The role of technology in infrastructure productivity with John Priestland

Ed McCann

Ed is an experienced project director and is the Immediate Past President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was fundamental in growing Expedition from a startup to Building Magazine’s Engineering Consultant of the Year in 2012. As a senior director at Expedition, Ed provides invaluable leadership and experience to our organisation.

He is technical, an excellent communicator, enthusiastic, and has a deep understanding of the construction process. He is particularly skilled in strategic consultancy, feasibility studies, and design.

Ed’s career has taken him to lead projects all over the world. He was the project director for the multi award-winning Infinity Bridge and the Olympic 2012 Velodrome. Environmental factors and efficiency are drivers for Ed’s current projects that see him work with infrastructure clients to improve processes and implement new technologies. Projects include creating and delivering a productivity workstream for HS2, designing the Rolls-Royce SMR Program Site Factory for BAM Nuttall, and helping develop the Berkeley Homes modular housing system.

Ed is a founder trustee and trustee board member, former chair of the USL Board.

He is passionate about developing talent in the industry with quality training and education, a passion that led him to become the co-creator of the Constructionarium. This non profit organisation delivers education and training to students and professionals across the built environment sector. He is also co-founder of the Get It Right Initiative which aims to reduce errors in the industry.

As a respected thought leader, Ed is often invited to speak at various events, write articles, and deliver lectures, and has also made television programmes on civil engineering.

John Priestland

John is a director at Priestland Consulting and is a former global strategy director at WSP.  He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institute of Physics.

John’s management consultancy practice supports asset owners and contractors in identifying and applying construction technology to meet their challenges.  

Past and current clients include: HS2, Anglian Water and Sizewell C.  

He is also the chairman of the Get It Right Initiative Technology Working Group that focuses on ways to use technology to reduce error. 

John is the founder of the C-Tech Club, which is a global community of more than 400 founders and CEOs of construction-tech start-ups. The Club produces an annual Catalogue of types of construction technology.