In this last episode of 2025 we once again look at Canada’s infrastructure market to compare and contrast the global scale of investment ambition on that side of the Atlantic.

As such, it is my pleasure to welcome Jennifer McKelvie, Member of Parliament for Ajax, Ontario, and former deputy mayor of Toronto who has without question emerged over the last few years as one of the leading voices helping to steer Canada’s infrastructure investment transformation.

So first some background: Canada stands at a pivotal moment in its infrastructure journey. From housing shortages and strained transit systems to the growing impacts of climate change, the country faces pressures that span geography, sectors, and generations.

Yet this moment is also one of enormous opportunity. With a renewed federal focus on nation-building, Canada is reshaping how it plans, finances, and delivers the infrastructure that underpins its future prosperity.

In her recent address to the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit hosted by Bentley Systems in Toronto, Jennifer outlined an ambitious vision for Canada to accelerate delivery of major projects, create of new federal agencies to drive housing supply, and strengthen the public-private partnership ecosystem.

Key initiatives such as the launch of the Major Projects Office, establishment of Build Canada Homes, and support for Canada Infrastructure Bank’s expanding footprint, underline this as a moment defined by scale, speed, and strategic intent.

And, of course, urgency - urgency to build and adapt in the face of an increasingly uncertain political relationship with the United States and to prepare communities for the climate realities already unfolding across the country.

Resources

• Jennifer McKelvie, Member of Parliament for Ajax, Ontario
• Canada Major Projects Office
• Build Canada Homes
• Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund
• Building Canada Strong
• Canada Public Transit Fund
• Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund
• Canada Infrastructure Bank
• Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit Toronto 2025

In this week's episode we’re taking a close look at the New Hospital Programme, a programme which has been described as perhaps the most ambitious National Health Service infrastructure investment in decades.

The NHP programme is tasked with delivering a new generation of state-of-the-art hospitals across England. At its core is Hospital 2.0, a standardised, repeatable and industrialised approach to hospital design and delivery that promises greater certainty, faster construction, improved quality, predictable costs, and cutting-edge clinical environments.

To explain the programme and how it will be delivered, I am joined by Doug Baldock, Technical Services Director, and Emily King, Director of Industrialisation at the NHP, two leaders central to shaping the technical, commercial and industrial strategy underpinning Hospital 2.0.

And with a long-term pipeline backed by rolling five-year funding envelopes averaging around £3 billion a year from 2030, the programme aligns with the Government’s wider Industrial Strategy and aims not only to modernise the NHS estate but to boost innovation, strengthen supply chains and support economic growth across the UK.

The scale of this challenge is immense: dozens of complex hospital schemes, varied site conditions, urgent RAAC rebuilds – and, of course, the need to rebuild public and industry confidence after years of delay and uncertainty.

Yet with clearer planning assumptions, a 12-year £37bn Hospital 2.0 Alliance procurement, and deep engagement with suppliers, the programme now seeks to unlock the capability and investment needed for a sustainable long-term programme.

Well let’s find out what it means in reality..

Resources

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

In this week's episode we are once again discussing data, digital tools and the use of artificial intelligence and the way that it’s set to transform infrastructure performance.

My guest today is Nathan Marsh, Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East, Africa at software giant Bentley Systems, someone who has, to be honest, been immersed in tech challenges in one shape or another for his entire career in infrastructure.

So Nathan is well placed to shed light on the way – and the pace - technology is shaping the sector.

We are chatting today at the Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2025 conference in Amsterdam where Nathan has been discussing, amongst other things, the transformative role technology in shaping the future of national infrastructure.

There is no question that over the last two decades the use and power of digital systems has evolved from basic 2D drawing tools, through the evolution of Building Information Modelling to give us the kind of software tools that are at last truly changing the way that engineers approach the design, construction and management of infrastructure assets.

And as we have heard recently on previous episodes of the Infrastructure Podcast, in the short time since generative AI tools such ChatGPT have emerged and become mainstream, there is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s minds that AI is now taking every aspect of that technology revolution up a notch.

Notwithstanding the clear – and potentially well founded – fears around the unintended consequences of accelerating the use of AI technology, few can rule out the potential for change that is around the corner.

Certainly, the use of technology to provide better tools, smarter workflows and more connected data is key to changing and improving the outcomes generated in return for the vast investment planned for infrastructure – but how?

So let’s get a bit more practical insight into what this technology might hold for infrastructure design, construction and management sector.

Resources

• Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2025
• UK government 10 year Infrastructure Strategy
• Nathan Marsh Linked In
• Bentley Systems website
• 1st Battalion Welsh Guards
• Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club
• London Welsh Rugby Football Club