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How infrastructure can help counter infection
An opinion piece by Monica Laucas, drawing on conversation with Chelsea Stefanska, Global Health Security Specialist at Mott MacDonald I recently discussed with Chelsea Stefanska, a Global Health Security Specialist at Mott MacDonald, how epidemiology can influence infrastructure design and how infrastructure can be retrofitted to be pandemic resilient. “As an infectious disease epidemiologist, it...
Young infrastructure professionals test top ten proposals for driving change
Our Young Professionals Panel considers the government’s National Infrastructure Strategy and Budget and puts forward its top ten recommendations in response to the Strategy and the Commission’s recent Annual Monitoring Report.
Looking back at transport development
If you’re reading this, you’ll probably know we recently launched our data pages, an area of our website which provides you with easy access to the data we have used, and data we think you’ll find interesting. As promised in our launch blog, we have now added our historic transport datasets which you can find...
Valuing natural capital in infrastructure
This week, government has launched a consultation on its draft policy statement on five environmental principles, to be enshrined in the Environment Bill. The announcement follows hot on the heels of last month’s publication of the Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity. This landmark report made a decisive link between the economy and nature, suggesting...
Learning the lessons for a highly renewable future
The last few months have been a busy time for UK energy policy. The government published its long awaited Energy White Paper, The Climate Change Committee produced its 1,000 pages of advice to the government on the level of the next carbon budget, and HM Treasury published its interim report on the costs of the...
Opening up our data
Here at the Commission, data underpins our work. It helps us understand the state of infrastructure in the UK, how well it is performing for us, and what infrastructure we might need in the future. Because it’s so important, we’ve been working to make it easier for you to access and use. Welcome to our...
Better defining ‘levelling up’ is a crucial step to achieving it
Some form of regional inequality has been a persistent feature of the UK. Not only are there profound differences between regions (i.e. North and South), there are also inequalities within regions. Pockets of low productivity and heightened levels of deprivation exist in both successful and unsuccessful places. But these are not set in stone; changing...
A sector that looks more like today’s UK will serve it better
“Create a diverse, inclusive workplace that is representative of the public we serve – and ensure that infrastructure planning, decision-making and implementation reflects the needs of the entire population.” Walking into a conference hall containing some of the key decision makers in infrastructure investment a few years ago, I was struck by the similarity of...
My first 100 days
100 days ago, I took up my post as Chief Executive of the NIC. Like others who have changed jobs during the crisis, I’ve been navigating the challenge of being away from a tangible office environment and getting to know my new team through calls and computer screens. While it’s been a rather unconventional start, I join at a time when the Commission’s work has never...
Can data help make our crucial infrastructure even more resilient?
Now more than ever we can see the importance of data to help us anticipate, react, and recover from infrequent but potentially devastating events. But this is not just true of pandemics: data can help us to manage direct shocks to infrastructure as well. During the current crisis, our infrastructure systems have generally stood up...
Forecasting a changeable outlook
You don’t have to be a trained weather forecaster to note that the weather in the UK is changing. The scientific consensus is that we will see an increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events as a result of climate change. The UK government has legislated for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by...
Metering will save us water sooner
It’s not surprising that household water consumption has surged during the Covid19 lockdown. We’re washing our hands more than ever, and many of us are home all day using our bathrooms and kitchens. But even before lockdown, some of us were already using more water than we need – by taking long showers, watering our...
How can infrastructure improve competitiveness?
Looking beyond the urgent priorities raised by the present pandemic, Commission Economic Advisor Beth Horsman introduces a new discussion paper exploring the vexed subject of competitiveness and its implications for long term infrastructure planning. When you think of competitiveness, what sort of images spring to mind? Furiously fought sporting fixtures; athletes training for competitions; a...
Infrastructure and the efficient delivery of new housing
This blog post relates to the new paper Infrastructure to support housing. We often hear that Britain is in the midst of a housing crisis. The government aims to tackle it by building one million homes in England over the next five years, with the annual build rate rising towards its 300,000 homes target. This...
Unwrapping the importance of infrastructure for everyday life
As we hurtle towards Christmas, infrastructure is perhaps not top of most people’s minds. But without it, the holidays would be rather less enjoyable (raw turkey, anyone?) and those of us travelling wouldn’t be able to get to where we are supposed to be. So this year, the National Infrastructure Commission is working with various...