WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Around the world trillions of dollars are being spent on building infrastructure, but disruption across multiple sectors is forcing a re-think.

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Firstly, thank you to Kirsty at P3 for inviting me to take part in their annual event where James Stewart, Vice Chair of KPMG, and I participated in a fireside chat to discuss the Future of Infrastructure, which included everything from educational and healthcare to energy and transportation infrastructure, and the impact that new emerging and disruptive trends across all these various sectors will have on the future of infrastructure projects and investments.

During the fireside chat, which was then followed up by a private panel session made up of various luminaries from the UK Government and UK Infrastructure Bank, James and I discussed the impact that new technologies will have on government planning and policy, and discussed governments risk appetites for building for the future while trying to manage the bureaucratic and political realities of today.

Watch the virtual fireside chat in full

It’s no stretch to say that we live in disruptive times, a time where hydrogen and renewables are becoming the main fuel source, where education and healthcare is available on demand at the touch of a digital button on a smart device, and where flying taxis, hypersonic trains, and autonomous vehicles, which are as small as bikes and as large as commercial airliners and 250,000 tonne cargo ships, are all emerging.

All of which is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and as every sector starts to experience disruption, at a scale and speed unlike anything they’re ever witnessed before, the impact of all these new trends and technologies on the infrastructure sector is nothing short of monumental, and that’s what James and I, as well as the panel afterwards, dove into with vigour.