The Infrastructure Podcast

Antony Oliver
  • 4.5 (2)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

A new regular podcast series which features conversations with some of the key leaders and influencers from across UK infrastructure sector.

  1. 16h ago

    Bringing Hospital 2.0 to life with Emma Whigham, Martin John and James Britt

    In this episode are back with the latest in our series exploring the New Hospital Programme (NHP), the single largest investment in NHS infrastructure in recent decades.  Hopefully you have caught the first two episodes on the programme published last February and December in which we explored the immense scale of this massive national endeavour and set out how the supply chain is gearing up to support the ambitious £37bn Hospital 2.0 industrialised delivery programm. Since our last podcast in February this year, ten delivery partners have been announced to work on the eleven projects in wave one of the programme which will be completed by 2033. In total three project delivery waves will see the huge programme stretch out to the mid 2040s.  Today, we are stepping into the operational reality of how these state-of-the-art facilities will actually be delivered on the ground and how this bold Hospital 2.0 Alliance will actually work in practice. So lots to talk through and to unpack and to do that I am joined by a panel representing one part of the new Hospital 2.0 Alliance: Emma Whigham, the NHP Hospital 2.0 Alliance Director, Martin John, Strategic Director for Kings Lynn and James Paget hospital trust, and James Britt, Programme Director at construction partner, Skanska. Some context – historically, and as explained in our last two podcasts, NHS hospitals were built individually by autonomous trusts under a fragmented approach that frequently led to budget overruns and timeline delays. The new (H2A) Hospital 2.0 Alliance Framework aims to completely rewrites that playbook.  By replacing traditional, often adversarial procurement with a 12-year collaborative ecosystem, NHP is backing an industrialised approach, leveraging standardisation, off-site manufacturing, and repeatable designs to speed up construction and drive value. But moving from theory to practice is highly complex. It demands an entirely new culture of transparency, shared risk, and collective resilience.  So let’s dive in with the folk on the front line and explore how this radical approach actually is set to change things for frontline clinical staff, deliver consistent long term value for taxpayers and crucially, improve patient outcomes. Resources New Hospital Programme: Plan for ImplementationGovernment hospital investment press release Hospital 2.0 AllianceEpisode 143 - Hospital 2.0Episode 152 - The Hospital 2.0 AllianceSupplier Guide.Skanska website Kings Lynn and James Paget hospital trustQueen Elizabeth Hospital trustEgan review 1998Latham review 1994

  2. Aug 31

    Unlocking UK potential with Paul Reilly

    In this episode I am joined by Paul Reilly, President & Managing Director for the UK & Ireland at global consulting giant WSP. There is plenty to chat through with Paul today. We are halfway through the parliamentary term and have a new Prime Minister in the shape of former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. His administration continues to place infrastructure delivery at the heart of its national economic strategy.  And with NISTA, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, now fully embedded in its second year, the focus has shifted sharply from strategic vision to the execution of an unprecedented £718 billion public and private investment pipeline. Achieving this vision, alongside the mandate to deliver 1.5 million new homes and meet critical net-zero carbon targets, presents a transformative opportunity for the infrastructure sector. Unlocking this potential requires overcoming deep-rooted, systemic hurdles: embedding digital technology into legacy supply chains, industrialising construction through modern methods, and closing an alarming deficit of 100,000 workers annually. Businesses like WSP have a key role to play in achieving the required delivery transformation. As one of the world’s leading engineering and professional services consultancies, with 12,000 specialists across the UK and Ireland and a global network of over 83,000 professionals, Paul leads a team capable of rethinking the way we turn ambition into delivery. Resources WSP websiteNISTA UK Infrastructure Pipeline10 year infrastructure strategy

  3. Aug 24

    An OBR for infrastructure with Sir John Armitt

    In this episode discuss how the new Burnham administration can use host public debate to accelerate its plans for infrastructure investment and actually start to turn ambition into reality. My guest is Sir John Armitt, arguably one of the most prominent, knowledgeable and influential figures when it comes to setting and delivering UK infrastructure policy.  As former longstanding chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, a past president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, former boss of Network Rail and contractor Costain, and the leader of high-profile infrastructure projects such as the 2012 Olympics, Medway Crossing and the Channel Tunnel High Speed Rail Link, he really needs no further introduction. Sir John is now chair of the new Public Private Partnership Commission which aims to overhaul how the UK selects, funds, delivers, and operates infrastructure. In a recent Financial Times editorial, John and the Commission advocates for a new Office of Budget Responsibility for Infrastructure, designed to, as he puts it, shield major investments from political interference and move decisions away from the so-called "Treasury brain."   Lots to unpack there.  Infrastructure investment is, as we continue to hear, critical to the government’s plans to devolve power, accelerate growth and drive living standards up across the whole of the UK.  But despite huge amounts of ambition, delivery remains challenging. Decades of short-term policy pivots and inflated project delivery costs have hampered our ability to turn great visions into reality.  This has to change. With a £725billion+ infrastructure investment strategy slated over the next decade, split evenly between the taxpayer and private markets, delivering long-term growth hinges on restoring investor confidence and operational stability.   So let’s hear how political leaders like Andy Burnham can better navigate our 5-year electoral cycles and actually unlock the vast amounts of private capital ready and willing to rebuild the nation's delivery capability.  Resources The Public Private Partnership CommissionFT article "We need and OBR for infrastructure"Bradshaw Advisory websiteNISTA websiteTen year infrastructure planUK infrastructure pipeline

  4. Aug 10

    Mega programmes for community benefit with Victoria Johnson

    In this episode of The Infrastructure Podcast, we discuss mega projects, specifically their potential impact, positive and negative, on the communities they serve and the environment they leave behind.  While historically the success of a mega project was measured in terms of its delivery to budget or completion to schedule, today these metrics have shifted wider and deeper as populations grow and the pressure of climate change bites. Today's measures of success and our focus on the human return on investment, the benefits created to living standards, including carbon reduction, economic growth and environmental improvement. In short, we're no longer just building assets, we're building the social and environmental scaffolding for the 21st century.  To discuss this change and its impact on the infrastructure sector, my guest today is Victoria Johnson, Vice President and global infrastructure executive at infrastructure consultant HDR Engineering, Inc., who has spent the last two decades redefining the architecture of our cities. The episode was recorded during my recent trip to New York, where she chaired a panel at the Transforming Infrastructure Perform Summit organized by the Infrastructure Policy Advancement team at software giant Bentley Systems. Her panel focused on mega programs for community and climate with fellow experts including Stephanie Wiggins, Chief Executive Officer of Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, the transit agency preparing for the LA 2028 Olympics, and recently wrapping up the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Victoria’s work with a wide array of municipal, state and federal leaders globally makes her an ideal expert to tackle this subject today, as does her glittering career, which over the last few decades has spanned advising the Biden-Harris administration on the historic $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to her leadership in the US Conference of Mayors and the African American Mayors Association.  Victoria certainly bridges the gap between high level public policy and street level impact with recent mega project work, including transformation of JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports in New York, and innovative insights on planning of Olympic legacies at Milano Cortina 2026 and LA 2028 Olympic games, which shares more deeply in an upcoming white paper she is co-authoring in collaboration Bentely Systems and Bocconi University in Italy.   Resources  Championing Equitable Infrastructure with Victoria Johnson | Data-Smart City SolutionsInvesting in people to power our infrastructure | The HillMayors Business Council - United States Conference of MayorsGovernor Hochul Announces JFK Airport Construction Sets Record MWBE Participation With $2.3 Billion in Contracts Awarded | Governor Kathy Hochul (ny.gov)Milestone Convening of ‘Equity in Infrastructure Project’ | The Equity in Infrastructure ProjectTransforming Infrastructure Performance Summit New York 2026Victoria Johnson | LinkedIn

  5. Jul 27

    Thames Water's reservoir plans with Nevil Muncaster

    In this episode we take a close look at Thames Water’s proposed White Horse Reservoir in Oxfordshire – one of nine new storage schemes advancing under Ofwat’s PR24 plans to confront growing climate pressures, population growth, and the urgent need for long-term water security. The investment is much needed. No new reservoirs have been built in the UK for more than 30 years leaving an potential shortfall of up to 5 billion litres a day in England by 2055,  according to Ofwat’s recent reporting.  As if to highlight the challenge right now, Thames Water has this week announced a new hose pipe ban across the region. Clearly work needs to happen to reduce leakage but without new storage capacity we are heading for problems.  My guest today is Nevil Muncaster, Strategic Water Resources Director at Thames Water and the man masterminding plans to tackle this challenge, including the £7.5 billion mega-project to build a 12 square kilometre reservoir near Abingdon. This facility is designed to hold 150 billion litres of water, drawn from the nearby River Thames during winter, and released to bolster supplies and secure drought resilience of up to 15 million people across London and the South East for the next century.  Supporters call it a critical, non-negotiable insurance policy against a changing climate and a rapidly growing population. However, the path to a 2040 opening is far from smooth. Local communities, environmental charities, and councils have raised fierce objections over its massive ecological footprint, carbon cost, and the disruption of local livelihoods.  Add to that the multi-billion-pound pressure that the investment will add to Thames Water’s already precarious financial position, which see the company currently saddled with nearly £20 billion of debt and racing against a looming autumn cash-flow crisis. So much to talk through as we explore progress toward Development Consent Order application for the project this year.  Resources Thames Water White Horse Reservoir Thames Water websiteOfwat Major Water Infrastructure Programme Ofwat RAPIDGovernment announcement on PR24Independent Commission on Water - Sir Jon Cunliffe

  6. Jul 20

    Major projects delivery reset with Becky Wood

    In this episode we examine delivery progress on the multi-billion-pound strategy and pipeline underpinning the UK’s ambition to place infrastructure at the heart of economic, social and environmental growth across the nation.  Last week, NISTA, the government’s National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority published its latest Major Projects Annual Report. This document offers a transparent look at the on-going £924 billion government project portfolio, tracking 189 of the UK’s most complex and ambitious initiatives, from nuclear power stations through to digital transformations. Joining me to dissect these numbers and explain the bold delivery strategy is NISTA’s chief executive, Becky Wood, who has been at the helm of this organisation since June last year, shortly after it was formed, bringing together the National Infrastructure Commission and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority. Its role is help drive strategy and improve performance across this huge investment portfolio.  Certainly this report highlights delivery progress but it also draws a line in the sand ahead of NISTA’s radical overhaul known as "Project Reset," which in April slashed its central oversight down to just 80 core, nationally significant projects and set out to demand sharper accountability and faster delivery. So, the question is how will this renewed focus help turn around the sector’s lengthening major infrastructure delivery timelines; and how can NISTA use data and digital systems to salvage failing projects and maximise value from every pound of the taxpayer’s cash. Resources NISTA websiteNISTA annual report 2025/26Project Reset10 Year Infrastructure StrategyInfrastructure Pipeline

  7. Jul 13

    Modern consultancy with Milda Manomaityte

    In this episode my guest is Milda Manomaityte, who stepped into the role of Chief Executive at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) and its subsidiary, the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) in March 2026. According to publicity at the time, her appointment signalled “a gear change for ACE group” and a strategic pivot for its role leading the sector.  Clearly that caught my eye – what indeed has Milda got up her sleeve to drag the engineering sector up the political agenda and into the 21st Century? Well, given that the UK is about to be handed a new Prime Minister in the form of Andy Burnham, it seems a great moment to find out how an organisation like the ACE - which for over a century has been the voice of engineering consultancy - can ensure that this new administration makes the right decisions when it comes to the long-term planning and delivery of the UK’s critical infrastructure and for protecting and enhancing the natural environment around us. Milda arrives uniquely equipped to meet these challenges. She spent the last seven years at the Railway Industry Association (RIA) - and we last on the podcast two years ago about driving innovation, performance, and digital transformation into that sector -  so she brings a track record of accelerating technology adoption and navigating complex government-industry relationships across rail. And at ACE, her predecessor, Kate Jennings, successfully elevated the trade body's political profile and established an ambitious three-year business plan. Milda’s tenure begins at a watershed moment. The UK infrastructure landscape is being rapidly reshaped by the rollout of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) overseeing the 10 year infrastructure strategy, and the delivery of an ambitious £720bn pipeline of work across energy, water, transport and of course housing.  But the challenges are abundant – project delays due to funding constraints and planning problems, huge challenges meeting our decarbonisation goals, ongoing lack of skills and of course the looming threat of Artificial Intelligence threatening to soak up jobs across the entire engineering design sector.  So lots to talk through Resources ACE websiteEIC websiteMilda on the Infrastructure Podcast June 2024Railway Industry Association EIC Nature as Infrastructure campaign

  8. Jul 6

    Simplifying EV charging with Asif Ghafoor

    In this episode  we are talking about electric vehicle charging and the challenge of creating the truly integrated and customer friendly charging network needed to support the growth of EVs My guest  is Asif Ghafoor, chief executive of BE.EV, one of the UK’s leading charging networks and someone who I’d say is pretty out there when it comes to honest appraisals of the state of the EV market and the fragmented "wild west” charging networks that now litter out towns cities and service stations.  I last spoke to Asif on the podcast three years ago in Episode 24 back in July 2023 -  seems like yesterday! But BE.EV is now five years ago, and arguable since we last spoke the sector finally starting to grow up- less of the “I’ll have a go” mentally; more strategic, customer and business focus. Certainly BE.EV is expanding and leading the charge. In February this year Asif completed a landmark acquisition of European energy giant Mer’s UK public charging network, adding over 1,600 charging bays across 450+ sites and seeing the business effectively shift from its northern roots to become truly national networks with large numbers of charging sites added across the south and now boasting over 2,500 bays. And still backed by Octopus Energy Generation’s Sky Fund, the company has established itself as the UK’s second top-rated rapid and ultra-rapid charging network, combining an impressive 99% reliability rate with a deeply customer-centric approach. BE.EV also recently led a pioneering partnership with Leasing.com which integrated BE.EV directly into the consumer car-buying journey, demystifying public charging at the exact moment drivers choose their next vehicle. BE.EV’s guiding philosophy remains fiercely simple: drivers shouldn’t have to become charging experts. So let’s explore the reality behind these claims and headlines, find out what’s changed over the last five years and perhaps unpack how charging networks can actually still underpin the UK’s low carbon future.  Resources BE.EV websiteSMMT statisticsOctopus Energy GenerationEpisode 24 with Asif Ghafoor - "Building the EV revolution " - 2023Times interview with Asif

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About

A new regular podcast series which features conversations with some of the key leaders and influencers from across UK infrastructure sector.

Information

  • Creator
    Antony Oliver
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    179
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Infrastructure Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Infrastructure Podcast

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