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The series is produced and hosted by me, infrastructure journalist and commentator Antony Oliver.
The aim is to introduce the people behind the most interesting job titles and projects across infrastructure and to help spread best practice and learning throughout the sector.
The Infrastructure Podcast is back for 2025 and kicks off this morning with an interview with Nicholas Cumins the new chief executive of infrastructure software giant Bentley Systems – a business at the heart of the sector’s vital data and digital transformation.
More than ever, the government is banking on infrastructure investment to help drive the economy in the new year and beyond. It is clear that the power of technology and, in particular, the need for the infrastructure sector to embrace the accelerating power of open data and new AI driven tools is a critical step in helping to accelerate the delivery of this investment ambition.
Listen on the link below, or via Apple, Spotify, or any of your favorite podcast providers, where Nicholas explains how this now public business is investing to ensure it is best placed to help the global sector deliver better outcomes faster and with less impact on the planet.
In today’s podcast we take a deep dive into planning and how look specifically at how the recent Banner Review might accelerate the delivery of the UK’s NSIPs – Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
Reform is certainly overdue. Nick Smallwood, out-going chief executive of the government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority highlighted the UK’s poor track record of infrastructure delivery at the recent TIP Live Summit in London. There he pulled no punches and said: “We take far too long to deliver infrastructure planning. It typically takes as long to get through the planning regime as it does to deliver an asset. That’s simply not acceptable. We need to do far better.”
So how can we do better? Well, we have the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill coming down the tracks and reform of the entire planning process is clearly on the government’s agenda with the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner laying out big plans for radical reform with virtually her first strike of the pen.
Today’s podcast comes from Canada as I’m on a short North American trip, and our discussion is focused how technology is set to – perhaps is already – transforming the delivery and operation of public transport.
In particular, we ask what lessons can be learnt from around the world – specifically from Toronto – by welcoming Kirsten Watson, Vice President of Government Relations and Transit Market Sector Leader at AECOM to the podcast today
Kirsten is former Deputy CEO at Toronto Transit Commission and has just been chairing a fascinating series of conversations about the future of infrastructure at the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Toronto. This is the latest in a series of global summits hosted by infrastructure software business Bentley System, which, over the last couple of years I have had the pleasure of assisting in the delivery.
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