Over the last 30 years there have been many trending topics. What are the current trends for infrastructure, asks ACO Technologies managing director Richard Hill. 

Celebrating 30 years of business  in the UK this month and with a tendency to look forward rather than back I mused on some of the current macro  “trending” construction topics – Resilience, Reliability, Sustainability, Collaboration, Digital Construction  and the slightly more micro topics like SUDS,  and wondered what the “buzzwords” were back in 1984.

A quick web search failed to deliver any answers but I was surprised at the number innovations in 1984 that would, with the benefit of time, change our world in different ways;

• The first “TED” conference was held:  now a global organisation sharing ideas in more than 100 languages and seen by well over a billion viewers.
• Apple Inc. unveiled it’s first personal computer  -the Macintosh:  today there are more than 66 million users.
• Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys developed techniques for DNA fingerprinting:  used to solve thousands of crimes around the word since
• Robert Gallo co-discovered  the AIDS virus:  a critical breakthrough in fighting the disease. 

"Today’s “trending”  terms emphasise the areas in which innovation is urgently needed, and of course  we must engage fully with the words and what they represent  but surely we must focus more on how we can deliver the challenging requirements of  future demand."

One construction project  stood out, 1984 saw the opening of the Thames Barrier – 520 metres of steel innovation protecting London from tidal flood, with “reliability” and “resilience” at the heart of the project (sound familiar?).  The remarkable fact is, there has been no shortage of innovation in infrastructure engineering since 1984 as demonstrated by the Channel Tunnel, T5, HS1, Queensferry Crossing and the Olympics.

Today, Crossrail, Thames Tideway Tunnel and Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay are all being designed and/or built to engage the world’s mega trends and incorporate future demand. Consequently, almost by default the demand for innovation is an embedded feature in all major infrastructure projects.  

Perhaps though, the more acid test is whether the 200 or so smaller projects currently in the Government’s Infrastructure 2014/15 pipeline will be as progressive in their drive for innovation as their big brothers, even though they too must cater for the worlds future demands.

Thinking back to some of the “trending” terms, I wondered why it is that “Innovation” is not still the preeminent “trending” term in building Infrastructure -  Is it just that it has been overused and abused  and now no longer conveys that sense of  action? 

Obviously today’s “trending”  terms emphasise the areas in which innovation is urgently needed, and of course  we must engage fully with the words and what they represent  but surely we must focus more on how we can deliver the challenging requirements of  future demand.

So after 30 years and numerous awards for product innovation, including two Queens Awards for Innovation,  “business as usual” is still not enough.  Like everyone else we must continue to drive for relentless innovation - from incremental improvement to radical change, in products, processes and services and in so doing help create a difference.

Richard Hill is the managing director of ACO Technologies