Designing for economic growth with Charlie Hodgson

In today's podcast we ask how designing better infrastructure can help to really grow the UK economy. Now we hear constantly about the vital role that investment in infrastructure projects must play in driving economic growth across the nation and across the regions of the UK – be that investment in transport; in energy systems; in water treatment and supply; and in communications. And it is clear that without this investment the nation simply will not remain globally competitive; our living standards are likely to fall; and we will struggle to meet the decarbonisation challenge and to ensure we are resilient to climate change.But what can actually be done by infrastructure professionals to accelerate this investment. How do we navigate the constantly shifting national and local government policy shifts; overcome the hold ups in planning; the delays in delivery and the delivery cost over runs ?. And once constructed, how do we avoid failing to create the kind of social, economic and environmental outcomes that were promised at the outset.It’s a tough conundrum but one that an army of infrastructure design and planning professionals stand ready to solve – ready to leverage their collective skills and experience to design and deliver better infrastructure – infrastructure capable of truly kickstarting and sustaining the economy and of fundamentally making lives better. So what stopping them?!To discuss this issue, my guest today is Charlie Hodgson, Executive Managing Director, Transport & Infrastructure, WSP, one of the largest consultancies in the UK. While Charlie is now responsible for the strategic direction and delivery of WSP’s infrastructure and engineering teams, he started his career as an economist so perhaps more than most really understands the links between investment and outcomes and what can be done strengthen them.ResourcesWSP websiteNational Infrastructure Commission 2023 AssessmentTransforming Infrastructure Performance