Infrastructure

As the UK moves into the recovery phase of COVID-19, national infrastructure remains a high priority area for government spending. Alongside the economic recovery, the challenges the infrastructure sector faced pre-COVID-19 have not gone away. As society adapts to new ways of living and working, the demand on infrastructure is also changing.

In this particular theme, WIG will cover a wide range of infrastructure topics including funding, major projects, critical infrastructure, transport, housing, energy, digital and regulation.

Delivering change to this vast range of infrastructure areas will require collaboration across the public and private sector, as many of the goals/aims and challenges are the same. One of the focuses of the infrastructure programme is to create a forum facilitating exactly that.

In this particular series, WIG will cover a wide range of infrastructure topics including:

Funding of Infrastructure
Transport and Major Projects
Housing and Planning
Digital and Innovation in Infrastructure

Infrastructure Advisory Council

Clare Burgess

Partner, Clifford Chance

Clare Burgess is a partner at international law firm Clifford Chance, specialising in infrastructure and clean energy financings. Clare is an expert in green bonds, green loans and related regulatory and legislative initiatives. She has advised on a number of renewables and green energy projects in the UK and elsewhere, including offshore wind projects such as Hornsea One, Walney Extension, NNG and Beatrice, biomass and solar portfolios. Her infrastructure practice encompasses airports, ports, roads, water and utilities, and Clare was appointed to HM Treasury's expert panel to support their Infrastructure Finance Review.

Ben Franklin

Head of Markets, Strategic Consulting, Jacobs

Head of Markets of the European Strategic Consulting business in Jacobs. Responsible for growth and the link back to technical delivery across the infrastructure markets Jacobs provides Strategic Consulting and advisory services in.

Economist and commercial expert with more than 20 years’ experience in the infrastructure sector. I have been project director of several high-profile infrastructure and transportation projects, working extensively with DfT, other public sector bodies, and private sector organisations, operators and investors; providing advice across the infrastructure lifecycle from policy implementation and feasibility, through to delivery and operation.

This currently includes advising the rail industry on numerous aspects of rail reform, and has previously included support to the DfT and the private sector on rail franchising, leading teams developing the business cases for major infrastructure projects including East West Rail, Crossrail and a number of major station redevelopment projects, and supporting investors on buy side and sell side due diligence on numerous infrastructure transactions.

Jenny Preece is Deputy Director for Planning - Infrastructure, and joined the Planning Directorate at Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government in November 2018. Her responsibilities include national policy on CIL and S106 and the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning regime and working with the planning system to support the delivery of infrastructure and needs of communities. She is a career civil servant, with extensive experience of supporting Ministers, delivering major legislation and public policy reforms.

Chris Richards

Director of Policy, Institution of Civil Engineers

Chris joined ICE as Head of Policy and Public Affairs in October 2018. He has responsibility for the transfer of ICE’s insights and recommendations to political decision makers, alongside supporting the Infrastructure Client Group with industry change initiatives.

Previous roles include Head of Business Environment Policy at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation – where he was responsible for developing positions on infrastructure, devolution and digital transformation. Other policy roles include stints at the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Elliot Shaw

Executive Director, Strategy and Planning, Highways England

Elliot Shaw is the Executive Director of Strategy and Planning at Highways England. Within Highways England, he has responsibility for the development of the strategy for the Strategic Road Network, the company’s organisational transformation agenda, it’s analytical and economist functions and the relationships with key statutory and regulatory bodies, including the Office for Rail and Road and Transport Focus.

Before joining Highways England, Elliot was a civil servant at the Ministry of Justice and Department for Transport. Prior to this, Elliot was a management consultant, working in Accenture’s UK and US strategy practices. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, has been a Public Policy Fellow at Cambridge University and completed the Major Projects Leadership Academy at Oxford Said Business School’.