An alliance of almost half a million
engineers has called for a radical
rethink of the way that UK
infrastructure is planned, developed
and protected in a new report
Infrastructure, Engineering and
Climate Change Adaptation: Ensuring
services in an uncertain future. The
report calls for a
centralised
process of
decision making
in Government,
and a new
approach to
sharing
information in
the commercial
sector.

The report was written for DEFRA
and prepared from the perspective of
the engineering profession. The
Engineering the Future group – of
which IChemE is a member – has
presented the report to Government.

It examines vulnerabilities in energy,
transport, communications and water
systems and identifies those that
affect the infrastructure system as a
whole. ‘Cascade failure’, where
failures in one area have a domino
effect on others such an loss of
power due to floods leading to loss of
transport and communications
systems – cause major disruption,
frustration and have significant
economic impact. The report
identifies ways to prevent, and
prepare for such events.