Inside: Richard Susskind on AI p70 Graduate Award winners p94 New Civil Engineer JANUARY 2018 ECONOMIC ELEVATOR HOW CIVIL ENGINEERING IS NOW KEY TO RAISING BRITAIN'S WAGES Street New Civil Engineer KICK OUT THE OLD JOBS, BRING IN THE NEW MARK HANSFORD EDITOR ots of excitement has inevitably surrounded chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget and the plethora of reports, It can be difficult to strategies and deals that have been published in the get ‘cutting edge’ skills L weeks following, all largely focused on tackling Britain’s “productivity” challenge. into the university syllabus The engineering industry has largely welcomed it all, largely because the general thrust has been that investing in the right kind of infrastruc- ture is the answer: that by having better road and rail links the nation event back in October, and his thoughts, and the responses of the sen- will collectively work harder in the making of stuff, and that once made, ior business-leader audience, are published in this month’s edition. this stuff can get its way to market quicker. “Digital” infrastructure has He had a stark warning for any engineer that believes they are been a particularly positive thing to talk about – whether that be invest- “immune from the advancing power of computing: “That determined ing in 5G telecoms networks or paving the way for autonomous vehi- view that machines do the routine work underestimates the processing cles (for purposes unclear). power of technology,” he stated. “Machines are outperforming us, but But what has been missing from the post-Budget debate and discus- doing it in a different way” sions has been the other digital – digital delivery. And it is surprising Susskind warned that the 2020s would be a crucial decade of re-em- (or not surprising, depending on your view of the profession) how few ployment, of engineers developing systems to replace our own ways people seem to be taking it, and its ramifications, seriously. of working, replacing themselves, in fact. But that leads to an almost Back in June New Civil Engineer’s special report on the Rise of the bigger question: if we are not going to be doing what we are currently Machines highlighted the rising threat – yes, threat – posed to the in- doing, what will we be doing, and what skills do we need to do it? dustry as we know it by machine learning, artificial intelligence and the We already know the skills we are teaching are wrong. Aecom di- automation of the construction process. But seemingly few believed it, rector Peter Ayres was People’s choice winner at the 2017 British or wished to believe it. Construction Industry Awards for the remarkable Halley VI Antarctic Since then we have heard more on this. Mace has warned that 600,000 research station in October. When he spoke to another NCE100 Club he construction jobs could be replaced by technology over the next 20 was clear: “Everything I was taught at university can now be done by years; its report Industry 4.0 made the front page of the Daily Telegraph, a small black box,” he said. The skills he now needs to employ are not but few in the industry are talking about it. Perhaps because the view being taught at uni. He needs coders, gamers, thinkers. of the average professional was that “those are unskilled jobs, surely?” But as Imperial College London chair in systems integration Jennifer But it really is far less about automation of construction and far more White told the Susskind debate, it can be difficult to get “cutting edge” about machine learning. Expedition Engineering director and ICE vice pres- digital skills into the university syllabus. She said she “thought it would ident Ed McCann is on top of this, telling our NCE100 Club last month, quite be a no brainer” but that the reality is anything but. plainly, that “an awful lot of what our people do is going to go.” McCann is currently working on a major skills review for the ICE. It re- McCann is a big advocate of the thinking of Richard Susskind, lawyer ports in April, and could – should – have some fundamental proposals and author of The Future of the Professions, a seminal book that chal- for how to change what we teach future engineers. So forget the Budget lenges the role of humans in professional activities in the future. – the big story in 2018 is skills. As it happens, Susskind spoke at a New Civil Engineer TechFest fringe l Mark Hansford is New Civil Engineer’s editor JANUARY 2018 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 3 Contents NEW CIVIL ENGINEER JANUARY 2018 MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 03 Comment, 25 This month's big issue: Analysis & News Elevating Infrastructure 06 Lighthouse: Now is the time of opportunity for civil engineering 08 The Edit: Boston fl ood barrier gets the go-ahead after contract award 09 The Edit: Mersey barrage plan 10 Analysis: Row over She eld tree cutting programme 14 Analysis: Olympic stadium transformation under fi re 16 Interview: Jim O’Sullivan, Highways England chief executive 18 Your View: Brain drain, importing skills, Oroville dam, Stonehenge 101 Institution of Civil Engineers: 200th anniversary book, engineering superheroes, ICE hosts ‘Masterchef’ Chancellor Philip Hammond has put infrastructure investment at the heart of his plans to boost the nation’s wages. We look at how he expects this to be delivered more e ciently and with greater use of technology 26 Overview: The government has 38 Debate: Delivering high speed rail launched a series of industry and skills for new rail projects infrastructure e ciency measures 42 Debate: How technology can 32 Construction sector deal:| boost construction productivity Encouraging the industry to to more research and development 45 Project profi les ICE 200: Invsibile Superheroes campaign 4 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER JANUARY 2018 New Civil Engineer Get news delivered daily Weekly Wrap and analysis delivered weekly with our newsletters. Sign-up at newcivilengineer.com Story of the week: A technical investigation into bridge collapses in South East Asia 66 Tech 70 Tech CONTRIBUTORS Excellence Excellence Jess Clark p10 She eld tree felling [email protected] Twitter @jclarkjourno 66 Drones can carry out detailed surveys 70 Machine learning expert Richard of motorways faster than people on Susskind on the future of the civil Kathernine Smale p14 Olympic stadium débâcle the ground, and with less disruption engineering profession [email protected] Twitter @katsmaleNCE 88 World 94 Business View Culture Fiona McIntyre p38 High speed rail fi [email protected] Twitter @fi onaMcNCE 88 The winning projects and teams from 94 Charlotte Murphy is the overall Emily Ashwell this year’s New Civil Engineer winner of this year’s Graduate of the p26 Elevating infrastructure Tunnelling Awards Year awards [email protected] JANUARY 2018 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 5 Lighthouse ICE VIEWPOINT Now is the time of opportunity for civil engineering ecent weeks have funding of £170M to a Construction seen a wave of Sector Deal demonstrates we have We should commitments from been heard. enable the R the government. Our industry now has a great When taken opportunity – an impetus – to ultimate asset together it appears that its desire redefine the future as well. to reform the way infrastructure is So where do we go from here? delivery team and delivered and therefore provide the Ahead of us we have the ultimate necessary projects and plans for a BY ART WE quality-based procurement exercise support each other modern economy is at the highest it MASTER to submit our tender on the future “to be the best has been for nearly a decade. WHAT WOULD industry business model design. The The details coming from the MASTER US question is, how will we change, and Infrastructure & Projects Authority how can the government change to and Department for Transport enable this. qualities. A supply chain of allies – combine with the chancellor’s As an industry we need to co- companies that amass individuals Budget announcements to clearly ordinate our thoughts into a single who specialise in a particular set the stage for something voice and a single movement. If subject – that can build a brand off transformational. we seek a more collaborative, the back of that in the same way Autumn Budget announcements value-based culture between clients as Honda is known for reliability or of £1.7bn for transforming cities and the supply chain we must Rolls Royce for luxury. funding, integrating housing collaborate clearly in designing the In short we should enable the and infrastructure needs; five change programme. This is both ultimate asset delivery team and departments signing up to a our biggest risk and our biggest support each other to be the best, presumption in favour of offsite opportunity. not compete with each other into construction for future projects What will this brave new world mediocrity. and the commitment of intent and look like? The Infrastructure Client It is clear that whatever the Group work programme is the locus finer details of the blueprint, the for this activity. Project 13 provides future of our industry is going to a blueprint for a future alliance be unlocked through collaboration Ahead of us model where we collaborate across not competition. Success in this will suppliers, across sectors and with be underpinned by communication we have the the owners of, and investors in, skills and diversity. Organisations ultimate quality- our infrastructure. This continues already rich in both will transition to be a work in progress and you much more smoothly to the new based procurement still have time to help shape it.