Explore every episode of the podcast Engineering Matters

Formula Student is Europe’s top educational motorsport competition, with students and teams from all over the world coming to compete. The competition is integrated into engineering degree courses, allowing students to take what they are learning in the classroom and lab, into the real world. It tests both engineering skills, and the project management that...

The post #290 Racing for Innovation: Inside Formula Student first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Lean production techniques have become common across heavy industry. They cut resource use, and promote quality assurance. They were inspired by shelf stocking techniques used in US grocery stores. But can they now be turned to the start of the grocery supply chain, farming itself? That is the goal of Engineering Matters Awards Sustainability Gold...

The post #289 Bringing lean production to agriculture: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Sustainability Gold Champions — Intelligent Growth Solutions first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The adventures of astronauts have inspired the dreams of many young people. But once those dreams collide with the reality of years of demanding training and study, they often fade. Today, space is about much more than high profile crewed missions. In the UK alone, tens of thousands of workers will be needed by the...

The post #281 A rocket in the high street: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Inclusion Gold Champion — Space for Everyone first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Britains biodiversity has been declining sharply over the last 50 years. We are now one of the most nature depleted nations in the world. Despite legislation and efforts to stem the tide of wildlife population decline, nothing has worked. Some Wildlife Trusts and organisations now support a more nature based approach to wildlife and land...

The post #211 Rewilding the UK first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Last week the UK government announced plan to ban the sale of wet wipes to deal with the problem of fatbergs in sewers. This week we’re rerunning an episode from 2019 where we venture down into the sewer system to see the largest fatberg in Europe. Underneath cities all over the UK subterranean mountains of...

The post #210 Revisited: Return of the Fatbergs first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In a world of complex supply chains, how can owners secure their assets against risks like climate change and disease lockdowns? By using the concept of resilience, owners can form strategic asset management plans, which balance the level of service required, against the cost of that service, while paying attention to all the risks faced:...

The post #209 Asset Management, Resilience, and Climate Change first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The first edition of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment, published in 2017, is a professional statement that establishes a methodology for calculating the carbon cost of buildings, and now infrastructure, from construction, through use, to end-of-life. The guidelines already allow users to make finely tuned...

The post #208 Counting Carbon Costs in the Built Environment first appeared on Engineering Matters.

For 50 years the North Sea has been critical to European energy. Technology and skills developed over decades enabled the extraction of oil and gas in some of the most extreme and hazardous conditions on the planet.  As the world transitions away from oil and gas, the North Sea will again be a critical source...

The post #207 Revolution in the North Sea first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The Swedish city of Gothenburg is celebrating its 400 year anniversary in 2023 and as part of the celebrations the city is undergoing a construction boom. For much of the city’s 400 year history, major construction projects have been very limited by the wet and weak ground conditions beneath the city. This means that Gothenburg,...

The post #206 The Giant Props of Gothenburg first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In recent decades, companies have moved manufacturing to countries offering low cost labour. Today, as they aim for Net Zero, they must also consider their carbon footprint. And that is almost impossible to do if raw materials are sourced from around the world, from countries with highly emitting energy systems and poor record keeping. Sam...

The post #205 The Green, Green, Shores of Home first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The Engineering Matters and Reby Media team has been working on a new podcast series in partnership with HS2. How to Build a Railway is a twelve-part podcast series exploring the story behind the construction of the UK’s new high speed rail line. The podcast series features industry experts and special guests giving their unique...

The post Introducing: How to Build a Railway first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Globally, the aviation industry accounts for 2.5% of all carbon emissions. The emission of other gases and particulates at altitude may make its warming impact even larger. Industry wide, manufactures, airlines and even airports, are all looking at how to bring in a new age of green plane technology, whether it’s hydrogen fuel cell, battery...

The post #204 Creating Green Airports of the Future first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In light of the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, this we are revisting the story of Nooraullah Kuchai. Noorullah is a civil engineer, a humanitarian and a refugee twice over. He lived in a tent in a Pakistani refugee camp for a decade and is now dedicating his life to helping people who have...

The post #203 Revisited: Crisis Shelter for Mass Displacement first appeared on Engineering Matters.

We delve into the critical role of the built environment in addressing the climate emergency, and how our Engineering Matters Awards Net Zero champion the Built Environment Carbon Database (BECD) is helping decarbonise the industry. Created by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS), the BECD is a...

The post #280 Measuring carbon in materials and projects: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Net Zero Champion — BCIS Built Environment Carbon Database first appeared on Engineering Matters.

What do we do after a structure fails? Often, we go to court. Courts cannot make bereaved families, or those injured, whole. They cannot repair damaged structures. But they can go some way to making right some of the harms suffered. Forensic engineers, or building pathologists, are often called on to offer expert witness testimony...

The post #202 After the Collapse first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In 2019 Tarmac announced their Innovation Challenge, for companies to propose new technologies to help Tarmac decarbonise. Over the next three years in partnership with Renault Trucks and TVS Interfleet they developed the first electric concrete mixer to be used in the UK. Through the process of designing and building a first of its kind...

The post #201 Creating the UK’s First eMixer first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Robots are increasingly able to take on any repeatable task in industry, and are used in many dull, dirty or dangerous tasks. But their deployment for highly variable tasks remains limited. They are now being used in nuclear decommissioning, to sort, cut, and repack waste storage skips. And this could serve as a testing ground...

The post #200 Nuclear Robots on the Cutting Edge first appeared on Engineering Matters.

How can we maintain reliable power through the energy transition, while still making significant cuts to energy emissions? Carbon capture and storage promises an answer, but much groundwork must be done to bring this potential to life. SSE recently received approval to build a new gas power plant at Keadby, in Lincolnshire, which could be...

The post #199 Pioneering Carbon Capture for Thermal Power first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Getting to net zero emissions requires a paradigm shift in the way that we think and in the way that we do business says Dr Kim Yates from Mott MacDonald. In this episode we explore how collaboration between climate resilience, decarbonisation and improving biodiversity along with systems thinking could deepen efforts to reduce global carbon...

The post #198 Collaboration: The Net Zero Trilogy first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In 1992 rolls Royce helped to fund a new technology centre at the University of Birmingham which began a long relationship between the manufacturer and the university. Over the last 30 years research into material sciences for aviation have led to important safety and efficiency gains in plane performance. In 2022 the University of Birmingham...

The post #197 On the Cutting Edge of Aviation first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The US National Ignition Facility recently announced that it had achieved a milestone in the development of fusion technology, producing more energy from a fusion process than that put into the reactor directly by the lasers that control the process. While the NIF is not designed to research power generation—it has its roots in the...

The post #196 Back to the Future of Fusion first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Every December in London a magnificent Christmas tree is unveiled in Trafalgar Square. It is an annual gift from the people of Norway to the people of Britain that began 75 years ago. The origins of this tradition lie in the darkest days of the Second World War, and a British naval hero who undertook...

The post #195 The Journey of the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The UK government recently confirmed its support for Sizewell C. Getting to this point, and planning how thousands of construction crew and millions of tonnes of materials and plant will get to the site, has taken a decade of work.  Nuclear power plants like Sizewell C are almost always built in rural locations, by the...

The post #194 Nuclear Power Connections first appeared on Engineering Matters.

This year saw infrastructure resilience included in the Carbon Crunch programme for the first time. It is recognition that our infrastructure is being exposed to greater environmental risks than before, and so the impacts on people and communities will be even more profound. If construction does not properly consider the growing risks of rising floods...

The post #193 Carbon Crunch (Part 2): Resilience in a Changing World first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The concept of intersection has given society a new way to understand identity. It has profound implications for how we understand ourselves and others in our workplaces. For engineers, it can inform how projects are designed, and how they meet the needs of diverse users. The concept was developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw, and draws on...

The post #279 Intersection, Identity, and Engineering first appeared on Engineering Matters.

It has been nearly 10 years since the world first recorded atmospheric carbon above 400 parts per million. That year, 2013, also marked the first edition of the Carbon Crunch event which brought together infrastructure professionals to discuss the issue of decarbonisation. A decade on and much has changed for the better; we have near-universal...

The post #193 Carbon Crunch (Part 1): The Decarbonisation Debate first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The deepest hole ever drilled drives 12.2km down below the border of Russia and Finland. The Kola Superdeep Borehole was an experiment to penetrate as deeply as possible into the Earth’s crust, but since 1995 it has been abandoned. Now a company believes that new technology will be able to drill to depths of 20km....

The post #192 Drilling Deep for Geothermal first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In 1985 diver Henri Cosquer discovered a submerged cave entrance in the Mediterranean near Marseilles. Exploring over the next six years he discovered a chamber filled with prehistoric art. Conditions in the caves and the submerged passages leading to it are extremely dangerous: three divers lost their lives exploring the caves. Efforts to map the...

The post #191 A Deep Dive Into the Past first appeared on Engineering Matters.

For 200 years, towns and cities across the British regions developed specialised roles in the economy of empire. Mining towns and ports, potteries and steelmakers all made their own contribution to a global trade network, and local communities enjoyed jobs for life, with clear paths to entry. With the changing global order of the late...

The post #190 Regional Re-balancing first appeared on Engineering Matters.

How do we assess the environmental impact of construction materials? Some materials may enjoy a reputation as natural and sustainable. Timber, quite literally, grows on trees It is abundant, it captures carbon from the atmosphere, and at the end of its life can decompose naturally, leaving no harmful waste. But some of the highest value...

The post #189 Life Cycle Analysis of Construction Materials first appeared on Engineering Matters.

UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimates that over the past 20 years, 1.2 million people have been killed by more than 7,000 disasters. It estimates the economic damage at just under $3 trillion. It also found that when compared to the 1980s and 1990s, this impact has almost doubled. Countries are working to become...

The post #188 Data Analysis for Climate Resilience first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In Los Angeles only 3% of the population say they take public transit regularly, compared to 84% of residents who commute to work in their car every day. This results in huge amounts of traffic and air quality so bad that under public health requirements it’s illegal. LA Metro is making major investments to improve...

The post #187 Electrifying the Los Angeles Bus Fleet first appeared on Engineering Matters.

On 20 September 2006 Richard Hammond raced down the Elvington airfield in Vampire, the jet-powered dragster that still holds the British land speed record. Hammond was travelling at 288mph (464km/h) when one of the car’s tyres unexpectedly blew, flipping the vehicle onto its back. Although seriously injured, Hammond escaped with his life. The Vampire itself...

The post #186 Vampire: Resurrecting Britain’s Fastest Car first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The Canada Line is North America’s most efficient commuter rail. Since it opened in 2009, they have operated with a system availability of 99.9% and a punctuality record of 99.8%. But now they have reached a crucial stage in the line’s lifespan. After 13 years, major maintenance and replacement operations will need to take place...

The post #185 Building Canada Line’s Digital Twin first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Net Zero is our 2050 ambition for society, but to make this a reality city must be held to a far higher standard. Our urban environments will need to become ‘carbon negative’ if we intend to mount a robust response to the climate emergency. New technologies and techniques are part of the solution. But there...

The post #184 The Future of Old Cities first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Around the world, 8% of CO2 emissions come from the production of concrete, and 90% of those emissions come from the production of cement. This episode highlights the groundbreaking work of Engineering Matters Awards Gold Champion Seratech, a company pioneering the use of carbon capture technology in concrete production.  Their innovative process uses the abundant...

The post #278 Capturing carbon with concrete: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Innovation Gold Champion Seratech first appeared on Engineering Matters.

At the end of 2019 the Coronavirus pandemic began its global take-over, the world had to react fast to try and stop the spread. A project sprung up overnight, to create a megalab large enough to cope with never before seen testing requirements.  The project would be complex, intricate, and require a quick delivery. It...

The post #183 Testing Times: Building a Megalab first appeared on Engineering Matters.

As electricity grids around the world transition to using renewable energy resources, investment will need to be made in energy storage. When the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow there needs to be a way for the grid to be supplied with electricity. Currently pumped hydro storage is the main form of energy...

The post #182 Using Gravity to Store Energy first appeared on Engineering Matters.

When picturing the Arctic, people from warmer latitudes are likely to imagine frozen tundra and lonely steppe. Add global warming to this and the vision shifts to melting ice caps and desperate fauna. But the Arctic is much more than that. It is a region of community and a land of opportunity. With immense fisheries...

The post #181 The Foundations of a New Arctic first appeared on Engineering Matters.

For industries across the world to reach net zero they are going to rely on mining critical minerals to allow for the electrification of their vehicles and machines. This has caused a huge leap in demand for minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt. Added to this, the mining industry itself is already a major polluter...

The post #180 Mining in a Net Zero World first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In July 2022 the UK burned as temperatures broke 40°C for the first time in recorded history. As each of us tried different approaches to dealing with the heat, trees offered respite for some astute Brits. In the immediate aftermath the UK Government announced £44 million in reforestation funding for this year. In appreciation of...

The post #179 Trees: Escaping the Heat first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Antarctica New Zealand runs a critical research hub on the volcanic Ross Island. Originally built in 1957, it consists of 12 buildings connected by walkways – none of which have been upgraded since the 1980s. To keep the important science going for the next 50 years a redevelopment was launched in 2017. However, building in...

The post #178 A Vision for a Modular Antarctica first appeared on Engineering Matters.

An era of tunnelling megaprojects has dawned as governments have invested in the underground the world over. Skills shortages are nothing new to the engineering world, but in some sectors, it is beginning to bite. One such area is surveying. In these situations, technology and collaborative ways of working can take the strain off an...

The post SHORT: Tunnelling on Target first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Founded in the late 1800s to supply coal to the Union Pacific Railroad, the town of Hanna, Wyoming has a proud place in the industrial story of the United States. It also has another legacy to contend with – Abandoned Mine Lands. Historical mining activities have left the region with voided geology and subsidence issues....

The post #177 The Abandoned Mine Lands of Wyoming first appeared on Engineering Matters.

In Bangalore, the high-tech heart of India, sits a centre of technology. A state-of-the-art engineering facility working on projects across the globe. In its time, the centre has transitioned from an offshore project design centre to the forefront of technological innovation in the company. Becoming a centre of excellence and pioneering digital innovation, this hub,...

The post #176 Bangalore and the Digital Transformation first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The UK’s roads are in increasing need of repair and local councils are facing a nine year long backlog of overdue road maintenance. However, with new technologies entering the road construction industry, future road maintenance and construction projects could be safer, greener and result in longer lasting roads. Tarmac is bringing together all the industry’s...

The post #175 Tarmac on the Future of Road Technology first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The race to hit Net Zero targets will require an unprecedented surge in innovation. As Dame Laura Sandys, CBE, explains, energy systems will be reshaped, with a few hundred players in the market replaced by millions of actions and assets in a distributed system. These will necessitate not just physical changes to how we generate,...

The post #277 The Race to Net Zero – Innovation at Pace first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Buildings can use around three times as much energy as design models anticipate. This is an incredible figure and becomes a real problem when considered in context: real estate accounts for 39% of the UK’s total carbon. Around ¾ of that also comes from the operation phase. Part of the problem lies in the way...

The post #174 Closing the Building Performance Gap first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Denmark is embarking on the largest construction project in its history with the assembly of the first energy island in the North Sea. The 120,000sq.m site could serve as a hub for as many as 200 wind turbines, storing and supplying electricity to Denmark and its neighbours. The impact of greenhouse gases on our planet...

The post #173 Europe’s First Energy Island first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Norah Magero, the co-founder of Drop Access talks about her invention the Vaccibox. In Kenya a large majority of the population live in remote rural areas with often limited energy access. The Vaccibox is a solar powered vaccine fridge that allows for the safe transportation and storage of vaccines to remote areas. In this episode...

The post #172 Vaccibox: Revolutionising Kenya’s Vaccine Storage first appeared on Engineering Matters.