This week's special 151st episode was recorded in front of a live audience at last year’s brilliant Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by Bentley Systems and the Institution of Civil Engineers in Toronto Canada.

In fact, right about the time this episode is published I will be in Melbourne helping the team to deliver the next event in this TIP series – so look out for podcast flowing out of that!

Back to this episode and my guest is Peter Weltman, Vice Chair of the Canada Infrastructure Council, Director at consultant Technomics and until 2023, Financial Accountability Officer for Ontario.

We discuss the critical issue of Housing-Enabling Infrastructure and its impact on the future of Canada’s Communities – and in particular the work being done to help Canada respond to its growing housing challenge,.

Because Canada’s housing challenge is not just about bricks and mortar - it’s about the infrastructure that makes communities liveable, sustainable, and connected. Roads, transit, water systems, energy grids, digital networks, and social infrastructure all form the backbone that enables housing to be built, scaled, and supported over the long term.

Without this foundation, new homes risk becoming isolated developments rather than thriving communities.

As population growth accelerates, climate shocks intensify, and affordability pressures mount, the question is not whether Canada needs more homes, but whether we can deliver the enabling infrastructure at the speed and scale required.

That means moving beyond fragmented planning toward coordinated investment, smarter regulation, and nation-building programs that unlock land and create confidence for both communities and private investors. The creation of the new Major Projects Office (MPO) should help by creating a single point of contact to get projects built faster – the question is how - and what needs to change first.

The Council is at the heart of shaping Canada’s infrastructure ambitions – we’ll hear how later on – and has just produced its first National Infrastructure Assessment report which I reckon will provide essential reading for all.

So lots to chat through, and I kicked off by asking why is infrastructure so critical to solving Canada’s housing challenge.

Resources

• Canadian Infrastructure Council
• CIC National Infrastructure Assessment report - Building Foundations for Tomorrow:
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Toronto Summit
• Technomics website

This week's podcast celebrates the 150th episode by delving into one of the most urgent and complex issues that continues to challenge the UK construction sector – namely the critical shortage of skilled workers.

As we know, government plans to invest public and private funds worth over £725 billion in infrastructure over the next decade or so. That will decarbonise and secure our energy systems, reboot the nation’s transport networks, protect the environment, build 1.5 million new homes and retrofit some five million more.

The scale of ambition is enormous. But none of it can happen without the people needed to deliver it.

And that’s where the newly launched Construction Skills Mission Board comes in – bringing together senior industry leaders, educators, training bodies, government ministers and unions to ensure the sector can recruit, train and retain the workforce it needs to meet the demands of the decade ahead.

My guest today is Mark Reynolds, Chair of the Construction Leadership Council, Executive Chair of constriction giant Mace and also Chair of this new Construction Skills Mission Board.

Mark helped CLC to establish the board as a way to support the Government’s commitment to invest an additional £625 million in construction skills. And its inaugural meeting late last year was described as a pivotal moment that signalled a new level of urgency, coordination and commitment to solving one of construction’s greatest long-term challenges.

The goal is clear: to develop and drive a national strategy capable of recruiting an extra 100,000 workers each year. The focus is on five key levers: boosting employer confidence to invest, building clear entry pathways, improving access to training, ensuring effective funding and creating reliable, rewarding career structures.

So big ambitions but what’s next? Let hear more…

Resources

• Construction Skills Mission Board
• Construction Leadership Council
• Mace website
• Mace Group announces majority investment in Mace Consult from Goldman Sachs Alternatives
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance

In this week's episode we are seeking a new year parliamentary progress update to discover how 18 months of government infrastructure ambition is actually being turned into real economic and social growth potential.

To help me with this I am joined once again by Mike Reader, MP for Northampton South, the newly re-elected chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure and Construction.

And, of course, as we heard in his first visit to the Infrastructure Podcast a year ago, before he was elected to parliament in July 2024, Mike was a director at construction giant Mace.

Well it is certainly an interesting moment for the sector. The UK entered the new year with infrastructure right at the centre of its growth strategy. Ministers are clear that better transport, energy, housing and digital networks are essential if we are to unlock regional productivity, raise living standards and support the transition to Net Zero.

As we have heard in so many episodes of the podcast, large projects are already under way - from new nuclear capacity and grid upgrades to major transport links and hospital programmes. And the pipeline is real and ready.

But the real test now is whether long-promised ambition can be converted into delivery, economic value, and public confidence.

At the same time, familiar structural challenges persist. Slow planning, skills shortages, fragmented procurement, high costs and stubbornly low productivity continue to constrain output. The housing crisis remains acute, energy infrastructure is racing against time, and the UK’s ageing assets demand smarter stewardship, not just new concrete.

Meanwhile technology, data and AI offer huge potential, but meaningful adoption depends on a stable pipeline and the right capability in the workforce.

So let’s get a progress update from the heart of power and explore whether government is actually now doing enough to provide long-term certainty, mobilise private investment, modernise delivery, and turn infrastructure ambition into real social and economic outcomes.

Resources

• Mike Reader MP website
• All Party Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure
• Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
• Construction Leadership Council
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance
• Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development Committee