In this episode we dive into the infrastructure sector’s journey towards digitisation, decarbonisation and modernisation – a journey which to be honest, seems like one that we have been on for some time.

To do this, my guest is Mark Coates, Vice President of Infrastructure Policy Advancement at software giant Bentley Systems and the guiding mind behind TIP, the Transforming Infrastructure Performance global Summit initiative, the latest iteration of which was held last month in Melbourne.

Full disclosure – from the earliest days TIP back in 2022, I have been working with Mark to deliver the summits – in London, Manchester, Singapore, Toronto, New York and, as I say, most recently Melbourne. And it’s fair to say that, throughout this global journey, we have seen many common failings across the delivery chain but also, thankfully, identified a huge number of positive lessons to be shared.

One thing that is clear is that “business as usual”, the "old way" of delivering projects - siloed data, stagnant productivity, and resource-heavy construction – is broken.

Hence the need for a Transformation of Infrastructure Performance. Born from a UK government initiative and now championed by the National Infrastructure Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) alongside partners like Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers, TIP has evolved from a local policy framework into a worldwide movement aimed at repairing this broken model. It’s goal is to help governments around the world to find better ways to deliver the infrastructure needed to support their communities.

So let’s hear more – what does the roadmap look like for a future where infrastructure truly performs for people and the planet?

Resources

• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne
• UK government 10 year Infrastructure Strategy
• Mark Coates Linked In
• Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2025
• Australian Infrastructure Investment Monitor
• Bentley Systems website
• Construction Leadership Council

In this week's episode we take a deep dive into the global infrastructure investment market as I chat to Jon Phillips, chief executive of GIIA, the Global Infrastructure Investors Association.

The Association represents the world's foremost institutional investors who together manage over US$2.2 trillion in infrastructure assets across 68 countries. And as we stand in 2026, the landscape for private capital has never been more complex.

The podcast is being recorded during the latest Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by software giant Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers in Melbourne so gives us an opportunity to also explore how the infrastructure market is fairing on this side of the world and the pressures, challenges and opportunities that clients and investors face in the Australian and South East Asian market.

While globally 2025 saw record-breaking fundraising, the industry is grappling with a fascinating paradox: a massive hunger for "bankable" projects set against a backdrop of geopolitical shifts, from the evolving impact of the Trump administration to the cooling of the AI-driven digital infrastructure boom.

Jon’s career spans the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to Heathrow, and nearly a decade at the helm of GIIA, where he now sits at the intersection of policy, delivery, and capital.

Which makes him the perfect person to give us a quick update on the global infrastructure investment market.

Resources

• The Global Infrastructure Investors Association
• GIIA’s latest Infrastructure Pulse survey
• Jon Phillips Linked In
• Australian Infrastructure Investment Monitor
• Victoria State infrastructure strategy
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Melbourne

In this week's episode we return to the New Hospital Programme - still one of the most ambitious public infrastructure programmes the UK has seen in decades.

The last time I was in NHP’s Waterloo office in London was for episode 143 just before Christmas. Then I spoke to Emily King and Doug Baldock about the scale and urgency of the challenge to replace ageing and unsafe hospital infrastructure, and the shift towards industrialised construction through the £37bn Hospital 2.0 programme.

Today, we’re going deeper into the “how”.

Because £37 billion of ambition only becomes reality if the market can actually deliver it.

To do that I am joined by Emma Whigham, Alliance Director for the NHP Alliance, and Rick Lennard, Chief Operating Officer for the New Hospital Programme. Together, they’re at the sharp end of designing and procuring the Hospital 2.0 Alliance - the new commercial and delivery model intended to underpin the programme for the next 12 years.

This is about more than building hospitals. It’s about reshaping how the NHS works with industry, creating a stable pipeline that gives suppliers the confidence to invest in skills, manufacturing capacity and modern methods of construction.

It’s about standardisation without stifling innovation. And it’s about learning from decades of fragmented delivery to create something more programmatic, predictable and collaborative.

So let’s crack on and explore how the Alliance is structured, what early market engagement has changed, where the market pushback really is - or is likely to be.

Resources

• New Hospital Programme: Plan for Implementation
• Government hospital investment press release
• Hospital 2.0 Alliance
• Supplier Guide.
• Egan review 1998
• Latham review 1994