Construction
Roadways can handle extreme weather – Jose Javier García Pardenilla, Ferrovial
Jose Javier García Pardenilla, Project Lead at Ferrovial, argues that roads are durable to extreme weather conditions, we just have to redesign how we formulate asphalt pavement. This year, we have seen surprising images from around the world, from airports forced to...
More zero, less net – Adam Crossley, Skanska
Adam Crossley, Director of Environment at Skanska UK, explains how we need to get back to basics when tackling net-zero challenges in the highways sector. Don’t over-complicate the journey to achieving net-zero carbon emissions. We’re living through a period of...
Transforming lives through Social Value – Andrew Stephenson, National Highways
Andrew Stephenson, procurement director at National Highways, reflects on how road schemes can add value to society through economic prosperity and improving community wellbeing. At National Highways, we’re well positioned to transform our customer’s lives through...
Innovative and sustainable approaches to concrete road refurbishment – Martyn Sherwood, Metrail Construction
Martyn Sherwood, managing director at Metrail Construction, talks through sustainable methods to road maintenance taken from Germany's Autobahn now being used in the UK. Innovation, sustainability and technology — three things that we at Metrail are proud to be at the...
Hitting the bridge deck running as the new kid on the National Highways block – Rob Cook, Winvic
Rob Cook, Civils & Infrastructure Director at Winvic, talks about their delivery strategy and projects ahead of exhibiting at Highways UK this year. Since I was appointed by Winvic in the brand-new role of Director for Civils and Infrastructure, it has been a...
Questions about the value of investment in roads – David Metz, UCL Centre for Transport Studies
David Metz, honorary professor at the UCL Centre for Transport Studies, outlines his suggested actions to inform future investment decisions when looking ahead to Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) The Department for Transport has begun to plan its third Road Investment...
Delivering 21st century roads – Marie-Claude Hemming, The Civil Engineering Contractors Association
From the cost of materials to the impact of legislation and foreign tensions, Marie-Claude Hemming, director of operations at The Civil Engineering Contractors Association, outlines what the future holds for contractors. The Government’s radical proposals for...
Accelerating delivery of big infrastructure
National Highways has been working with the government’s Project Speed infrastructure taskforce to develop ways of accelerating the delivery of major road schemes, making it says National Highways’ director David Haimes, “an exciting and challenging opportunity for us...
Why National Pothole Day matters in the age of Covid-19
This year’s National Pothole Day secured coverage across national print and broadcast media, putting a much-needed spotlight on the worsening pothole funding crisis. Paul Fleetham, Managing Director of Tarmac Contracting argues that even in the throes of Covid-19,...
Using AI to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on our Highways
Author: Peter Mildon - COO and Co-Founder, Vivacity Labs Peter Mildon, COO and Co-Founder of Vivacity Labs, has been reviewing data from Vivacity’s national network of AI-based video road sensors to assess the impact of Covid-19 on our highways networks on a daily...
Creating a legacy of continuous improvement
Author: Jon Cole, Head of Pavement Efficiency and Productivity, Highways England Our pavement efficiency journey started with a workshop in September 2015 in recognition that the way we delivered pavement needed to contribute significantly to the RIS1 capital...
A new source of road construction data
Author: Tony Gosling - Chief Digital Officer, Pell Frischmann The design of highway schemes would be improved if designers and decision makers could easily understand the cost, time, risk and disruption impacts of individual design choices The traditional process...
Connecting the Constructors
Author: Neil Williams - Engineering & Infrastructure Segment Manger, Leica Geosystems Despite the current political uncertainty, we are seeing record investment from Highways England channelled through initiatives such as the Regional Development Partnership...
It’s time to get to grips with digital
Author: Lesley Waud - Transport Design Development Director, SNC-Lavalin Atkins By people, I really mean a culture and a mindset: a perception by many that doing things 'digitally' is a threat to long-held technical specialism or expertise. But I don't see it in those...
The role of roads on the road to net-zero carbon emissions
Author: Adam Crossley - Adam Crossley, head of environment and strategy, Skanska UK Even if you are not a big advocate of fighting climate change you can't help but notice how it is increasingly on the agenda everywhere - whether it's protests in Parliament, the Prime...
You can’t do Big Data if you can’t do Small Data
Author: Brian Fitzpatrick - Brian Fitzpatrick, Founder, Fitzpatrick Advisory The future of our infrastructure is digital, but just who is best placed to build the local authority capability to manage this revolution? Who will look after the impact of decisions made by...
Invest today to deliver the highway infrastructure of tomorrow
The UK's strategic road network is one of its most valuable national assets, key to our economic growth. Four million people use Highways England's strategic road network each day, and this is forecast to grow by over 40% by 2040. Just as an effective roads network is...
The vital ingredients for successful asset management
The challenges facing highway authorities seem to amount to an almost impossible conundrum. Peaks in public expectation are matched by troughs in central government funding for local infrastructure. As recently highlighted in a letter by a group of industry bodies to...
Joining up the good work
The highways sector has so far failed to move on from its traditional, largely manual ways of working. We have seen productivity flatline for over 20 years, struggled to deliver better customer service and communications and still impact the health, safety and...
Transforming the narrative for better local roads
Costing £400Bn, local roads are the UK's most valuable asset. As trades routes, roads they have been the life blood of economies for millennia. Thanks to buses, cars, coaches, bikes and walking, roads make possible access to education, health care and work. More...
