The Infrastructure Podcast: Episode 175
Guest: Victoria Johnson, Vice President, HDR Engineering, Inc.
In this episode 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 Infrastructure Podcast: Episode 174
Guest: Nevil Muncaster, Strategic Water Resources Director, Thames Water
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.
My guest 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 to bolster supplies and secure drought resilience of up to 15 million people across London and the South East for the next century. The path to a 2040 opening is far from smooth. Local communities, environmental charities, and councils have raised fierce objections.
Add to that the multi-billion-pound pressure that the investment will add to Thames Water’s already precarious financial position. Much to discuss....
The next episode of the Infrastructure Podcast will be published on Monday 24th August after another week off for a summer break!
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Antony Oliver Consulting
Editorial consultancy services for the infrastructure sector
Antony works with a range of clients across the infrastructure sector, helping to boost their communication and marketing strategies and delivery so as to stimulate discussion and action in the industry.
This work includes:
- editorial support and creation
- event organisation, preparation and delivery
- round table discussion hosting and workshop/team facilitation
- video and podcasting
He has spent the last 30 years working as a journalist and editor across the infrastructure sector. Having joined New Civil Engineer magazine in 1994, he edited the title for 14 years until 2013, expanding NCE from a traditional paper magazine to deliver live events and conferences and then embrace the expanding world of multi-media digital delivery.
In 2014 he left NCE to create and launch Infrastructure Intelligence, a new digital-first publication for the sector, and for two years led and developed this ground-breaking media brand for the Association for Engineering and Consultancy.
He is a chartered civil engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, having started his career with Owen Williams and Partners and Balfour Beatty. He is committed to driving change across the UK infrastructure sector and is a Trustee of the Built Environment Trust and a Director of the Building Centre in Store Street, London.
antony@antonyoliver.com













































































































































































