Engineering Matters
Episodes
#284 Queensway Tunnel: The Miracle Under the Mersey
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When the Queensway Tunnel opened on 18th July 1934 King George V declared it a miracle. At 3.4km long and with a 13.4m internal diameter it was the wo...
#283 Power, without the power brick: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Net Zero Gold Champion AmberSemi
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In every home, ancient technologies lurk, threatening fire and ruin. While many devices—lights, TVs, and hard drives, for example—have adopted sol...
#282 Spinning up the renewables revolution: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Gold Champion — Dumarey
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can an ancient technology help spin up the renewables revolution? Dumarey—formerly Punch—Flybrid is doing just that, with its flywheel-based techn...
#281 A rocket in the high street: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Inclusion Gold Champion — Space for Everyone
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The adventures of astronauts have inspired the dreams of many young people. But once those dreams collide with the reality of years of demanding train...
#280 Measuring carbon in materials and projects: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Net Zero Champion — BCIS Built Environment Carbon Database
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We delve into the critical role of the built environment in addressing the climate emergency, and how our Engineering Matters Awards Net Zero champion...
#279 Intersection, Identity, and Engineering
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The concept of intersection has given society a new way to understand identity. It has profound implications for how we understand ourselves and other...
#278 Capturing carbon with concrete: Engineering Matters Awards 2024 Innovation Gold Champion Seratech
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 episod...
#277 The Race to Net Zero – Innovation at Pace
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The race to hit Net Zero targets will require an unprecedented surge in innovation. As Dame Laura Sandys, CBE, explains, energy systems will be reshap...
#276 A Deep Understanding of the Ground Beneath Our Feet
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cone Penetration Testing is a conceptually simple technology first developed in the Netherlands almost a century ago, but is still a critical componen...
#275 Serving Countries to Serving Communities
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For any military operation the objectives of the mission are absolutely paramount. Failure is not an option. The team is motivated to achieve a common...
#274 Seeing the Future of a City
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dar es Salaam is one of the world’s fastest growing cities. In the 1970s, it was home to less than one million people. Today, it has a population of...
#273 The Core Technologies of a New Power System
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we delve into the dynamic world of Power Electronics, Machines, and Drives (PEMD), exploring its pivotal role in shaping the future o...
#272 Designing Dinorwig: Inside Electric Mountain
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In late 1973 the UK’s Central Electricity Generating Board gained parliamentary approval to build the largest and most difficult pumped storage hydr...
#271 Pumped Storage: Australia tackles Intermittency
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the receiving end of among of the worst natural disasters in modern history, while being blessed with some of the most abundant natural resource re...
#270 A Blueprint for Low Carbon Roads
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the UK, over a quarter of a million kilometers of road have been laid. From motorways and A-roads to small country lanes, every kilometer of constr...
#269 The Pipeline to Net Zero
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It will be just as important to upgrade pipeline networks for the energy transition, as it is the electric grid. These will carry carbon dioxide and h...
Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 5: How to Swim in a Sea of Data
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
HS2 is one of the most complex and challenging railway scheme the UK has ever undertaken. As such, it has been generating vast amounts of data across ...
Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 4: Being Safe and Inclusive Every Step of the Way
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
HS2 is focused not only on safety, but on overall health and wellbeing on all employees and contractors. Identifying long term risks to wellbeing is a...
Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 3: Reducing and Reusing
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
HS2’s place within the current climate and environment has always been its top priority. Once operational, the British-built bullet trains will prov...
Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 2: The Blueprint and the Real Thing
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Design not only encapsulates the creativity and innovation of new products, but is the main source of information for construction to take place. ...
Learning Legacy Podcast – Episode 1: Building a Learning Legacy
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The concept of the Learning Legacy programme has been around for longer than you might think. Starting at London 2012, collating and sharing knowledge...
#268 Mastering Time: The Challenge of Time Synchronisation
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Timekeeping has been a pursuit fraught with challenges throughout history. From ancient sundials to mechanical clocks, humanity has continuously sough...
#267 AI and Humanity, with Darren Martin
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the launch of ChatGPT, the power of generative AI has captured public attention. Systems like this can not only work through millions of options,...
#266 Building Communities Together
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cities around the world face a housing crisis. In countries like the UK, local authorities struggle to finance projects and to find space for developm...
#265 Tunnelling Innovation: Inventing the Bentonite Shield
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sixty years ago a civil engineer called John Bartlett of Mott, Hay & Anderson had a revolutionary idea. He noticed that bentonite clay could be us...
#264 Finding Career Pathways into Social Value
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Social Value is a term that has been used to mean the additional benefits a company can provide to wider society beyond their business as usual. In th...
#263 The Tipping Point
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Digitalisation is changing every part of the economy. Modern mobile cranes have been developed based on some of the most fundamental concepts in engin...
#262 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 3
17 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes,...
#261 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 2
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes,...
#260 The Engineering Matters Awards – Net Zero, part 1
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes,...
#259 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 3
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes,...
#258 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 2
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes,...
#257 The Engineering Matters Awards – Innovation, part 1
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes,...
#256 The Engineering Matters Awards – Environment
10 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes,...
#255 The Engineering Matters Awards – Sustainability, part 2
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over two weeks of episodes,...
#254 The Engineering Matters Awards – Sustainability
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we...
#253 The Engineering Matters Awards – Community
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we...
#252 The Engineering Matters Awards – Health and Safety
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we...
#251 The Engineering Matters Awards – Diversity and Inclusion
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This March, the industry will gather at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London, for the inaugural Engineering Matters Awards. Over the next two weeks, we...
#250 The Observational Method – Engineering’s Best Kept Secret
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The use of “The Observational Method” could be one of the best kept secrets of the engineering world. Time and time again it has been used to deli...
#249 The Cables That Bind Our World Together
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The modern world is bound together with cables. As our economy moves to the cloud, the vast majority of data traffic passes through subsea cables. As ...
#248 Revisited: Secrets of the Hoover Dam
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are there really bodies buried in the Hoover Dam? Was the hard hat really invented here in 1931? And why was it originally called Boulder Dam? In this...
#247 Saving Structures with Cathodic Protection
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast we go back in time to the invention of cathodic protection 200 years ago by President of the Royal Society Sir Humphry Davy. Initially...
#246 Tiny Robots, Big Moves: The Basics of Microrobot Actuation
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From tireless assembly lines in bustling factories to the delicate precision of diamond cutting, robots are transforming industries by becoming superh...
#245 Transparent Concrete
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What would it mean to be able to look at a bag of concrete, and see its embodied carbon? That’s the goal of the new benchmark rating scheme for conc...
#244 Water Quality: Navigating Challenges in UK’s Wild Waters
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Post the industrial revolution the UK’s waterways became very polluted, but the last 30 years have seen a massive turnaround in the UK’s water qua...
#243 Virtual Reality: A New Vision for Construction
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Virtual Reality has been steadily growing in the gaming market over the past few years, but now it could be about to change not how people play but ho...
SHORT: Recycling, Without Waste
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It can seem, at times, as if we are drowning in a sea of waste, a great ocean of paper and tin, glass and plastic, all mixed together, and resistant t...
#242 Partnerships and Resilience
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It is vital that we limit the impact of climate change, through decarbonisation. But communities around the world are already experiencing harm, throu...
#241 Wind, Waves and Wildlife: Navigating Biodiversity in Offshore Wind
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Across the ocean there is an intricate relationship between human activity and marine biodiversity. The energy transition means a huge increase in the...
#240 Saving Homes, Saving the Planet
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The West Kentish Town Estate provides more than 300 flats to social housing tenants. Built in the 1960s, using a panel building system, it has provide...
#239 The resilience mindset, on Planet Beyond
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re bringing you a guest episode from the Planet Beyond podcast. In this episode, Planet Beyond host Jon Baston-Pitt talks to Resilienc...
#238 A Greener More Pleasant Land
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For the last three summers, shire horses have been at work each Lammas Day, mowing the new wildflower meadow on the former lawn of King’s College, C...
#237 Climbing the Ladder to Gender Equality
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Katie Kelleher, is a trailblazer in the construction industry. Her incredible story, from a career in recruitment to becoming a crane operator, defies...
SHORT: Junade Ali – The Youngest Fellow at the IET
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a renowned professional organization at the forefront of advancing engineering and technology. ...
#236 RAAC: The Misunderstood Material?
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
RAAC, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, enabled a boom in public building in post-war Britain. It allowed schools, hospitals and other servic...
#235 Ffestiniog: 60 Years of Pioneering Storage
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hidden in the mountainous peaks of Snowdonia’s National Park is a clean source of energy storage that has been supporting the UK’s electricity gri...
Introducing: Connected Places
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Around the world, engineers, project owners, and policymakers must make hard choices as they work to ensure our infrastructure is fit for the future. ...
#234 Microreactors: From the Moon, to the ends of the Earth
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For more than a century, the UK’s Rolls-Royce have designed power systems for cars and planes, ships and submarines. Today, they are developing a no...
#233 Rebuilding the Dawlish Sea Wall
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Dawlish sea wall, a historic and iconic structure, has long served as a critical link connecting South Devon and Cornwall to the rest of the UK. I...
#232 Future of Technology and Engineering
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many organisations undervalue the role young employees can play, one in five UK employers outright refuse to hire from the 22-25 age group. However yo...
#231 Powering Net Zero
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Governments and businesses around the world have made commitments to achieve Net Zero by the middle of the century. This will require engineering inno...
#230 National Security’s New Frontlines
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In our increasingly complex and interconnected world, wars are fought not only on the battlefield, but within the infrastructure that supports our soc...
#229 Chip Manufacturing and the World’s Most Complex Machine
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ever since the first computer chip was created the size of transistors on chips has been getting smaller and smaller. Gordon Moore, who went on to co-...
#228 Hydrogen, and the road to Net Zero building materials
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For consumers, and for many businesses, the road to Net Zero is simple: replace fossil fuels with electricity, source the electricity from renewable s...
#227 Electrifying the Skies: Harbour Air’s Green Revolution
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The De Havilland Beaver is a single pilot, seven passenger piston airplane that’s an icon of Canadian aviation. It has been out of production for ov...
#226 Gaming: A New Engine for Engagement
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What can an engineer or town planner learn from a computer game Viking? In this episode, we look at how one design team is using real time simulations...
#225 Saudi Arabia: Preserving the past, building the future
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Saudi Arabia has set out on a journey. This historic land is today home to a young country: a quarter of the population are under 15; more than 40% ar...
#224 Power lines, helicopters, and data analysis
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Power companies like National Grid Electricity Distribution, have used helicopters to monitor power lines for decades. Once, an inspector would check ...
#223 Data and collaboration, operations and maintenance
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The operations and maintenance (O&M) sector has changed significantly since the inception of the 3P, or public private partnership, model in the 1...
#222 Revisited: The future of 3D printing
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In episode #221, Engineering Matters looked at a new way of manufacturing feedstocks for plastics. This approach will eliminate the use for oil produc...
#221 Turning plants into plastics
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The world consumes 4.25 billion tonnes of oil every year. Over half of the oil drilled out of the ground goes towards transport, but the entire sector...
#220 The End of the Diesel Generator?
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Buildings and the construction industry account for 39% of global carbon emissions: 28% from materials and operational emissions, and 11% from constru...
#219 Syria: Rising from the rubble
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can engineers help to build peace? Can the solutions engineers develop in places of conflict, contribute to the development of low carbon? They can. A...
Episode Twelve, How to build a Railway: Leaving a legacy
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. From job...
Episode Eleven, How to build a Railway: Safe at Heart
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. With any...
Episode Ten, How to build a Railway: Keeping things clean – our journey to net zero
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. Climate ...
Episode Nine, How to build a Railway: From Track to The Cloud – the Layers of Railway
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. In this ...
Episode Eight, How to build a Railway: Our next stop is…
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. This epi...
Episode Seven, How to build a Railway: Building Bridges
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. This epi...
Episode Six, How to build a Railway: Going underground
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 late...
Episode Five, How to build a Railway: Opportunity for Innovation
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. We are a...
Episode Four, How to build a Railway: Creating the Green Corridor
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. As the&n...
Episode Three, How to build a Railway: Preparing the ground
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. Over 250...
Episode Two, How to build a Railway: Unearthing History
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. This epi...
Episode One, How to build a Railway: The What and the Why of HS2
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. This epi...
#218 Origin stories
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Engineering Matters is celebrating its fifth anniversary this week. Podcast founders Bernadette Ballantyne and Jon Young, along with the rest of the E...
#217 Managing the Energy Transition
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More and more of the economy is being powered by the grid and that trend will continue over the next few decades. At the same time countries are looki...
#216 Accelerating Offshore Wind Construction
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The next decade will see an unprecedented level of offshore energy construction. In order to achieve the 2035 emissions targets adopted by many govern...
#215 Waste Goes Digital
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Waste is an integral part of the circular economy. It is, in many cases, simply a resource that is in the wrong place. But it can also be a nuisance, ...
#214 Delivering a Megaproject
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When a major public infrastructure project is announced often a brand new organisation is set up that is tasked with delivering the project. These org...
#213 Revisited: Positioning Satellites in New Space
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Just over a week ago, SpaceX successfully launched one of the largest rockets ever, a key step in humanity’s journey beyond the earth. While the roc...
#212 Turning beer green
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The brewing industry has become a testing ground for the energy transition. Many drinkers want to drink responsibly: not just to protect their own hea...
#211 Rewilding the UK
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 legi...
#210 Revisited: Return of the Fatbergs
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 rerunnin...
#209 Asset Management, Resilience, and Climate Change
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#208 Counting Carbon Costs in the Built Environment
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first edition of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment, published in 2017, is...
#207 Revolution in the North Sea
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#206 The Giant Props of Gothenburg
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 b...
#205 The Green, Green, Shores of Home
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In recent decades, companies have moved manufacturing to countries offering low cost labour. Today, as they aim for Net Zero, they must also consider ...