Infrastructure – the “lightening rod” to transform cites and countries

09 Sep 2024

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FIDIC’s Global Infrastructure Conference opened in Geneva on 9 September 2024 with a fascinating panel discussion exploring how infrastructure is transforming lives and nations’ prospects and highlighting the key role of engineers in ensuring that investment in infrastructure makes a positive difference.

Chairing the session, Sarah Prichard, UK chief operating officer for Buro Happold and current chair of the UK Association for Consultancy and Engineering (pictured above with her fellow panellists), said that infrastructure development is undoubtedly the backbone of economic growth and societal wellbeing and it can act as a lightning rod to fundamentally change the way we urbanise and develop our cities and countries. “However, transforming lives through infrastructure goes beyond mere construction – it’s also about creating inclusive, sustainable environments that foster opportunity and connectivity,” Prichard said.

Prichard was also keen to speak up for smaller projects and the role that infrastructure development can play in generating social value. “Whilst many of us can showcase the way that this is being achieved through megaprojects, significant and lasting change can also be achieved on more ‘normal’ scale projects, which are less celebrated but can be equally impactful,” she said. Good infrastructure investment was also characterised by its longevity, adaptability and ability to meet the evolving needs of the community,” Prichard said.

“It’s not just about the physical structures, but also about the positive socio-economic impacts they bring and the resulting evolution of sustainable and resilient economies. Engineers and built environment consultants play a pivotal role in this, making a client’s vision a reality, creating development that is technically sound, ethically grounded and aligned with the long-term goals of society, thus leading to the creation of a more equitable and sustainable future,” she said.

Speaking in the session, Dan Taylor, infrastructure chief advisory officer at the National Infrastructure Fund in Saudi Arabia, offered his perspectives on the role of infrastructure and his organisation in delivering the country’s Vision 2030 initiative and highlighted some of the socio-economic impacts of their work, reflecting on sustainable infrastructure like green hydrogen and the energy transition.

Continuing along similar lines, Chris Bradshaw, chief sustainability officer at Bentley Systems, said that sustainable infrastructure was about more than just delivering a project. “It’s also about the social outcomes that are delivered and making a positive difference to end users and communities,” he said. Unsurprisingly coming from a digital business, he highlighted the use of technology in creating social value, which was particularly important when addressing the challenges of doing more with fewer people.

Mark Peterson, managing director for construction at Aon, looked at the risk aspects involved in project development and delivery, which couldn’t be ignored if the world was serious about building the infrastructure it needed. He said that the industry needed to get to grips with a changing investor and funding landscape and also understand that the talent gap was also a risk for the engineering and construction sector.

Offering an investment bank perspective, Alaleh Motamedi, head of procurement at the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg, spoke about the EIB’s ongoing moves to take a more proactive approach to sustainable and strategic procurement, ensuring that the bank can deliver more effectively what it promises on projects, including more timely delivery and encouraging innovation. Ears pricked up in the room during Motamedi’s speech, with very keen interest in what she had to say. Motamedi said that work was ongoing and EIB was still in its early stages on this approach, but more was coming.

The bank is keen to cooperate with partners like FIDIC and sees it as important to reach out to stakeholders. EIB was currently working on the development of a strategic procurement roadmap, which very much aligned with the title of the conference session – namely transforming lives with infrastructure. Motamedi was also keen to highlight the environmental and social policies that the bank has in place and outlined the importance of delivering on such policies and also E&S and climate targets, including through the contracting process.

Final speaker, Enzo De Laurentiis, chief procurement officer at The World Bank, drew out some of the important procurement considerations around quality infrastructure investment and how the World Bank has mainstreamed environment and social aspects into its procurement processes. This was also well received by the conference delegates who responded positively to how the bank is approaching a variety of other local and global risks and opportunities that can make a difference.

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