Q&A: UK infrastructure and climate change

In light of this, The Engineer asked some of the leading academics in the field about the state of the nation’s infrastructure and what steps should be taken to mitigate against the changing climate.

How would you assess the overall state of the UK's built infrastructure?

Professor Roderick Smith, Imperial College London and Formerly Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department for Transport and Past President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Generally speaking, the overall state of our built infrastructure is good, but less than excellent, although many issues have emerged in the last few years which give cause for longer-term concern .

The situation differs for various types of infrastructure. Much of our railway system was built in the mid-Victorian era and it has been comparatively neglected since. Although we are now engaged in a massive programme of refurbishment, the costs are enormous and disruption to traffic considerable.

On the other hand, our motorways have been built since the late 1950s and although only one per cent of the network they carry 21 per cent of the traffic. Again, improvements are taking place to increase capacity, allied to resurfacing caused by a combination of weight of traffic and weather, but the process itself is creating delays.