Civil engineers must be placed at the heart of Scotland’s recovery – Hannah Smith

Infrastructure projects deliver economic and social benefits, says Hannah Smith

Hannah Smith, Director of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Scotland

Presenting the Scottish Government’s response to the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery report ‘Towards a Robust, Resilient Wellbeing Economy for Scotland’, Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop rightly noted that delivering this vision would rely on “investing in the quality of our infrastructure”.

It can often be taken for granted, but infrastructure is the backbone of both our economy and our society. Over 8000 ICE Scotland members work tirelessly to design, build and maintain critical infrastructure networks – across transport, water, energy, buildings, and digital connectivity – that keep our economy moving and society functioning.

That’s why tangible commitments to improve Scotland’s infrastructure must follow from this government plan and form a core part of forthcoming policy announcements.

Constructing infrastructure assets has long been a valuable economic pump-primer. Recent research showed that every £1 of investment in infrastructure can potentially generate an additional £2.70. Activity such as maintaining water assets or constructing renewable energy projects generates employment, often in rural areas, and assets themselves – like transport provision and digital connectivity – can be a welcome boost to Scotland’s lagging productivity statistics.

But it’s short-sighted to only view infrastructure through an economic lens. These are societal assets and when developed correctly they can underpin government’s vision on ‘Wellbeing’; a greener, fairer, inclusive and sustainable society.

So, how do we put infrastructure at the centre of a socio-economic recovery?

To begin with, the Scottish Government must declare repair, maintenance and enhancement of existing infrastructure a priority. Scotland’s infrastructure is worth billions of pounds, but under-investment means some assets are deteriorating – losing both their economic value and their usefulness to society.

Our networks risk becoming less resilient, hindering economic productivity and increasing the long-term cost of their repair. Sub-par infrastructure reduces attractiveness for inward investment and as infrastructure performance deteriorates so does its social value; poorly-maintained infrastructure doesn’t create positive places to live and work and can lock out groups of users, for example a poorly maintained pavement can prevent disabled access.

Tackling the backlog of repair jobs offers a quick economic win and can lock-in infrastructure’s societal benefit, but we should go further - not simply maintaining to an existing baseline but enhancing our infrastructure so it can deliver better outcomes.

New materials can be used to prolong assets’ life-spans and make them ‘greener’, new technologies, such as remote monitoring sensors, can be installed to create ‘smart infrastructure’, deeper inclusivity can be built-in such as by adding multi-modal transport options to an existing roadway, and social value delivered by deploying infrastructure to meet local community needs – placemaking.

We must think long-term, acting now to drive forward next generation infrastructure.

Commonly referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution – new technologies and intelligence are already being used to create a more sophisticated and sustainable infrastructure landscape and there is huge excitement about what opportunities lie ahead.

By harnessing existing Scottish capability in advanced manufacturing, innovative materials and big data we can turn our houses and hospitals, water and transport, broadband and energy networks into an interconnected ecosystem.

Digital connectivity means pieces of infrastructure can talk to each other (rain sensors to flood defences) and report their own health (the hole in the hospital roof can be self-reported before the drips are discovered in a ward). New materials mean we can create more sustainable structures and we can manufacture them in different ways, cutting costs.

And over time, the civil engineers maintaining our infrastructure can evolve and refine their work to ensure they are delivering value for money with public benefit always at the fore.

This will, of course, require funding.

To ensure critical infrastructure can deliver for society, to quickly stimulate economic activity and to capitalise on the longer-term opportunities, bold government investment should be set out in the forthcoming Infrastructure Investment Plan. The Scottish National Investment Bank’s mission-led patient capital should be pointed towards infrastructure projects. Policy levers – procurement, regulation and guidance – aimed at unlocking private investment, should be detailed in the next Programme for Government.

Civil Engineers have always worked to benefit society and it is imperative that in recovering economically from Covid-19 we grasp this opportunity to improve.

With decisive action, collaborative working and sound stewardship of our infrastructure assets, Scotland can deliver economic and social value through an infrastructure system that is fit for the future.

These themes are at the heart of our recent report, ‘Building Scotland’s Future: Infrastructure for a Post-Pandemic Landscape’, which can be found in the publications section of our website www.ice.org.uk/Scotland

Hannah Smith, Director of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Scotland, the independent voice on infrastructure and the leading source of expertise in infrastructure and engineering policy.