Category: Insights
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In sight but out of mind: designing infrastructure to support mental health
An opinion piece by Ann Zhang, economist at Frontier Economics and Chair of the Commission’s Young Professionals Panel. A Breath of fresh air: Green space and mental health If there is one lesson that lockdown has taught me, (aside from the fact I will never be a star baker), it is that access to green...
The long term role of cars in towns
An opinion piece by Mike Davis, Consultant Engineer at E4Tech, and Jo Garvey-Rae, Senior Cost Manager at Turner & Townsend, both members of the Commission’s Young Professionals Panel. The last 12 months has seen a renewed recognition that some towns and places are being left behind, both in terms of productivity and wider quality of...
Can local energy planning help solve ‘double challenge’ of net zero and levelling up?
An opinion piece by Cissie Liu, senior regulation analyst at SSE Plc and Mike Davis, chartered engineer and a senior consultant at E4tech; both members of the Commission’s Young Professionals Panel (YPP). Background The Commission’s YPP has committed to explore decarbonisation and levelling up as our two key themes for 2021, as both have a...
We must press the accelerator on transport decarbonisation
An opinion piece by Caroline Bryce, Asset Management Adviser at Mott MacDonald and member of the Commission’s Young Professionals Panel. The UK announced its sixth Carbon Budget earlier this year, committing to reducing emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. The government expects to achieve this target through investing and capitalising...
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...