In this episode we are talking about the once-in-a-generation reckoning currently facing the British water industry.

Following the publication of the final report from Sir Jon Cunliffe’s Independent Water Commission last summer - and most recently the landmark January 2026 White Paper, "A New Vision for Water," the regulatory landscape across the sector is being completely redrawn.

To discuss these changes and the implications for the supply chain, I am joined today by Chris Taylor-Dawson, Senior Director for Major Water Infrastructure at regulator Ofwat, someone who is, without question, at the heart of this transition.

And there is certainly a huge amount for Chris to get across. To start with Ofwat itself will be reborn via a merger with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, and some functions of the Environment Agency and Natural England, to create a new single integrated regulator.

And there is a huge amount of work to do on the ground following the latest AMP8 price review. Water companies are committed over the next five years to at least 30 major infrastructure projects, including perhaps nine new reservoirs, as part of a complex £50 billion pound major projects pipeline.

And with Ofwat’s recent Economic Impact of Water Supply Infrastructure report highlighting that continued water scarcity could significantly stifle economic growth, the urgency is certainly growing.

Fortunately, Chris is a calm head when it comes to meeting this kind of challenge and brings a wealth of experience from his previous career delivering major projects for National Highways.

I last spoke to him in November at the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in London and it’s fair to say the challenges have become clearer since then.

Resources

• Ofwat website
• Sir John Cunliffe Independent Commission final report
• January 2026 White Paper "A New Vision for Water"
• Ofwat's Economic Impact of Water Supply Infrastructure report
• PR24 price review
• Ofwat Major Water Infrastructure Programme (MWIP)
• RAPID (Regulators' Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) programme
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit London 2025

In this episode we. explore how infrastructure, arguably one of the most traditional and risk-averse industries, can truly embrace and embed digital technology and artificial intelligence as it trains and inspires the next generation into the sector.

No question that construction and infrastructure are the backbone of the UK economy. Yet we continue to face a critical shortage of skills - as the pipeline of work grows we see older, experienced professionals retire without being effectively replaced by the next generation.

Add to this the impact of technology which is radically transforming – or should be – the way that we design, build and maintain assets, and we have a cocktail of opportunity and challenge.

To help us navigate this situation, I’m joined by Kirsty Ingleson, Head of Digital Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at Leeds College of Building. Kirsty will be expanding on our discussion today at a series of workshops to be help next month at the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREIIF).

In these workshops, Kirsty promises to challenge the idea that innovation is just about 'new gadgets’. and instead, argue that the real revolution is in how we think, how we learn, and how we build confidence in an age of uncertainty.

From the power of 'reverse mentoring' - where a Gen Z apprentice might just be the one teaching the Site Manager - to the ethical tightrope of AI-driven decision-making, it’s a complex and challenging future.

So let’s get stuck in to some of critical questions around how we train the next generation of surveyors, engineers, and site managers for a digital and AI enhance workplace.

Resources

• Leeds College of Building
• Kirsty Ingleson
• UKREiiF show
• UK Construction Skills Mission Board
• Construction Leadership Council

This is a special episode recorded live in front of delegates at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in New York – the latest in this series of global events supported by software giant Bentley Systems and the UK Government.

My guest is Andy Byford, Special Advisor at Amtrak, former London Transport Commissioner, and the man in charge of the massive multi-billion dollar transformation of New York’s vast Penn Station, the busiest rail hub in the Western Hemisphere.

The Station sits on Seventh Avenue in the heart of Manhattan alongside the Maddison Square Garden sports and concert venue. It serves hundreds of thousands of passengers each day, via numerous the MTA subway lines and the Long lsland Railroad. Yet for decades it has struggled under the weight of aging assets, fragmented governance, and chronic underinvestment.

The result has been a station that works hard, but not well enough for the city, the region, or the nation it serves.

But that is now beginning to change. Under the expert eye of Andy - AKA the "Train Daddy" - the Penn Station Transformation intends to redefine what a modern, customer-focused, high-capacity rail hub can look like in the heart of one of the world’s densest urban environments.

And after a career running London’s Transport network, and before that, transportation in Sydney, Toronto and New York, he is the man that knows what passengers – and crucially what politicians want from this kind of station transformation.

I kicked off by getting to grips with this vast and highly political project - and asking what world class actually looks like?

Resources

• Penn Station tranformation
• Amtrak New Era of Rail website
• MTA project website
• TIP New York Summit 2026
• American Society of Civil Engineers website

In this episode we talk about infrastructure resilience: the challenge of designing and building infrastructure in an age of deep uncertainty, where a changing climate, a growing population, and a shrinking public purse have rendered traditional asset management models all but obsolete.

To discuss this vital issue, my guest is Sue Percy, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation and our focus will be on the resilience of the UK’s transport networks.

Sue is well placed to tackle the subject given that she fronted the CIHT’s annual conference last month titled “From Risk to Resilience” at which delegates debated a range of critical issues facing the national and local transport sector.

As the conference heard, the UK’s highways and transportation sector has operated for decades on the logic of risk management - calculating known variables to maintain a steady state. But that era is pretty much over.

And as the conference concluded, that range of systemic pressures requires a fundamental pivot in mindset and practice to move from risk to resilience. It requires us to view our infrastructure not as a collection of isolated assets, but as a living system.

That means building networks that don't just withstand disruption - whether from flooding or funding gaps - but infrastructure that actually adapts to it; embracing digital twins and predictive maintenance; breaking down the silos between engineering and policy, and finding the "technical leadership" necessary to deliver results when the skills gap is wider than ever.

It’s a complex story of moving beyond high-level theory to the sharp end of delivery. So let’s hear more

Resources

• CIHT annual conference 2026 - Risk to Resilience
• CIHT website
• Sue Percy Linked In
• National Highways Road Investment Strategy 3
• AIA Alarm Survey 2026
• Integrated National Transport Strategy
• UK government £1bn structures fund
• Climate Change Committee

In this episode we take a close look at the work of the Women in Property network and preview a special breakfast discussion that they have planned on 19th May at UKREiiF, the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum being held in Leeds on 19th to 21st May.

Joining me is Sam McCabe, the newly installed national chair of Women in Property who in her day job, is Passive House Lead for the UK and Sustainable Buildings Lead for Scotland at consultant WSP.

There is much to discuss at the UKREIIF breakfast. The property and infrastructure sector is at a moment of both urgency and opportunity. Huge amounts of public and private investment are promised to underpin the nation’s growth ambitions, yet there are still a vast number of barriers to overcome.

Sam’s theme for her year in office tackles these challenges head on and underpins her career mission to deliver buildings and infrastructure that actually work for the environment, for people, for communities and for the bottom line.

So when she talks about “Building more with less,” she makes a direct challenge to the industry’s "silo mentality" and the systemic inefficiencies that too often see great designs diluted by late-stage value engineering.

And by championing inclusive leadership as a practical means to drive better decision-making, Sam is setting out at both WIP and WSP to bridge the gap between diversity and delivery.

So as usual the question is how to drive change. So let’s dig in and discuss her vision for a more collaborative more diverse, more effective and more sustainable industry.

Resources

• Women in Property website
• UKREiiF website
• WiP breakfast meeting 19th May at UKREiiF
• Male Allies UK - National Allyship Summit 14 May
• WiP People - Innovation - Place Summit - 23 April 2026
• WSP website
• Sam McCabe Linked In

This this week's episode we discuss the decarbonisation of global aviation - and specifically a new project that aims to leverage the growth in nuclear technology to accelerate us towards a new world of affordable e-SAF - sustainable aviation fuels

Because for all the pressures of driving towards a net zero emissions future, the world's hunger for air travel continues to grow. Which leaves the environmental cost of traditional kerosene as no longer sustainable.

And to be honest, given the impact of war in Iran, the pressure to accelerate towards new types of fuel is only going one way.

Today I am joined by Caroline Longman, director and guiding mind at nuclear energy consultancy Equilibrion and by Commercial lead Hannah Vickers. Together they are going to talk us through a potential solution - Equilibrion’s flagship e-SAF project, Eq.flight.

Decarbonising aviation is a tough challenge – perhaps one of the biggest challenges of the global Net Zero transition. Unlike road transport, which can lean on batteries, long-haul flight requires high-density liquid fuels.

And global SAF mandates are tightening – the UK and EU have mandated a 2% SAF blend by 2025, rising to 10%–22% by 2030 - making now an increasingly critical moment.

While Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) exists, current bio-based methods face a feedstock ceiling - there simply isn't enough waste oil or land to fuel the global fleet.

The Eq.flight programme attempts to changes the equation by leveraging the carbon-free power of nuclear energy.

Working in collaboration with partners like Rolls-Royce SMR, Equilibrion it is moving from consultancy to delivery, recently launching a call for partners to join a "trusted, outcome-focused" supply chain.

Resources

• Equilibrion website
• The Eq.Flight project
• Eq.Flight - call for partners
• EU mandate on SAF
• Caroline Longman Linked In
• Hannah Vickers Linked In

In this episode we tackle the evolving challenges of managing infrastructure investment risk in a rapidly changing world.

As systemic threats like climate change, population growth and social inequality intensify, infrastructure funding models centred on individual assets, on clearly defined risks, and on relatively predictable climate conditions are reaching their limit.

In short, if we are to continue to attract private sector cash to underpin investment in our vital public assets, we need new thinking.

My guest today is doing that thinking and helping to take the necessary action.

Donna Lopata is senior manager for corporate engagement at the Sydney based Investor Group on Climate Change and has just been working with the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney on some ground-breaking research into Systems Stewardship, a radical new way for infrastructure investors to approach the management of risk in this changing world.

Donna’s work caught my attention at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Melbourne. In her presentation she pointed out that the Australian infrastructure investment industry is waking up to a stark reality: if the overarching economic and environmental systems fail, no individual portfolio is safe.

However, the IGCC’s report: Systems Stewardship: Managing Interconnected Climate Risks for Lasting Value suggest that a fundamental shift is already underway. Yet while some 85% of investment professionals now apply "systems thinking," a significant implementation gap remains, hampering the transition from high-level belief statements to concrete action.

Bridging this gap requires rethinking everything from procurement and carbon assessment to the very fundamental of assessing risk.

Resources

• Investor Group on Climate Change
• The Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney
• Systems Stewardship: Managing Interconnected Climate Risks for Lasting Value
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne 2026
• Donna Lopata Linked In

In this episode we are talking about water sector reform with Mark Thurston, chief executive of Anglian Water, arguably one of the most progressive and innovative water companies in the UK.

Not without its problems and critics of course, but Anglian is certainly one water company that has really taken on the challenge to work with its supply chain to boost infrastructure productivity and cut out carbon.

Mark joined Anglian in July 2024 having previously spent nearly seven years at the helm of the challenging and controversial HS2 project – the subject of our last conversation for the Podcast when he joined me back in 2023 for Episode 5.

No question, it’s a challenging time for the water sector. After years of public anger over sewage spills, service failures and rising bills, the water industry in England and Wales is facing a once-in-a-generation reckoning.

That moment crystallised last summer with the final report of the Independent Water Commission, chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe. This pulled no punches and in it 88 recommendations called for sweeping reform: replacing Ofwat with a single integrated regulator, creating regional water planning authorities, mandating water metering, and embedding a new “public benefit” duty into company licences.

At the same time, Ofwat’s latest price review has demanded a step-change in asset renewal, resilience to climate change, and service performance - all while keeping water affordable and the sector investable. The stakes could hardly be higher.

Without action, the country faces a potential shortfall of around a third of today’s public water supply by 2050. Right now, Anglian is responding with plans to deliver new reservoirs in Lincolnshire and the Cambridgeshire Fens, and battling to unlock delivery without compromising environmental protection or public trust.

So Mark finds himself once again at the heart of the infrastructure challenge. But his background perhaps brings rare experience of leading mega-projects under intense public and political scrutiny - experience that I’d say the water sector urgently needs right now.

So let’s explore those challenges.

Resources

• Anglian Water website
• Anglian Water annual performance report 2025
• Independent Water Commission - Cunliffe Review
• Ofwat's AMP8 final determination
• Anglian Water's Business Plan for AMP8
• HS2 website