We kick off the Infrastructure Podcast for 2026 by talking about nuclear power and taking a close look at the much discussed - and much anticipated - small modular reactor programme being developed by Rolls Royce SMR.

My guest today is Ruth Todd CBE, Rolls-Royce SMR’s Operations and Supply Chain Director, the person charged with turning this long-standing ambition into a deliverable reality. And having led the UK’s hugely successful Covid Vaccine Task Force back in 2020/21 and worked on High Speed 2, Ruth is no stranger to a massive challenge.

Certainly, delivering new nuclear in the UK is up there in the league table of major challenges. As the recent Fingleton Review put it, the sector is facing strategic failure at a moment of national importance.

We are certainly at a moment of profound transition. The global energy system is under strain from rising prices, geopolitical uncertainty, and the urgent need to decarbonise.

But it is also true that the UK government has responded with one of the most ambitious interventions in its energy history: major investment in Sizewell C, fusion research, and crucially, £2.5bn to accelerate the development and deployment of SMRs.

And at the heart of this renewed ambition for a new “golden age of nuclear energy” is the Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor programme - described as the UK’s first domestic nuclear technology in more than twenty years and designed to provide stable, affordable, emission-free energy for at least six decades.

Rolls-Royce SMR’s approach uses factory-built modules, a standardised design, and a turnkey engineering, manufacture and assembly model which aims to reduce the cost and delivery challenges that have plagued traditional large-scale nuclear projects. And it has the go-ahead to deploy the first three SMRs at Wylfa in Anglesey.

Each will capable of powering a million homes, with a design that is up to eighteen months ahead of any competitor in a European regulatory process. Which arguably means Rolls-Royce SMR now sits at the forefront of what could become one of the country’s most significant green export industries and the key to thousands of new skilled jobs and longlasting local legacy.

It's certainly an exciting moment - so let’s hear more

Resources

• Rolls Royce SMR
• UK Government nuclear July announcement
• UK and Czechia to lead global race on small modular reactors
• The Fingleton Review
• Announcement for Wylfa site
• Ruth Todd CBE

In this last episode of 2025 we once again look at Canada’s infrastructure market to compare and contrast the global scale of investment ambition on that side of the Atlantic.

As such, it is my pleasure to welcome Jennifer McKelvie, Member of Parliament for Ajax, Ontario, and former deputy mayor of Toronto who has without question emerged over the last few years as one of the leading voices helping to steer Canada’s infrastructure investment transformation.

So first some background: Canada stands at a pivotal moment in its infrastructure journey. From housing shortages and strained transit systems to the growing impacts of climate change, the country faces pressures that span geography, sectors, and generations.

Yet this moment is also one of enormous opportunity. With a renewed federal focus on nation-building, Canada is reshaping how it plans, finances, and delivers the infrastructure that underpins its future prosperity.

In her recent address to the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by Bentley Systems in Toronto, Jennifer outlined an ambitious vision for Canada to accelerate delivery of major projects, create of new federal agencies to drive housing supply, and strengthen the public-private partnership ecosystem.

Key initiatives such as the launch of the Major Projects Office, establishment of Build Canada Homes, and support for Canada Infrastructure Bank’s expanding footprint, underline this as a moment defined by scale, speed, and strategic intent.

And, of course, urgency - urgency to build and adapt in the face of an increasingly uncertain political relationship with the United States and to prepare communities for the climate realities already unfolding across the country.

Resources

• Jennifer McKelvie, Member of Parliament for Ajax, Ontario
• Canada Major Projects Office
• Build Canada Homes
• Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund
• Building Canada Strong
• Canada Public Transit Fund
• Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund
• Canada Infrastructure Bank
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Toronto 2025

In this week's episode we’re taking a close look at the New Hospital Programme, a programme which has been described as perhaps the most ambitious National Health Service infrastructure investment in decades.

The NHP programme is tasked with delivering a new generation of state-of-the-art hospitals across England. At its core is Hospital 2.0, a standardised, repeatable and industrialised approach to hospital design and delivery that promises greater certainty, faster construction, improved quality, predictable costs, and cutting-edge clinical environments.

To explain the programme and how it will be delivered, I am joined by Doug Baldock, Technical Services Director, and Emily King, Director of Industrialisation at the NHP, two leaders central to shaping the technical, commercial and industrial strategy underpinning Hospital 2.0.

And with a long-term pipeline backed by rolling five-year funding envelopes averaging around £3 billion a year from 2030, the programme aligns with the Government’s wider Industrial Strategy and aims not only to modernise the NHS estate but to boost innovation, strengthen supply chains and support economic growth across the UK.

The scale of this challenge is immense: dozens of complex hospital schemes, varied site conditions, urgent RAAC rebuilds – and, of course, the need to rebuild public and industry confidence after years of delay and uncertainty.

Yet with clearer planning assumptions, a 12-year £37bn Hospital 2.0 Alliance procurement, and deep engagement with suppliers, the programme now seeks to unlock the capability and investment needed for a sustainable long-term programme.

Well let’s find out what it means in reality..

Resources

• New Hospital Programme: Plan for Implementation
• Government hospital investment press release
• Supplier Guide.
• Egan review 1998
• Latham review 1994