativity and innovation of new products, but is the main source of information for construction to take place. Episode 2 of the Learning Legacy Podcast takes a look at the design stages of stations and tunnel portals and encapsulating the importance of finding new methods of work and finding the opportunity to answer questions when there isn’t much existing research out there. Featuring: Giles Thomas – HS2 Integration Director Kim Quazi – ARUP Lead Architec...

The concept of the Learning Legacy programme has been around for longer than you might think. Starting at London 2012, collating and sharing knowledge, innovation, good practice and lessons learned from major projects has developed in a number of ways to get to where we currently reside. In this first episode we’ll take a look back at other major projects and their approach to knowledge sharing, and we’ll explore how HS2 has gone about creating the most comprehensive Learning Legacy programme o...

Timekeeping has been a pursuit fraught with challenges throughout history. From ancient sundials to mechanical clocks, humanity has continuously sought methods to measure time with greater accuracy. Technology has given us new ways to measure time, but also demands more accurate synchronisation. Time synchronisation stands as a linchpin in modern technology, ensuring coherence and accuracy across systems and applications. From financial transactions to global communication networks, synchronise...

With the launch of ChatGPT, the power of generative AI has captured public attention. Systems like this can not only work through millions of options, like earlier chess-playing supercomputers, but develop original ideas that might not occur to humans, used to working within proven traditional approaches. New techniques of advanced information processing like this, promise to do much of the same work as humans in the blink of an eye. The challenge society now faces is to decide which tasks can ...

Cities around the world face a housing crisis. In countries like the UK, local authorities struggle to finance projects and to find space for development. In faster growing and younger cities, it can be a challenge to ensure services and infrastructure are developed at the same pace as new housing. Urban development requires a clear spatial plan that considers all forms of capital that a city generates: natural and social, human and cultural, as well as financial. By building this multi-dimensi...

Sixty years ago a civil engineer called John Bartlett of Mott, Hay & Anderson had a revolutionary idea. He noticed that bentonite clay could be used in a slurry to stabilise the face of tunnels during excavation. This could prevent non-cohesive, water bearing soils from collapsing inwards making excavation safer and cheaper. The first prototype of his bentonite tunnel boring machine was tested in 1971 at New Cross in East London and in this episode we explore the ways in which this success led ...

Social Value is a term that has been used to mean the additional benefits a company can provide to wider society beyond their business as usual. In the built environment, where infrastructure projects can already lead to negative consequences for local communities, considering how a company or project can provide real opportunities and benefits to locals is hugely important. There is a shifting landscape of work, where individuals, particularly from younger generations, are increasingly seeking...

Digitalisation is changing every part of the economy. Modern mobile cranes have been developed based on some of the most fundamental concepts in engineering, many of which were first described by Archimedes. But here too, advances in sensors, computing power, and data transfer have been transformational. What can this meeting of modern and ancient tell us about how we design complex, safety critical, machines and assets? Operating a crane was once a seat of the pants experience. A crane operato...

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways engineers and those in related fields can have a wider impact on the world. This episode is the last of three focussing on shortlisted entries in the Net Z...

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways engineers and those in related fields can have a wider impact on the world. This episode is the second of three focussing on shortlisted entries in the Net...

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways engineers and those in related fields can have a wider impact on the world. This episode is the first of three focussing on shortlisted entries in the Net ...

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways engineers and those in related fields can have a wider impact on the world. This episode is the last of three focussing on shortlisted entries in the Innov...

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways engineers and those in related fields can have a wider impact on the world. This episode is the second of three focussing on shortlisted entries in the Inn...

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways engineers and those in related fields can have a wider impact on the world. This episode is the first of three focussing on shortlisted entries in the Inno...

This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes, we’ll be introducing all of the shortlisted entries. The Awards will demonstrate why engineering matters. We’ll be sharing some exciting innovations. And we will be looking at a range of ways engineers and those in related fields can have a wider impact on the world. This episode focuses on shortlisted entries in the Environment category. We’ll ...