Building a skilled workforce
Antony Oliver
22 January 2026
My guest on this week’s episode of the The Infrastructure Podcast is Matthew Cannon, chief executive of The Clancy Group - and a former international pro rugby player - as we tackle the tricky issues of building and retaining high performance teams in infrastructure.
Have a listen here - or find all 147 episodes wherever you get your podcasts - search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple, Google or YouTube.
Alongside Matt’s hugely insightful take on the current challenge facing the UK contracting market, I found it really insightful to chat to a former high performing sportsman (Matt played at London Irish and London Welsh and was a member of England’s successful 2003 Hong Kong Rugby 7s squad) about the way his sports team experiences crossed over into the world of work.
While I have never personally been involved in high performance of elite sports, I have witnessed close up the absolute power of sports teams working together to, literally “make the boat go faster”. And given that we talk so much about collaboration and leadership as being key to successful infrastructure project delivery, there is surely much to learn from those experiences.
It was so great to finally sit down with David Porter, the recently installed 161st President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) , to record this week’s episode of the The Infrastructure Podcast. Have a listen here - https://lnkd.in/eFB_Pzwd or find all 146 episodes wherever you get your podcasts - search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple, Google or YouTube. Over the last couple of years I have had the pleasure of spending time with David as we both helped deliver the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit series with ICE and Bentley Systems in various locations around the world. As you will hear in this week’s podcast, David’s absolute passion for engineering and infrastructure as a route to public service is truly inspirational. And as David makes clear, infrastructure professionals have to work much harder to convince the public of the value of investment. Because while we all depend on infrastructure - the roads railways, power water and communications of everyday life - most people barely notice it until it fails. So how do we make infrastructure personal again? Check out this episode as we discuss trust, long-term investment, public value, skills, AI, and why engineers must rethink how they communicate the impact of their work on everyday lives. I hope you enjoy listening to David as much as I did!
New year; new energy. We kick off The Infrastructure Podcast for 2026 by tackling one of the UK’s biggest and potentially most exciting infrastructure challenges: the future for Small Modular Reactors. My guest is Ruth Todd CBE, Operations and Supply Chain Director at Rolls-Royce SMR - the person tasked with turning a long-held nuclear ambition into a lower cost, deliverable reality. With experience spanning the Covid 19 Vaccine Task Force and HS2 (High Speed Two) Ltd, she knows what it takes to lead at moments of national importance. Have a listen here - https://lnkd.in/ef_AXvZR or find all 145 episodes wherever you get your podcasts - search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple, Google or YouTube. The latest Fingleton Review of UK’s nuclear sector described it as facing “strategic failure”. The government has responded with one of the most ambitious energy interventions in decades - including £2.5bn to accelerate SMRs. At the centre of it all sits Rolls-Royce SMR: factory-built, standardised, and designed to overcome the cost and delivery pitfalls that have plagued nuclear for years. Plans are underway to deploy at Wylfa with each SMR capable of powering a million homes. And the ambition is to export the technology around the world. So is this the start of a new golden age for UK nuclear?
It’s the last episode of The Infrastructure Podcast for 2025 this week and to close out the year I’m joined by Canadian Member of Parliament Jennifer McKelvie to see what the UK can learn from the way Canada is ambitiously reshaping its approach to infrastructure as key to nation building. Thanks for your support in 2025. Have a listen here - https://lnkd.in/ectKZhJD or find all 144 episodes wherever you get your podcasts - search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple, Google or YouTube. Canada’s infrastructure moment is certainly right now as - like the UK - the nation wrestles with housing shortages, congested transport links, climate pressure and the need for increased economic growth. Add in the complexity of geopolitics and the on-going tariff war with the US Trump administration … As Jennifer pointed out to the recent Bentley Systems-backed Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Toronto last October, Canada is certainly reacting to the challenge with investment at scale and with speed. It has a renewed nation-building ambition and a transformation in the way it plans, funds and delivers major infrastructure - from new federal delivery agencies to the expanding role of the Canada Infrastructure Bank/ Banque de l'infrastructure du Canada. The UK and Europe could maybe learn from Canada’s approach?
The NHS New Hospital Programme is one of the most ambitious pieces of public infrastructure in a generation. In the latest episode of The Infrastructure Podcast , I explore Hospital 2.0: a standardised, industrialised approach to hospital design and delivery that aims to bring certainty on cost, quality and pace — while strengthening UK supply chains and capability. I’m joined by Emily King , Director of Industrialisation and Doug Baldock , Technical Servies Director who brilliantly explain this vast and transformational programme. Have a listen here or find it wherever you get your podcasts — search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple, Google or YouTube. With a 12-year, £37bn pipeline, rolling five-year funding and urgent RAAC rebuilds to tackle, this conversation gets into what it will actually take to turn policy into delivery — and whether this model can reset how we build complex social infrastructure at scale. And perhaps also finally turn the manufacturing ambitions of the Latham and Egan reviews 30 plus years ago into reality. 🎧 Listen now and join the debate on what Hospital 2.0 means in reality.
This week’s episode of The Infrastructure Podcast was recorded last month at global infrastructure giant Bentley Systems’ annual Year in Infrastructure gathering in Amsterdam with Senior VP for the EMEA region Nathan Marsh and focuses on the challenges of digitising global infrastructure. I loved this conversation – grabbed in between conference sessions - have a listen here - or find it wherever you get your podcasts — search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple, Google or YouTube. After a career on all sides of the infrastructure fence – client, contractor, consultant and investor - Nathan shares his perspective on the challenges and opportunities ahead for the secort as it embraces digital tech and the power of AI. Oh, and Nathan also reflects on his two previous careers: - As a soldier in the British Army with the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards - As a professional rugby play er with Birmingham Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club and at London Welsh Rugby Football Club
Ground movement: invisible perhaps but crucial to understand! This week on The Infrastructure Podcast , we dive into the fast-evolving world of digital ground movement monitoring with Daniel Scott , CTO and co-founder of Osprey Measurement Systems . a UCL spin-out bringing new levels of precision, speed and insight to how we measure the world beneath our feet. 🎧 Have a listen here - or find it wherever you get your podcasts - search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple, Amazon or on Youtube. The conversation explores Daniel’s career journey and how cutting-edge tech is transforming the way we protect and future-proof our railways, tunnels, utilities and cities and finds out about his spare time role as a special reservist with 507 Royal Engineers Squadron specialising in protecting (and disrupting) rail infrastructure. Have a listen as we get into: 🔹 The journey from university lab to real-world deployment 🔹 Digital tools that deliver smarter, safer infrastructure 🔹 What it takes to disrupt a traditionally risk-averse sector 🔹 How to balance being an engineering entrepreneur with being a Royal Engineers Specialist military reservist Enjoy!
I had the pleasure of recording a live episode of The Infrastructure Podcast at the recent Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit in Toronto, hosted by Bentley Systems , with Divya Shah, CFA , Managing Director of Trade & Transportation at the Canada Infrastructure Bank/ Banque de l'infrastructure du Canada (CIB) to talk about Canada’s infrastructure challenge: building faster, smarter, and greener. 🎧 Have a listen here - or find it wherever you get your podcasts - search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple, Amazon or Youtube. With over $16.8 billion invested across 102 projects, Canada is reshaping the way it builds. The conversation explores how the CIB is acting as a catalyst for nation-building, unsticking private capital and supporting transformative projects - from clean power and green infrastructure to transit, broadband, and trade corridors. Canada’s challenges, to be honest, mirror those faced in the UK: geopolitical shifts, climate targets, rising costs, and the need for better federal, provincial, and Indigenous coordination. There is much to learn on this side of the Atlantic.
So what will £2.4bn buy London Luton Airport ? "More than just a terminal, I'm pleased to say," Nick Platts , managing director of Luton Rising , the community led owner of the airport tells The Infrastructure Podcast . Luton Rising is the owner of London Luton Airport , the UK’s only 100% community owned airport. Managing Director Nick Platts joins me on The Infrastructure Podcast this week to explain the £2.4bn plus expansion plans that he reckons will radically improve not only the airport’s function but also the local community that it supports. 🎧 Have a listen here - or find it wherever you get your podcasts — search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple or Amazon. Expansion is set to boost capacity from 19 to 32 million passengers a year and recently secured its Development Consent Order. It’s a story that’s bigger than just infrastructure. Luton Rising has already returned £500m+ to local services and community projects — and its expansion could contribute £1.5bn annually to the regional economy.
This week’s special episode was recorded live at The Building Centre in central London and takes us right to the heart of one of the biggest – and too often overlooked – questions in public policy: 👉 How do we re-establish the concept of decent neighbourhoods as a means to renew the country from the ground up? To help answer this I’m joined on The Infrastructure Podcast this week by Baroness Hilary Armstrong, Chair of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON) and a lifelong advocate for communities and regeneration. 🎧 Have a listen here From her early days as a social worker in Sunderland, to shaping the New Deal for Communities as a Cabinet Minister in the Blair government, Hilary has spent her career at the intersection of politics, policy and place. We talk about what’s gone wrong, what’s working, and what can be done now to bring new hope to Britain’s neighbourhoods. And with the Government’s 1.5 million homes target and the New Towns Task Force plans for new communities pushing ahead, this is a conversation that couldn’t be more timely!!
What a pleasure to chat to Lord Ben Gascoigne on The Infrastructure Podcast this week about the UK House of Lords Built Environment Committee’s work on New Towns - and the UK Government’s ambition to tackle the housing crisis through a new generation of well-planned, infrastructure-led communities. I t’s a lively conversation that covers a lot of ground – have a listen here - or find it wherever you get your podcasts — search “The Infrastructure Podcast” on Spotify, Apple or Google. As Chair of the House of Lords Built Environment Committee, Ben talks us through the findings of the Committee’s latest report New Towns: Laying the Foundations — which calls for decisive national leadership, a dedicated cabinet minister, and a new national delivery agency to drive progress. With a target of 1.5 million homes over the next Parliament, the challenge is not just about numbers, but about creating thriving, sustainable places where people want to live and work. It’s clear that successful delivery the next generation of New Towns will need vision, coordination, and long-term commitment — the question is, does the government have the patience and time required to make it happen? Listen on Apple: Listen on Spotify: Liston on Amazon: